By Christy Larsen, Special to the On-Line Forty-Niner
Monday, August 17, 1998
The Russian Submarine's long, slender hull with its sharply pointed bows, sits peacefully alongside the regal Queen Mary in Long Beach Harbor. The sub appears almost insignificant, tucked away next to the overwhelming size of the luxury passenger ship it shares dock-space with. The low, black hull blends in with the dark water and its darkened image creates a stark contrast to the magnificence of the Queen Mary.
This 300-foot submarine, with the code name "Scorpion," is on display for everyone to experience first hand. Although the submarine may look very harmless as it sits in Long Beach Harbor, it was once part of the Soviet military during the Cold War, and was capable of deadly destruction. The fact that it is here in the United States, open to the public's curiosity and inspection, is a testimony to just how much our world has changed in the last part of the 20th century.
Thousands of visitors have toured this piece of maritime history since it was open to the public July 14, according to Eric Ford, attractions lead for both the Queen Mary and the Russian Scorpion.
"On weekdays as many as 1,000 people have walked through the submarine, and on weekends there have been up to 5,000 people," Ford said.
The 45-minute self-guided tour of the submarine, which is the length of a football field, provides the opportunity to walk through and explore the space in which 78 Soviet men lived and worked at sea for months at a time.
"I crossed the ocean with the threat of submarines like this one during the war."
- Gordon Markle
The sub immediately feels small and cramped, as visitors enter through the forward hatch and climb down a steep ladder into the forward torpedo room. The torpedo tubes illustrate that this was at one time a war machine with deadly weapons, capable of taking out any target in the ocean.
Gordon Markle, a 78-year-old veteran of World War II is on the tour with his teenage-grandson.
"I crossed the ocean with the threat of submarines like this one during the war," he said. "It feels strange to be looking at one from the inside after all of these years."
As visitors walk through the sub, an audio tape describes each area and its use. The captain's cabin is small, but very private and functional, located close to the sonar room. Next, is the officers' cabin which includes four, five foot long berths and limited personal space.
After this point, the operational areas of the ship are located, starting with the navigational equipment and a chart table that is meticulously squeezed into its limited space. Radar and radio rooms, with the petty officer's cabin, are strategically located nearby. The submarine's galley, the size of a closet, is where four cooked meals were prepared each day, including a daily glass of wine. The Scorpion's crew had only two showers and three toilets.
In the aft part of the ship, are the machinery control room and the bunks for the remaining sailors near the aft torpedoes. Officers had their own bunks, while the remaining 54 ordinary sailors shared the 27 bunks in the aft torpedo room.
Moving through the submarine, one is aware of how the air smells stale and insufficient down below. It is hard to imagine how men could breathe this air for long periods of time.
The sub is noticeably quiet without the sound of the engines. The three diesel engines generate power for electric motors that drive the three propellers while the sub is on the surface. At periscope depth, air for the diesels can be sucked from the surface using a snorkel. When submerged, electric batteries and motors take over.
To dive, the ballast tanks are flooded with water. To surface, compressed air expels the water. The sub dives and surfaces quite horizontally. The maximum diving depth for the sub is 985 feet according to the tour audio tape.
The tour brochure says that the submariners were carefully chosen volunteers, "an elite group in the largely-conscript Soviet Navy." Eric Ford, the attractions lead, said "They were chosen by their size and youthful age."
The small bunks throughout the available space on board suggests that the crew must have been small men or men who were able to sleep in beds much smaller than they were.
A survival suit was on board the sub, used by the crew to evacuate either through the torpedo tubes, the bridge tower or the aft escape hatch. Even from 820 feet down, the crew had a reasonable chance of reaching the surface alive, the brochure said.
The tour is somewhat of an obstacle course and involves climbing steep ladders, entering small hatches (doorways) between compartments, narrow corridors, raised thresholds and lowered overheads, requiring each person to be alert and fairly agile.
Since hands and arms must be free at all times, children may not be carried by another person. The submarine is not accessible to strollers or wheelchairs and does not recommend the tour for pregnant women or those people who are subject to claustrophobia or motion sickness, according to a sign at the beginning of the tour.
The Scorpion was built in Leningrad and launched off the northern Pacific Coast in Vladivostock, Russia in 1972, according to a video presentation before the tour. She is a Foxtrot-Class, Project 641 design Pacific Fleet diesel electric submarine, which was the largest conventional non-nuclear Soviet sub. The submarine's nuclear-tipped torpedoes were capable of great destruction. Between 1958 and 1984, 79 Foxtrots were built for the Soviet Navy and other countries including India, Cuba and Poland.
The Russian Scorpion was decommissioned only four years ago in 1994, thus ending its 22-year use as a spy submarine for the Russian military. The video further states that with the end of the Cold War, submarines such as the Scorpion are no longer a part of their military.
Where the Russian Scorpion toured while still commissioned is still classified information. The sub may have been part of surveillance operations in United States coastal waters.
The Scorpion was brought to Long Beach by dry-dock from Australia, where it had been on display at Sydney's National Maritime Museum for two years, according to Ford. "The submarine is actually 90 percent operational and would just need the required 50 tons of batteries to be completely operational," he said.
Ford further explained that RMS Foundation Inc., the non-profit operator of the Queen Mary, leases the space for the Russian submarine and the Queen Mary from the City of Long Beach, while the private, Australian company of Foxtrot 641 Pty Ltd. owns the submarine.
The submarine and the Queen Mary are advertised as "Stealth and Wealth - Side by Side." The brochure states that the "displays will promote friendly relations with Russia and give Americans a unique opportunity to experience a part of Russia's maritime history."
"Who would have imagined 15 years ago that a former British ocean liner and Soviet submarine could peacefully occupy the same waters," Joseph F. Prevratil, president and chief executive officer of RMS Foundation Inc., said.
The Russian Scorpion will be open to the public for five years, providing people a unique opportunity to explore a part of the past.
"I came to see a part of our history and to share it with my grandson.
The world is peaceful now, but we must always remember the fight for our
freedom and the lives lost to obtain it," Markle said.