Date of Incident: 21 November, 1956
Returned to Service: No
While returning to port after a day at sea, the Soviet submarine Vengeance (M-200) sank in the Baltic Ocean after colliding with the Soviet destroyer Stately.
Vengeance was meeting Stately. At very close range, Vengeance turned hard to port across the course of the approaching destroyer. Vengeance was struck on the starboard side aft. The after two compartments flooded immediately, killing the crewmen stationed there. Vengeance sank almost immediately, leaving only eight men on the surface. Unfortunately, two of the survivors drowned before they could be rescued.
28 men survived the initial sinking and were trapped in the forward compartments of the sunken submarine.
Within an hour of the initial sinking, the submarine's emergency buoy was located, and communications were established with the crewmen in the forward torpedo room. Unfortunately, by this time the men in the remaining compartments had already died.
During the evening, rescue forces were marshalled and began arriving at the accident scene. Unfortunately, the rescuers were not able to provide a fresh air supply to the men in the forward torpedo room. By early on the morning of 22 November, the men in the submarine were prepared to use their escape equipment to leave the stricken Vengenace. Instead of giving permission to evacuate the submarine, the senior officers tried to proceed with a plan to lift Vengeance with a floating crane.
The weather began to deteriorate rapidly during the afternoon of 22 Novmeber, causing the rescue vessels to drag anchor and drift. The telephone cable on the emergency buoy parted.
When divers were finally able to reach the submarine in the early hours of 23 November, the discovered that the remaining crew had perished. After communications were lost, the crew proceeded to evacuate. Sadly, the first man to use the escape hatch died in the attempt, blocking the hatch for the rest of the trapped men.
(Russian language submarine site http://submarine.id.ru, page http://submarine.id.ru/memory/M200.htm)
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