K219.pdf

The ordeal of the K - 219 took place at the very height of the cold war.

Much of its story is still shrouded in secrecy. Operations involving

American submarines are simply not discussed by the United States

Navy.

Ironically, it proved easier to obtain information from the Russians.

Events portrayed in this book reflect that difference. Acts taken by,

conversations held between, even the private thoughts of the crew of

the K - 219 are taken directly from their testimony or from the sub-

marine's log.

Actions inside and maneuvers made by the American sub present

at K - 219 's ordeal were reconstructed from Russian observations, Amer-

ican reports, interviews with many American naval officers and ex-

perts, and the authors' long experience in naval affairs. Conversations

and commands portrayed in the book may not be the actual words

spoken, the commands sent, or the orders received.

Like any intelligence analysis, the authors had to reconstruct this

story from multiple sources. Sometimes they disagreed on the details.

Their substance, however, is true.

Lord G od, our power ever more, whose arm

doth reach the ocean floor.

Divine with men beneath the sea; traverse the

depths protectively.

Hear us when we pray, and keep them safe

from peril in the deep.

Lord, guard and guide the men who man the

submarines that guard our land.

Be with them always, night and day, in quiet

depths and roaring spray.

O hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in

peril on the sea .

—FROM THE UNITED STATES NAVY HYMN

Nicholas Monsarrat called it "The Cruel Sea" because as unfeeling as

it has always been, the works of man made it crueler still. The dawn

of the nuclear age didn't help, sending men to sea for a longer time,

under harsher conditions, and for the darkest of purposes.

With the end of the cold war and the demise of the Soviet Union,

some new chapters have been revealed . This is one of them.

For years the Soviet Navy sent nuclear-powered fleet ballistic mis-

sile submarines to patrol off the American coast. Invariably shad-

owed by American fast-attack submarines, their mission was, if

called upon, to launch their missiles against our country. The mis-

sion of the American submarines in trail was, if called upon, to pre-

vent that from happening, and so there was a covenant of death

between the ships and men moving invisibly beneath the sea while

other ships plied the surface .

The Soviet submarines were technically inferior, and their crews

knew it . Yet they did their jobs as best they could, ever wondering if

there might be an unfriendly neighbor nearby . The Russian sailors'

more immediate task, however, was to keep their ships operating . Far

from home, they endured hazards unknown to their American coun-

terparts, doing the jobs they were drafted to do.

FOREWORD

K-219 was one of the losses in the cold war. Just a few hundred

miles from the vacation island of Bermuda, the sub suffered a major

casualty, endangering the crew as well as the ship. At the time of the

incident I remember feeling little pity for the Russians aboard. That

was wrong of me. Enemies, perhaps, but they were people, and there

was no war at the time. Alone, thousands of miles from home or help,

they faced dark death as many have done over the centuries. Their

only purpose then was survival, and while American ships raced to

the scene, the Russians were ordered not to accept assistance from any

but their own .

This, then, is a tale of a cruel sea and crueler circumstances, of men

trapped by duty into a duel with fire and water, which some of them

did not survive. The cold war is over now, and over the coming years

we'll total up the numbers of men and women who lost their lives,

and if we are to value the peace we've earned, let it be in recognition

of the price paid in buying it for ourselves and our children . The

Russians paid, too . And this is one chapter in that story .

Hostile Waters is one of the most fascinating true submarine stories

I have ever encountered .

—April 1997

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