Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
June 23, 2008 By Louis Hansen, The Virginian-Pilot
The Russian submarine Juliett 484 once aimed nuclear-tipped missiles at U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.
It likely shadowed Navy warships across the Atlantic and through the Mediterranean.
With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the once-mighty cold warrior took on a less menacing series of missions – floating night club, movie set and naval museum.
In April 2007, the storm surge from a nor’easter crept into compartments of the 280-foot boat that were no longer watertight. Juliett, slowly listing at first, dropped to the bottom of the Providence River.
Its final military mission may be as a training site for Army and Navy divers.
A team of frogmen led by sailors from Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base are surveying the coal-black sunken hull alongside a pier in Providence, R.I. In three weeks, they plan to hoist the 3,000-ton behemoth from the muddy river bed.
Cmdr. Dan Shultz, lead officer of mobile diving and salvage unit 2, spotted a news story about the submarine shortly after it went down in April.
It was a chance, he said, for his divers to train on a real submarine instead of inside sunken metal containers. “It’s not an opportunity that avails itself often,” Shultz said.
The divers received funding under a special Defense Department program designed to support civilian projects. Last summer, the military sent divers to salvage rafts of old tires – disintegrating and polluting the Florida coast – used to make an artificial reef off Fort Lauderdale.
The sunken Russian sub has offered sailors a window into the operations of an old adversary.
The Soviets commissioned the attack submarine, also known as K-77, in October 1965. The crew consisted of a dozen officers, 16 non-commissioned officers and 54 enlisted sailors, according to the museum’s Web site.
The Soviet navy routinely armed the Juliett-class submarines with four nuclear cruise missiles with a range of more than 300 miles. The diesel-powered boats were capable of destroying cities, naval installations and aircraft carriers.
With the end of the Cold War the Soviet Navy was in disarray. Four submarines were sold to a Finnish businessman in the early 1990s, said Frank Lennon, president of the foundation that runs the Russian Sub Museum. They were in such disrepair that one of the four ships sank as it was towed away.
“They had been trading pieces and parts to the point where I think they sold the plug to the bathtub,” Lennon said.
The former deep-sea war machine was converted into a semisuccessful nightclub and restaurant. Juliett 484 moved from Finland to Florida and then to the auction block.
A listing on eBay for $1 million drew no serious offers, but a film studio seized the opportunity. The boat, stripped of its engines, was towed to Nova Scotia, where it served as the set for the Harrison Ford movie “K-19: The Widowmaker.”
The USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the decommissioned aircraft carrier Saratoga to Rhode Island, successfully bid on the boat after filming wrapped.
“It was a target of opportunity,” said Lennon, who is also president of the Saratoga foundation. He added that the boat cost less than the $1 million asking price. It opened to the public in August 2002 at a pier in the Providence River.
Nearly five years later, in April 2007, high tides and heavy rain during a 30-hour stretch jostled and filled the sub while volunteers watched helplessly from the pier. Emergency personnel barred anyone from entering the listing ship. Juliett 484 sank in 30 feet of river water.
The Saratoga foundation had several dive and salvage companies inspect the site, but few could tackle the big job. A salvage effort would have exceeded the group’s $500,000 insurance coverage, Lennon said.
The foundation turned to the military for help.
Shultz said the opportunity was too good to pass up. The cost would be split between the units and the special Defense Department fund; Shultz would not say how much the operation will cost.
Military divers and support crews arrived in Providence last month. Between 75 and 100 active-duty and reserve personnel are working on the site – installing fixtures for pumps, hoses and devices to stabilize and lift the boat. The shallow water has allowed divers to work in five-hour shifts.
Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Riggenbach, a diver, worked on submarines for several years at Norfolk Naval Station. But this training was much different from others he’s performed, he said. “It’s a huge operation.”
“She found her way to the bottom,” Shultz said. “Our intention is to bring her to the surface.”
June 23, 2008 By Louis Hansen, The Virginian-Pilot
The Russian submarine Juliett 484 once aimed nuclear-tipped missiles at U.S. Navy aircraft carriers.
It likely shadowed Navy warships across the Atlantic and through the Mediterranean.
With the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the once-mighty cold warrior took on a less menacing series of missions – floating night club, movie set and naval museum.
In April 2007, the storm surge from a nor’easter crept into compartments of the 280-foot boat that were no longer watertight. Juliett, slowly listing at first, dropped to the bottom of the Providence River.
Its final military mission may be as a training site for Army and Navy divers.
A team of frogmen led by sailors from Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base are surveying the coal-black sunken hull alongside a pier in Providence, R.I. In three weeks, they plan to hoist the 3,000-ton behemoth from the muddy river bed.
Cmdr. Dan Shultz, lead officer of mobile diving and salvage unit 2, spotted a news story about the submarine shortly after it went down in April.
It was a chance, he said, for his divers to train on a real submarine instead of inside sunken metal containers. “It’s not an opportunity that avails itself often,” Shultz said.
The divers received funding under a special Defense Department program designed to support civilian projects. Last summer, the military sent divers to salvage rafts of old tires – disintegrating and polluting the Florida coast – used to make an artificial reef off Fort Lauderdale.
The sunken Russian sub has offered sailors a window into the operations of an old adversary.
The Soviets commissioned the attack submarine, also known as K-77, in October 1965. The crew consisted of a dozen officers, 16 non-commissioned officers and 54 enlisted sailors, according to the museum’s Web site.
The Soviet navy routinely armed the Juliett-class submarines with four nuclear cruise missiles with a range of more than 300 miles. The diesel-powered boats were capable of destroying cities, naval installations and aircraft carriers.
With the end of the Cold War the Soviet Navy was in disarray. Four submarines were sold to a Finnish businessman in the early 1990s, said Frank Lennon, president of the foundation that runs the Russian Sub Museum. They were in such disrepair that one of the four ships sank as it was towed away.
“They had been trading pieces and parts to the point where I think they sold the plug to the bathtub,” Lennon said.
The former deep-sea war machine was converted into a semisuccessful nightclub and restaurant. Juliett 484 moved from Finland to Florida and then to the auction block.
A listing on eBay for $1 million drew no serious offers, but a film studio seized the opportunity. The boat, stripped of its engines, was towed to Nova Scotia, where it served as the set for the Harrison Ford movie “K-19: The Widowmaker.”
The USS Saratoga Museum Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the decommissioned aircraft carrier Saratoga to Rhode Island, successfully bid on the boat after filming wrapped.
“It was a target of opportunity,” said Lennon, who is also president of the Saratoga foundation. He added that the boat cost less than the $1 million asking price. It opened to the public in August 2002 at a pier in the Providence River.
Nearly five years later, in April 2007, high tides and heavy rain during a 30-hour stretch jostled and filled the sub while volunteers watched helplessly from the pier. Emergency personnel barred anyone from entering the listing ship. Juliett 484 sank in 30 feet of river water.
The Saratoga foundation had several dive and salvage companies inspect the site, but few could tackle the big job. A salvage effort would have exceeded the group’s $500,000 insurance coverage, Lennon said.
The foundation turned to the military for help.
Shultz said the opportunity was too good to pass up. The cost would be split between the units and the special Defense Department fund; Shultz would not say how much the operation will cost.
Military divers and support crews arrived in Providence last month. Between 75 and 100 active-duty and reserve personnel are working on the site – installing fixtures for pumps, hoses and devices to stabilize and lift the boat. The shallow water has allowed divers to work in five-hour shifts.
Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Riggenbach, a diver, worked on submarines for several years at Norfolk Naval Station. But this training was much different from others he’s performed, he said. “It’s a huge operation.”
“She found her way to the bottom,” Shultz said. “Our intention is to bring her to the surface.”