This article came to our editorial office on August 10. Albina Konovalova sent him from the then unknown village of Vidyaevo. This material is a reflection, a warning, a plea. The author could not have predicted how fatally, prophetically creepy her words would sound: "The ocean is insatiable, and it will take more than one victim..." In a few days, the world will shudder at the news of another tragedy. August 13, 2000 will be a black day for the Russian nuclear submarine fleet. The list of its victims will include 118 more names - crew members of the nuclear submarine Kursk... The first one is always harder. No trails have been laid out for the first one yet. He falls more often, stumbles on the roads... At one time, the Soviet Union's first nuclear-powered missile-carrying submarine, the K-19, found itself on the impassable terrain of technological progress. On July 12, 2000, it turned 40 years old. In the history of the development of the nuclear submarine fleet, the missile carrier has had a difficult share. In the 60s, the country hastily created a base for a new type of weapons for nuclear submarines. The first Soviet nuclear submarines had already ploughed the depths of the world's oceans, but they were still equipped with traditional torpedoes. The technical capabilities of nuclear submarines gave such a convincing advantage that the torpedo armament looked like an ancient axe in the hands of an electronic robot. In 1955, the tests of an experimental rocket carrier were completed. Its appearance meant a breakthrough in the new millennium, which promised an unprecedented technical rise, beckoning to the glittering Olympus of nuclear power. The K-19 missile carrier was built quickly, if not hastily. Laid down in 1958, it was launched in 1959, and in 1960 it became part of the Red Banner Northern Fleet. The first accident with a nuclear reactor occurred at the plant. The compensating grid of the reactor core is jammed. First officer, and now captain of th ... Read more