Лошарик: Секретная российская подводная лодка глубоководных исследований

Russian deep water nuclear submarine

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The submarine was laid down in 1988, but it was not launched until August 2003 due to financial problems, as well as the collapse of the Soviet Union. It is designated for research, rescue, and special military operations and is operated by the Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research, (Главное управление глубоководных исследований (GUGI)), reporting to the Russian Defence Ministry. The pressure hull of the submarine is believed to be formed from up to seven interconnected titanium spherical elements; this limits space for living quarters and equipment, but grants increased structural strength. Russia has released little information about it officially and there are few photographs of it; the clearest is believed to have been taken inadvertently during a Top Gear Russia photo shoot in Arkhangelsk. The nickname Losharik comes from the vessel's multi spherical hull and was taken from a character in the Soviet animated film Losharik, a toy horse consisting of small spheres. The word losharik is a portmanteau of "лошадь" (loshad, 'horse') and "шарик" (sharik, 'small sphere'). The NATO reporting name for this submarine is NORSUB 5. The vessel was referred to in a United States Northern Command briefing as a "dark target" whose activities should be tracked. The Project 09852 modified Oscar class submarine Belgorod, was specially refitted in order to transport Losharik, in support of GUGI operations.

A fire broke out on the vessel on 1 July 2019 while it was taking underwater measurements of the sea floor in Russian territorial waters. Fourteen of the crew were killed by inhalation of smoke or toxic fumes. Seven of those who died held the rank of first rank captain and two were recipients of the Hero of the Russian Federation award. Submarine commander Denis Dolonsky was among those killed. The presence of such a high ranking crew on a single vessel may be an indication that the vessel was carrying out a high risk task or testing a new capability at the time of the accident. In comparison, submarine Kursk which was lost with all hands after a similar disaster had 118 crew members of whom only two held the rank of captain 1st rank. The fire broke out at around 8:30 p. m. MT, reportedly at the depth of , and was extinguished by the crew. Fishermen in Ura Bay reported that they saw a submarine surface rapidly at around 9:30 p. m. and meet a navy ship and two tugs. Initial reports indicated that Losharik was not attached to its mother submarine when a fire broke out in its battery compartment and that only 5 crewmembers were on watch at the time of the accident with the rest allegedly asleep, as a result only the 5 crewmembers who were on watch managed to don the portable breathing kits in time. Later reports disagree stating that Losharik was either attached to the mother submarine at the time of the fire (reports disagree somewhat whether it was BS 136 Orenburg or BS 64 Podmoskovye), or in the process of docking with the mother submarine which was successfully completed despite the fire. Crewmembers fought the fire for over 40 minutes and then requested permission to evacuate to the mother submarine when the oxygen supply in their portable breathing devices ran out. In total 5 crewmembers (allegedly all from Losharik) are believed to have survived the incident. The engineering compartments containing the nuclear reactor were allegedly intact. The incident was the worst loss of life on a Russian submarine since the 2008 K 152 Nerpa accident which killed 20 men. On 2 July, Shoygu reported on the fire to Putin, the Supreme Commander in Chief of the Russian Armed Forces, at a meeting in the Kremlin. Initially, some media outlets complained that the Russian Government was attempting to cover up the accident, drawing parallels to the submarine Kursk disaster; some went as far as comparing the event to the Chernobyl disaster, even though the incident was reported to the public one day after it took place. Some journalists speculated that the men who died had sacrificed themselves to save the vessel by sealing themselves into the compartment where the fire broke out. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority stated that they had been notified by the Russians of a gas explosion aboard the vessel, though Russian authorities denied this. On 4 July, it was announced that the fire had originated in the battery compartment. Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu also said that the submarine was nuclear powered, but that the reactor had been isolated from the fire. According to Shoygu, the submarine could be repaired and returned to service. On 5 July, four members were posthumously awarded Hero of Russia while ten members were posthumously awarded Order of Courage.

Forensic investigation has shown that the fire started with a massive explosion in the submarine's battery compartment. Burning batteries fuelled the fire despite the best efforts of the crew. Losharik was designed to use silver zinc batteries made in Ukraine. After the worsening of Russia–Ukraine relations caused by the war in Donbass, the batteries were substituted with lithium ion batteries produced by Saint Petersburg company Rigel (Ригель) that were certified for use in submarines. Investigators are checking whether the safety testing of those batteries was sufficient. The other hypotheses include unexpected loads on the batteries caused by a short circuit somewhere on the submarine, or sabotage. Due to its unique top secret design, and possibly secretive mission, the Russian government has been tight lipped about the incident, as have the American and Norwegian governments who may have surveilled the incident. The submarine may remain out of service until 2024 or 2025.