"riot" at the "watchdog" unit. Revolt of the "Sentinel"

In the combat composition of the Pacific Fleet there is a ship, about which legends are intertwined with reality to this day, and the actions of its political officer, captain of the 3rd rank Valery Sablin, who seized the Watchdog on November 9, 1975 and challenged Leonid Brezhnev and his team, did not receive an unambiguous assessments in society to this day.

After participating in the naval parade on the occasion of the 58th anniversary of the October Revolution on November 7, 1975, the patrol ship "Watchdog" stood on the roadstead of Riga. On the morning of November 9, he was supposed to weaken anchor and sail to Liepaja.

Reference. The large anti-submarine ship "Sentinel" was built in Kaliningrad. He entered the combat strength of the Baltic Fleet in March 1974. Displacement 2735/3100. Dimensions: 123, 1x14.2x7.2. Armament: rocket and artillery, torpedoes, mines. 4 gas turbines = 52,000 HP sec., speed 32 knots, autonomy 30 days. The crew is 194 people, including 15 officers and 14 warrant officers. Until 1978, the "Sentry" and ships of the same type were classified as BOD, then they were transferred to the SKR class (patrol ships).

On the evening of November 8, when the ship's personnel had once again been "played" the movie "Battleship Potemkin", the political commander of the 3rd rank Valery Sablin isolated the commander of the "Sentry" captain of the 2nd rank A. Potulny in a hydroacoustic post, locking him there on castle, gathered officers and warrant officers in the wardroom and spoke to them with his vision of the situation in the Soviet Union. He talked about the departure of the country's leadership from Lenin's principles in the construction of socialism, bureaucracy, fraud and postscripts, the use of official position by party-Soviet bosses for personal purposes, abuse in trade and law enforcement agencies, violation of social justice in Soviet society, which causes grumbling and discontent among population of the country. As a way out of this situation, Captain 3rd Rank Valery Sablin proposed to wean anchor early in the morning of November 9, declare the "Watchdog" territory an independent territory and go to Kronstadt, where to demand on behalf of the crew the leadership of the party and the state to provide him with the opportunity to appear on central television from the presentation of their views. On the proposal of the political officer on this issue, a vote was immediately held. 10 officers (the majority) and 5 warrant officers out of 14, who did not share the views of V. Sablin, were isolated in their cabins, so that later if something happened they would not be held responsible.

Reference. Sablin Valery Mikhailovich, captain of the 3rd rank, deputy commander of the "Watchdog" battalion for political affairs. Born in 1939 in the family of a hereditary military sailor. Member of the CPSU since 1959. In 1960 he graduated from the Leningrad Higher Naval School named after V.I. Frunze. Until 1969, he served in combat positions and from the position of assistant commander of the patrol ship of the Northern Fleet entered the Military-Political Academy named after V.I. Lenin, from which he graduated in 1973. In August of the same year, he was appointed deputy political officer at the "Watchdog" military-industrial complex. In service, he was attested positively. Married. Son born in 1962.

At 23 o'clock. 20 minutes. at the signal “Big gathering” sailors and foremen were lined up, to whom the political officer also addressed with his program, noting that the alleged actions were not a violation of the oath and treason to the Motherland and that he took all responsibility for the action. To the question: where is the commander and whether he shares the plans of the political officer, Valery Sablin honestly answered that the commander of the ship does not support him, and therefore is temporarily isolated.

Then a vote was held among the sailors and foremen, some of whom agreed with the proposal of their political officer, others did not support him, the bulk of the general turned out to be passive, not expressing their position. After that, the crew was given the command: "Hang up!"

At 23 o'clock. 30 minutes. Senior Lieutenant V. Firsov escaped from the “Sentry”. Descending the mooring line to the barrel, he moved to the nearby submarine B-49, where he informed her commander about the mutiny on the ship. The summoned boat brought Firsov to the shore, where he told the chief of staff of the 78th brigade of ships for the protection of the water area and the special officer of this brigade about the events on the “Storozhev”.

As soon as it became known about the disappearance of Senior Lieutenant Firsov, Sablin decided, without waiting for the morning, to go to sea. At about 3 o'clock on November 9, 1975, the “Watchman” took off from the barrels and headed for the Gulf of Riga. At this time, another crew member managed to leave the ship - Sergeant Major of the 1st Class Yu. Shevelev, who, like Senior Lieutenant V. Firsov, jumped onto a barrel, from where he was later taken by boat to the shore.

An hour later, the deputy commander of the ship for political affairs, Captain 3rd Rank Valery Sablin tried to go on the air in plain text with his address to the people Soviet Union... However, the cipher refused to do this, citing the fact that in this case the ciphers would be declassified, they would have to be changed in the Navy, which would cause very significant damage to the treasury ...

And then the rebellious political commander turned to his compatriots through a secret connection: “Everyone, everyone, everyone! Says BOD “Watchdog” ... ”Then he stated his pain for the country and his plan of action, ending his appeal with a plea-appeal:“ Support us, comrades! ”

The country, of course, did not hear this cry from the heart.

But the commander-in-chief of the USSR Navy, to whom Sablin also sent a telegram with his proposals and demands, was shocked, like the Minister of Defense ... They did not immediately dare to inform Leonid Ilyich about the incredible emergency. And when they finally reported, Brezhnev cursed for a long time both at the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy S. Gorshkov and at the old front-line friend of the USSR Defense Minister Marshal A. Grechko. And only after that the Secretary General approved and approved the order of the Minister of Defense: to stop the rebellious ship at any cost. In case of disobedience, destroy!

A duty ship strike group of the Baltic Fleet, 2 border patrol ships, as well as aviation, including strategic ones, were sent to “take” “Sentinel”, since Moscow after the incident ceased to trust the fleet. All these forces were ready in accordance with the order to destroy the rebellious ship, which, as announced by the higher command, intends to leave for Sweden, and at the same time all living things around ... to use weapons against it, at the course of the ship, and then machine-gun and artillery fire was opened at it, aerial bombs flew from the Tu-95, as a result of which the BOD received more than 30 holes. The "watchman" stubbornly walked forward, did not enter the battle.

In the meantime, a group of sailors headed by Sergeant Major 1st Class V. Kopylov, seeing that things were taking a very steep turn, made an attempt to free the commander. But they got in the way of V. Sablin's closest assistant, sailor Alexander Shein, who first suggested listening to the opinion of the political officer who was on the command bridge. The sailors agreed with Shein, but when he left for Sablin, they discovered the commander. Captain 2nd Rank A. Potulny immediately ordered to open the arsenal and arm everyone who supported him, and then, bursting into the main command post of the ship, fired a pistol at his political officer. As Potulny would later say: “Fearing that Sablin would suddenly shoot, I aimed at his liver, but thinking that the investigation would need him, I shot him in the leg ...”

The wounded Sablin was arrested and armed with an armed guard. The same was done with his supporters.

At 10 o'clock. 32 minutes On November 9, the "Watchman", by order of the captain of the 2nd rank A. Potulny, stopped the course. The commander reported to the command by radio that the rioters had been arrested, he resumed his duties and was awaiting instructions.

Soon a boat approached the ship, and stern men in civilian clothes took Captain 3rd Rank V. Sablin and his supporters from the Sentry on board, 11 people in all.

High-ranking members of a specially created commission conducted a “showdown” with those who remained on the ship for another week, as a result of which the personnel of the large anti-submarine ship Sentorozhevoy repented and “expressed indignation at Sablin's treacherous actions and asked to assure the Minister of Defense, the Central Committee of the CPSU and personally Comrade Brezhnev L. I . in the fact that the sailors, foremen, warrant officers and officers are deeply aware of their temporary delusion and are ready to fulfill their military duty. "

Immediately after that, the Sentry crew was disbanded, and the ship was handed over to a new crew. The Navy took the strictest measures to exclude information leakage on the fact of this emergency.

“Sentry” received the crew of Pacific sailors, who turned up on the arm of the superiors: they arrived to receive a new ship for the Pacific Fleet and turned out to be very useful. The rebellious BOD was removed from sight, away from the military and party-Soviet leadership of the country - to Kamchatka.

The author of these lines, shortly after the events described, happened to serve "in the land of volcanoes." Despite the strictest taboo about the state of emergency on the "Watchman", some information still leaked out from under the veil of secrecy and went about in naval circles. True, it was far from reality and resembled a legend, which, as usual, always happens when there is no reliable information available: they say, the ship was captured by the Baltic nationalists from among the officers of the BOD, who, interrupting the command and deceiving the crew, tried to hijack it to Sweden. However, our glorious aviation attacked the adversaries and did not allow them to go beyond the cordon ...

Perhaps, realizing that, despite all efforts, the “sewn in a sack” could not be concealed, this version of events was launched from above, which, in the opinion of the leadership, was more acceptable, they say, damned nationalists are raging in a friendly family of fraternal peoples than to allow people to learn the truth about the political insurgency of the Russian political officer ...

The investigation into the events of November 9, 1975 at the Sentorozhevoy airborne vehicle lasted 9 months. In the end, all, except for the captain of the 3rd rank V. Sablin and the sailor A. Shein, were released from Lefortovo in peace on orders from above. They pleaded guilty to everything and deeply repented. Sablin and Shein stayed. They had to suffer severe punishment so that in the future it would be discouraging to others to encroach on the foundations of the System. Criminal case No. 131 comprised 40 volumes (as it was recently reported, the secrecy label has not been removed from it until now). At the Lubyanka, the very fact of a military mutiny on a battleship tried to leave behind the scenes.

As the former senior investigator of the KGB of the USSR, Oleg Dobrovolsky, testified in the documentary film "Russian Tragedy": in the carriage ... At the same time, he did not consider himself a traitor to the Motherland, asserted that he was trying to act for the good of the Motherland. "

He rejected the political politician and the accusations that he wanted to hijack the ship to Sweden, which was confirmed by his fellow witnesses, just as he did not call to go over to the side of the enemy ...

The performance of Captain 3rd Rank V. Sablin was not spontaneous. Rebellious thoughts began to visit him after the shooting of a workers' demonstration in June 1962 in Novocherkassk that the life of people in the Soviet Union is far from the proclaimed principles of social justice. And in 1973, after graduating from the military-political academy, he came to grips with the question of how to convey the “voice of truth” to the people, which ultimately cost him his life.

Valery Sablin graduated from the naval school in Leningrad on the embankment of the rebel Lieutenant Schmidt, whose portrait was found in his cabin after his arrest ...

Valery Sablin's brothers Boris and Nikolai later spoke of him like this: “People of his character could not stand it in that system and either got drunk or dissident and sat in the camps. He tried to shout the words of truth, but he was not allowed to do so ... "

Had the ship been hijacked, Sablin's fate would have been, I think, not so tragic.

Five years earlier, in July 1970, Admiral Baikov, the commander of the Leningrad naval base and the first secretary of the Leningrad regional committee of the CPSU, Tolstikov, drunk "to death", seizing a warship and threatening reprisals against the crew who tried to hinder, hijacked him ... to Finland, thus committing in essence a terrorist act.

The good Finns, "tying up" high-ranking Soviet bosses, returned them along with the ship to their homeland.

In contrast to the case with Sablin, when no one really knew what had happened on the "Watchman", the incident of 1970 was commented in every way in various "voices of the enemy": still, such a funny plot from the life of the Soviets!

And what happened to the hijackers of the warship, who made so much noise all over the world? Nothing special: the admiral was simply expelled from the fleet, and the leader of the Leningrad communists, Comrade Tolstikov, went as ambassador to China ...

And what? There were no “politicians” in their actions, they did not oppose the system. And the hijacking of a ship abroad ... With whom does a drunken quirk not happen ?!

The deputy commander for political affairs of the Sentinel BPK, Captain 3rd Rank Valery Sablin, being absolutely sober, went ahead against the system. And she destroyed him.

In July 1976, the military collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR "taking into account the severity of the crime committed by the traitor to the Motherland Sablin" sentenced him to the death penalty.

His “active accomplice” Shein was sentenced to 8 years in prison, serving the first 2 years in prison. (In fact, A. Shein served 5.5 years in prison and 2.5 years in a colony strict regime... - Auth.)

Well, "Sentinel" is still in the ranks, protecting the Far Eastern sea borders of Russia. And only "patches" in the places of holes received by the ship in November 1975 remind knowledgeable people of past tragic events ...

Andrew Vladoff writes:

Alexis writes:
It wasn't like that. Read on. There are many materials on this topic on the net.

What exactly is wrong?

The sequence of his actions.
"... On the evening of November 8, when the crew watched the film" Battleship Potemkin "(later, the investigation will not be able to establish whether this was a coincidence, or Sablin had unidentified accomplices on the ship), the political commander reported to the commander of the ship, Captain Potulny, that in The hydroacoustics' radio room made a terrible drunkenness.The commander, red with anger, rushed there, but as soon as he was in the radio room, the political officer slammed and shut the door behind him.

After that, the captain of the III rank entered the wardroom and made a speech to the officers and warrant officers of the "Sentinel". There were 29 of them (15 officers and 14 warrant officers) against one Sablin. The zampolit announced that he took command of the ship and intends to lead him to Leningrad in order to address the people from there with an appeal: "The fatherland is in danger, the authorities are mired in lies, filth and corruption, we need democracy, freedom of speech, purification" ... "

Andrew Vladoff writes:

In addition to Sablin and Shein, the rebellion was supported by three lieutenants and several midshipmen. This is not the majority.

You're right. Here is more specific:
"... Those present were silent, only a few officers and warrant officers declared that they largely shared Sablin's convictions. However, no one wanted to help him navigate the ship to Leningrad. Then Valery suggested that everyone who disagreed with him spend some time under lock and key. All 29 people cowardly stepped into the hold, so that, after sitting there, and continue to write in their questionnaires "was not, was not, did not participate" ...
http://topwar.ru/1821-1975-god-b...storozhevom.html

By the way, Shein is a sailor. The sailors supported the riot at first, and then renounced, each citing different reasons - mainly a momentary weakness or momentary impulses.
"... Then Sablin turned to the sailors (165 people). He spoke about corruption at the top, that the authorities squander the national wealth of Russia, ruin the country and its people - it is necessary to speak on television, tell the truth and ensure that the country is ruled honest people, not proteges of family political dynasties. ”During the investigation, a sailor by the name of Shein testified:“ After his speech, general enthusiasm began. What we were talking about among ourselves in the smoking rooms suddenly sounded publicly. It was like a holiday. A sense of dignity has awakened in everyone. We felt ourselves as people. "Of all, only Shein followed Sablin consciously, realizing the consequences. For the rest, it was a momentary impulse, the hope of a dream come true, warmed up by the film about the uprising on the battleship. Subsequently, almost all of them will renounce their" yes "(who voluntarily, who are under pressure) and condemn the political officer. Only 18 sailors will remain on his side ... "
http://topwar.ru/1821-1975-god-b...storozhevom.html

Ultimately, the political officer's gamble ended in failure. It seems that he was cut off from the realities of military affairs and did not represent the consequences. Moreover, he did not understand that no one would let him do what he had planned.
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All people are different.
Treat people the way you would like them to treat you.

November 9th, 2015

40 years ago, on November 8, 1975, Captain Valery Sablin raised an uprising aboard the Sentinel ship. On that day, Sablin addressed the crew with the words: “The current state apparatus must be thoroughly cleansed and partially thrown into the dustbin of history. Action plan - we go to Kronstadt, and then to Leningrad - the city of three revolutions ”. He isolated the commander of the ship, unauthorizedly removed the ship from the roadstead in Riga and took him to Leningrad. The uprising was suppressed immediately.

Valery Mikhailovich Sablin was born on January 1, 1939 in Leningrad in the family of a hereditary naval sailor Mikhail Sablin. In 1960 he graduated from the Frunze Leningrad Higher Naval School. Received the specialty of a ship artilleryman and began service in the Northern Fleet as an assistant commander of a 130-mm gun battery destroyer... Until 1969, he served in combat positions and, from the position of assistant commander of a patrol ship of the Northern Fleet, entered the Lenin Military-Political Academy. He graduated from the Academy in 1973 with honors: his name was engraved on a marble plaque among the names of other best graduates of the academy (in November 1975, he was hastily knocked out with a chisel). After graduating from the academy, Captain III rank Sablin was appointed political commander on the large anti-submarine ship "Sentinel".

Sablin has developed a detailed program for the reorganization of society. Sablin was distinguished by high political activity and had already written to Khrushchev, setting out his thoughts on the purity of the party ranks. He advocated a multi-party system, freedom of speech and discussion, changing the order of elections in the party and the country. The officer decided to announce his program, pointing out the serious mistakes and decomposition of the Soviet leadership, from the "tribune" of the "Watchdog" BPK.

However, Sablin could not immediately realize his plan. The ship was new, the crew was just being formed. The officers were busy with work. During military service, the political officer studied the crew and gradually introduced some of its members to their views and plans, found like-minded people among them. Sablin had an opportunity to speak in the fall of 1975, when the ship was sent for scheduled repairs to Liepaja, but before that he was ordered to take part in the naval parade in Riga, dedicated to the 58th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution. Some of the ship's officers went on vacation, their absence was in the hands of Sablin.

On November 6, 1975, the "Watchman" arrived at the raid of Riga. On November 8, 1975, at about 19 o'clock, Sablin tricked and locked the ship's commander Anatoly Potulny on the lower deck. After that, he gathered 13 officers and 13 warrant officers in the midshipman's wardroom, where he outlined his views and proposals. In particular, he said that the leadership of the USSR had departed from Leninist principles. Sablin proposed to make an unauthorized transfer of the ship to Kronstadt, to declare it an independent territory, on behalf of the crew to demand from the leadership of the party and the country to provide him with the opportunity to speak on Central Television expressing his views. According to another version, Sablin planned to lead the ship to Leningrad, to get on the roadstead next to the Aurora and from there go on TV every day, calling on the citizens of the USSR to the communist revolution, to change the Brezhnev party and state apparatus and establish social justice.

Sablin offered to vote for his proposals. Some of the officers supported him, and 10 who opposed were isolated. In fact, the officers and warrant officers (even those who did not agree with Sablin in everything to the end) allowed Sablin to seize the ship. They allowed it by their non-resistance, by their self-withdrawal from the course of events, by their consent to arrest. Then Sablin gathered the crew of the ship and spoke to the sailors and foremen. He announced that most of the officers were on his side and invited the crew to support him as well. The disoriented crew offered no resistance. In fact, one determined and active person subdued the entire crew to his will. The captain could have prevented him, but Sablin skillfully isolated him from the crew.

The plans of the political officer were violated by the commander of the ship's electrical engineering group, Senior Lieutenant Firsov, who managed to quietly leave the "Sentinel" and report emergency... As a result, Sablin lost the surprise factor. He took the ship out of the port and directed it towards the exit from the Gulf of Riga.

Vice-Admiral Kosov ordered the ships stationed in the Riga roadstead to catch up with the rebel. Reports on the state of emergency on the "Storozhev" were immediately sent to the Ministry of Defense and the Kremlin. An alarming call found the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral of the Soviet Union Fleet, Gorshkov at his dacha; on the way to Moscow, he got in touch from the car with the country's defense minister, Marshal Grechko. The minister's order was short: "Catch up and destroy!"

On alert, the ships of the border guard and the Baltic Fleet, as well as the 668th Bomber Aviation Regiment, were raised. Then, by order of Marshal Grechko, a strategic aviation regiment - Tu-16 long-range missile carriers took off. The border guards asked for permission to demolish the wheelhouse together with Sablin from machine guns, but Kosov did not allow. The "watchman" was warned: when crossing the 20th meridian, a missile strike will be delivered to destroy.

On November 9 at 10 o'clock in the morning, Admiral Gorshkov transmitted the order to the "Watchdog" by radio: "Stop the course!" Captain Sablin refused. Marshal Grechko repeated the order on his own behalf. Instead of an answer, Sablin broadcast an appeal: “Everyone! Everyone! Everyone! .. "The ship's radio operator at the end of the text added from himself:" Goodbye, brothers! "

At about three o'clock in the morning on November 9, 1975, the 668th Bomber Aviation Regiment, based at the Tukums airfield, two dozen kilometers from Jurmala, was raised on alert.

With the Yak-28 front-line bombers outdated by that time, the regiment was not prepared for air strikes against naval targets at night in difficult meteorological conditions with the established minimum weather.

The regiment commander, as required by the Combat Regulations, began to make a decision to strike the ship, the deputies and chiefs of services - to prepare proposals for a decision, the headquarters - to carry out the necessary calculations, formalize this decision and organize its implementation.

The army crew of the reconnaissance aircraft, not prepared for such tasks, did not fulfill their task - the ship was not found.

The bomber crew, searching in the estimated area of ​​the Sentor's location, almost immediately found a large surface target within the boundaries of the search area, approached it at a predetermined height of 500 meters, visually identified it in the haze as a battleship of the size of a destroyer, and carried out bombing ahead of heading the ship, trying to put a series of bombs closer to the ship. The bombs exploded almost above its surface, and a sheaf of debris ricocheted right into the side of the ship, which turned out to be a Soviet dry cargo ship that had left the port of Ventspils a few hours earlier.

The error became clear quite quickly: the dry cargo ship in radiotelegraph and radiotelephone modes began to send a distress signal, accompanying it in plain text: a bandit attack in the territorial waters of the Soviet Union. The ships of the Baltic Fleet and the KGB Border Troops received these signals and reported on command. This ship gave a distress signal for more than an hour, until one of the warships approached it. It is known that there were no killed or wounded on board, and the repair of the damage to the vessel cost the Ministry of Defense a tanker of rectified spirit and a five-ton truck of oil paint (all of the above was taken to Ventspils).

And about. the commander of the air army suddenly ordered to raise the entire regiment as soon as possible to strike at the ship (while exact location the ship was still not known).

The head of the flight at the control tower (KDP), being the first to understand the absurdity and danger of the current situation, forbade anyone to take off without his permission, thereby incurring a storm of negative emotions from the regiment commander. To the credit of the old and experienced lieutenant colonel, who showed firmness, the takeoff of the regiment to perform a combat mission acquired a manageable character. But it was no longer possible to build the regiment's battle order developed in advance in the air, and the planes went to the strike area interspersed on two echelons with a minute interval on each. In fact, it was already a flock, not controlled by squadron commanders in the air, and an ideal target for two shipborne missile defense systems with a 40-second firing cycle. WITH high degree Probably, it can be argued that if the ship really reflected this air strike, then all 18 aircraft of this "order of battle" would be shot down.

At this time, the plane, searching for the ship from the side of the island of Gotland, finally found a group of ships, two of which on the radar sight screen looked larger, and the rest lined up like a front. Having violated all the prohibitions not to descend below 500 meters, the crew passed between two warships at an altitude of 50 meters, which they identified as large anti-submarine ships (BOD). There was 5-6 km between the ships, on board one of them the desired side number of the rebellious "Sentinel" was clearly visible. The second was the pursuit ship. The regiment's command post immediately received a report on the azimuth and distance of the ship from the Tukums airfield, as well as a confirmation request for its attack. Having received permission to attack, the crew performed a maneuver and attacked the ship from a height of 200 meters in front of the side at an angle of 20-25 degrees from its axis. Sablin, controlling the ship, competently thwarted the attack, vigorously maneuvering towards the attacking aircraft to a heading angle equal to 0 degrees.

The bomber was forced to stop the attack (it was unlikely to hit a narrow target when bombing from the horizon) and with a decrease to 50 meters (the crew always remembered about two Osa-type air defense systems) slipped right over the ship. With a small climb to an altitude of 200 meters, he performed a maneuver called in the Air Force tactics "a standard 270-degree turn", and attacked the ship again from the side from behind. Quite reasonably assuming that the ship would get out of the attack by maneuvering in the opposite direction from the attacking aircraft, the crew attacked at such an angle that the ship did not have time to turn around to the aircraft's heading angle equal to 180 degrees before dropping the bombs.

It happened exactly as expected by the bomber crew. Sablin tried not to substitute the side of the ship, fearing top-mast bombing (he did not know that the bomber did not have the bombs that are needed for this method of bombing). The first bomb of the series hit right in the middle of the deck on the ship's quarterboard, destroyed the deck cover during the explosion and jammed the rudder of the ship in the position in which it was. Other bombs of the series fell with a flight at a slight angle from the axis of the ship and damaged the rudder and propellers. The ship began to describe wide circulation and stalled.

The bomber crew, having carried out the attack, began to climb sharply, keeping the Sentry in sight and trying to determine the result of the strike, when they saw a series of signal flares fired from the attacked ship. The report at the command post of the regiment sounded very briefly: it was launching missiles. On the air and on the command post of the regiment, a dead silence was instantly established, because everyone was waiting for the launches of the closed switchgear and did not forget about it for a minute. Who got them? After all, the convoy of single aircraft had already approached the point where the ship was located. These moments of absolute silence seemed like a long hour. After some time, a clarification followed: signal flares, and the ether literally exploded with a discordant hubbub of crews trying to clarify their combat mission.

The regiment's planes reached the target, and the first crew of the regiment's column jumped onto one of the pursuit ships and immediately attacked it, mistaking it for a rebellious ship. The attacked ship dodged the falling bombs, but responded with fire from all its automatic anti-aircraft guns. The ship fired a lot, but by, and this is understandable: the border guards have hardly ever fired at a "live", skillfully maneuvering plane.

And it was only the first bomber of 18 in the regiment's column that attacked, and who will be attacked by the rest? At this point in time, no one doubted the pilots' determination: neither the rebels nor the pursuers. Apparently, the naval command asked itself this question in time, and found the correct answer, realizing that it was time to stop this bacchanal of strikes, in fact, "organized" by them. On the air in clear text in radiotelephony mode on the VHF-channels of aviation control, "Control exercises of the forces of the fleet and aviation - retreat" was repeatedly carried out.

Even before the visual and demonstrative bombing of the ship, its personnel, who began to proactively take measures to disable weapons and part of the technical means, self-organized and took vigorous actions to free the commander and officers.

At 10.20, even before the airplane dropped the bombs, they were liberated by a group of brave sailors.

The actions of the ship commander during the liberation and in the future were swift and decisive. By his order, the arsenal was opened, sailors, foremen and officers were armed.

Here is how the commander of the "Sentry" himself tells about it:
“I tried to get out of the compartment where Sablin lured me. I found some piece of iron, broke the lock at the hatch, got into the next compartment - it was also locked. When he broke this lock too, the sailor Shein blocked the hatch with a sliding emergency stop. That's all, you can't get out yourself. But then the sailors began to guess what was happening. Petty Officer 1 of Article Kopylov with the sailors (Stankevichus, Lykov, Borisov, Nabiev) pushed Shein away, knocked out the emphasis and freed me. I took a pistol, the others armed themselves with machine guns and in two groups - one from the side of the tank, and I along the inner passage - began to climb to the bridge. Seeing Sablin, the first impulse was to shoot him right there, but then the thought flashed: "He will still be useful to justice!" I shot him in the leg. He fell. We went up to the bridge, and I announced on the radio that order was restored on the ship. "

This was the only case of the use of firearms on board the Sentinel.

Then a boarding group was landed on deck, arresting the wounded instigator of the uprising. Sablin and his supporters were arrested. Sablin immediately took all the blame for what happened, without naming anyone as accomplices.

The military collegium of the USSR Supreme Court accused Sablin of treason and sentenced him to death. The investigation announced that this entire political program was developed only for the purpose of deceiving future associates: in fact, Sablin was going to lead the ship not to Leningrad, but to the Swedish island of Gotland, where the ship's political officer intended to ask for political asylum in the United States. Sablin categorically rejected accusations of treason and an attempt to hijack a warship abroad. Captain 3rd Rank Valery Sablin and several other people involved in the mutiny were stripped of their titles and awards. Sablin was shot on August 3, 1976 in Moscow.

After the collapse of the USSR, Sablin and Shein were talked about as victims totalitarian regime... The law enforcement agencies undertook to review their case three times, and on the third attempt in 1994 the military collegium of the Supreme Court reviewed it, taking into account the new circumstances. The "firing squad" article about treason to the Motherland was reclassified into articles about military crimes - abuse of power, disobedience and resistance to the authorities, which together dragged out "only" 10 years of imprisonment. At the same time, the judges wrote in a separate line that Sablin and Shein were not subject to complete rehabilitation. According to the newspaper "Arguments and Facts", the investigation file also contains a letter from Sablin to his parents, seized during a search, dated November 8, 1975. "Dear, beloved, my good daddy and mommy! - Sablin wrote. - It was very difficult to start writing this letter, as it will probably cause you anxiety, pain, and maybe even indignation and anger towards me ... By my actions only one desire leads - to do what is in my power, so that our people, the good, powerful people of our Motherland, awaken from political slumber, for it has a destructive effect on all aspects of the life of our society ... "

From Sablin's appeal to to the Soviet people recorded on magnetic tape (transcript of the KGB investigation authorities):

“Comrades! Hear the text of the talk we are aiming to deliver on radio and television.

First of all thank you very much for your support, otherwise I would not have talked with you today. Our speech is not a betrayal of the Motherland, but a purely political, progressive speech, and those who try to prevent us will be traitors to the Motherland. My comrades asked to convey that in the event of hostilities against our country, we will adequately defend it. And now our goal is different: to raise the voice of truth.

We are firmly convinced that many honest people in the Soviet Union have the need to express their views on the internal situation in our country, moreover, a purely critical plan in relation to the policy of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet government.

[...] Lenin dreamed of a state of justice and freedom, and not of a state of rigid subordination and political lawlessness. […] I think there is no point in proving that at present the servants of society have already become masters over society. In this regard, everyone has more than one example from life. We are witnessing a game of formal parliamentarism in elections to Soviet bodies and in the performance by the Soviets of their duties. In fact, the fate of the entire people is in the hands of the elected elite in the person of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee. The all-encompassing concentration of power, political, state, has become a stable and generally recognized fact. The destruction of dissidents during the period of the personality cult of Stalin and Khrushchev played a particularly fatal role in the development of the revolutionary process in our country. And now, for information, up to 75 people are also arrested annually for political reasons. The belief in the existence of justice in our society has disappeared. And this is the first symptom of a serious illness in society. […] For some reason, it is believed that the people should be content with facts and be a politically weak-willed mass. And the people need political activity ... Tell me, where, in which print organ or in radio and television programs, criticism of the upper classes is allowed? This is out of the question. And we must honestly admit that we do not have a political or public body that would allow to develop a discussion on many controversial issues of public, political, economic and cultural development our country, since everything is under pressure from party and state bodies. The most advanced system in social development in a historically short period of time, 50 years, was refracted into such social system, in which the people found themselves in a musty atmosphere of unquestioning faith in instructions from above, in an atmosphere of political powerlessness and wordlessness, in which the fear of opposing the party and other state body flourishes, as this will affect their personal fate. Our people have already suffered greatly and are suffering because of their political lack of rights. Only a narrow circle of specialists knows how much harm has been done and continues to be brought about by the voluntaristic intervention of state and party bodies in the development of science and art, in the development of armed forces and the economy, into a solution national issues and education of youth.

We, of course, can laugh a million times over the satire of Raikin, the Krokodil magazine, the Wick magazine, but someday tears must appear through laughter about the present and future of the Motherland. It's time not to laugh anymore, but to bring someone to a national court and ask them with all severity for all this bitter laugh. Now a difficult situation has developed in our country: on the one hand, on the external, official, in our society there is universal harmony and social harmony, no matter what - a nation-wide state, and on the other hand, there is general individual dissatisfaction with the existing state of affairs. […] Our performance is just a small impulse that should be the beginning of a splash. [...] Will the communist revolution have the character of an acute class struggle in the form of an armed struggle or will it be limited political struggle? It depends on a number of factors. First, whether the people will immediately believe in the need for social transformations. And that the way to them is only through the communist revolution. Or it will be a long process of growing public understanding, political consciousness. Secondly, will an organizing and inspiring force of the revolution be created in the near future, that is, a new revolutionary party based on a new advanced theory. And, finally, how fiercely the upper classes will resist the revolution, drown it in the blood of the people, and this largely depends on which side the troops, militia and other armed units will take. One can only theoretically assume that the presence of modern media, communications and transport, as well as a high cultural level of the population, great experience social revolutions in the past will allow our people to force the government to abandon violent counter-revolutionary measures and direct the revolution along a peaceful path of development. However, we must never forget that revolutionary vigilance is the basis for the success of the struggle in a revolutionary era, and therefore we must be prepared for various turns in history. Our main task at the moment, when there is still no wide network of revolutionary circles throughout the country, there are no trade union, youth, or public (and they will grow quickly like mushrooms after rain), the main task now is to instill in people unshakable faith in the vital necessity of the communist revolution, that there is no other way, everything else will lead to internal, even greater complications and torments. And the doubts of one generation will still result in a resolution of the next generation, more painful and difficult. This belief in the need for revolution will be the rain that will give organizational shoots.

[…] The question immediately arises - who, what class will be the hegemon of the revolution? This will be the class of the working, worker-peasant intelligentsia, to which we include, on the one hand, highly skilled workers and peasants, and on the other hand, engineering and technical personnel in industry and agriculture. This class is the future. It is a class that will gradually turn into a classless society after the communist revolution. And who will oppose this class? What is the social face of the adversary? Manager class. He is not numerous, but he has a concentrated management of the economy, media, finance. The entire state superstructure is built on the basis of it, and at the expense of it it is kept. The class of managers includes liberated party and trade union workers, leaders of large and medium-sized production collectives and shopping centers, who successfully use, without violating, of course, Soviet laws, the socialist economic system for personal enrichment, personal affirmation in society as a master, by receiving through state network additional material and moral benefits. This new system of exploitation through the circulation of capital through the state budget requires more detailed study for exposure and destruction. […]

And, finally, the pivotal issue of any revolution is the issue of power ... It is assumed ... that, firstly, the current state apparatus will be thoroughly cleansed, and in some nodes broken and thrown into the dustbin of history, since it is deeply infected with nepotism, bribery, careerism, arrogant in relation to the people, and secondly, the electoral system should be thrown into the dustbin, turning the people into a faceless mass. Thirdly, all conditions that give rise to the omnipotence and lack of control of state bodies on the part of the masses must be eliminated. Will these issues be resolved through the dictatorship of the leading class? Necessarily! Otherwise, the whole revolution will end with the seizure of power - and no more. Only through the greatest national vigilance is the path to a society of happiness. " […]

“Now listen to the radio message that is supposed to be given to the Fleet command about our performance.

Radiogram addressed to the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy. I ask you to urgently report to the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet government that the flag of the coming communist revolution has been raised at the military-industrial complex "Watchdog".

We demand: first, to declare the territory of the Sentinel ship free and independent of state and party bodies within a year.

The second is to provide an opportunity for one of the crew members, by our decision, to speak on Central Radio and Television for 30 minutes from 21.30 to 22.00 Moscow time every day ...

The third is to provide the "Sentinel" ship with all kinds of rations according to the norms in any base.

Fourth - to allow the "Watchdog" to anchor and mooring in any base and point of the territorial waters of the USSR. Fifth, to ensure the delivery and dispatch of the "Sentinel" mail. Sixth - to allow radio transmission of the radio station "Storozhevoy" in the radio network "Mayak" in the evening. "

From the tape transcript by the KGB investigating authorities:

“ALL! ALL! ALL!

The large anti-submarine ship Sentinel is speaking. We are not traitors to the Motherland or adventurers seeking fame by any means. There is an urgent need to openly raise a number of questions about the political, social and economic development our country, about the future of our people, requiring a collective, namely, nationwide discussion without pressure from government and party bodies. We decided on this speech with a clear understanding of responsibility for the fate of the Motherland, with a feeling of ardent desire to achieve communist relations in our society. But we are also aware of the danger of being destroyed physically or morally by the relevant state authorities or hired persons. Therefore, we look to all honest people in our country and abroad for support. And if at the time indicated by us, at 21.30 Moscow time, one of the representatives of our ship does not appear on your TV screens, please do not go to work the next day and continue this television strike until the government gives up the rude violation of freedom of speech and until our meeting takes place.

Support us, comrades! Goodbye",

Help BPK "Watchdog"

BOD (after renamed SKR) "Sentry" Project 1135 was built in 1973. The first line was adopted on June 4, 1974. Length - 123 meters, width - 14 meters, draft - 4.5 meters. Speed ​​- 32 knots. Autonomy: 30 days.

Armament: anti-submarine missile system "Metel" (4 launchers); 2 anti-aircraft missile systems "Osa" (40 missiles); 2 76 mm AK-726 two-gun automatic artillery mounts; 2 х 4 533 mm torpedo tubes; 2 twelve-barreled rocket launchers 12 RBU-6000; Crew - 190 people.

After the Sablin riot, the crew was disbanded, and the ship across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Ocean We were sent to Vladivostok. In July 1987, after repairs in Vladivostok, the TFR was redeployed to a permanent duty station in Kamchatka. The name has not changed.

"Sentinel" is the most honored of the once large detachment of ships of this project: it covered almost 210 thousand miles, was in combat service 7 times, participated in the rescue of the crew of the submarine K-429, which sank in 1983 in the Sarannaya Bay.

Let me remind you of this story, for example what it is, but we argued with you about, or for example how, but there was also

Captain Sablin - a hero or a traitor? In August 1976. a top secret order was brought to the officers of the fleet, in which it was reported: “July 6-13, 1976. The military collegium of the USSR Supreme Court considered the criminal case against the traitor to the Motherland VM Sablin, who arbitrarily stole on November 9, 1975. from the port of Riga in the direction of Sweden a large anti-submarine ship (BOD) "Sentinel", and its active accomplice Shein A.N. During the trial, the defendants fully pleaded guilty and gave detailed evidence of the crime committed ... The Military Collegium, taking into account the gravity of the crime committed by Sablin, sentenced him to capital punishment (execution). Shein was sentenced to 8 years in prison with the serving of the first two years in prison. " What happened in the Baltic in the fall of 1975? For a long time, information about this in the USSR was classified. In the west, however, these events were covered in sufficient detail and fairly reliably. Although even the special services of the West for a long time believed the version spread by the KGB that Sablin wanted to take the ship to Sweden. The number of those sentenced to death was also greatly exaggerated (82 except for Sablin himself). In 1981. in the USA, T. Kensley's novel The Hunt for Red October was published in a small edition. According to the author, the idea of ​​the novel was prompted to him by a story he heard somewhere about how a Soviet officer Sablin captured a warship. In the novel, the ship has turned into a submarine. It's a shame when we learn about our history from foreign sources. Only by the end of "perestroika" the veil of secrecy was slightly opened. February 27, 1990 the newspaper "Izvestia" was the first of Soviet newspapers published an article by a staff correspondent from New York "Was there a riot on a Soviet destroyer?" Based on various sources (often contradictory), we will try to reconstruct the course of events. In October 1975. the crew of the "Watchdog" ship returned to Baltiysk after many months of military service in the Mediterranean Sea. BOD project 1135 (later renamed to SKR - missile patrol ships) to which belonged the "Guard", built in 1973, had a length of 123m. width - 14m. draft - 4.5m. displacement
3200t. engine power 45000 - 63000hp speed - 32 knots. The armament consisted of four launchers of the Metel anti-submarine missile system (range up to 50 km), two Osa anti-aircraft missile systems (4 launchers, 40 missiles), two 76-mm two-gun automatic artillery mounts AK-726 , two four-tube 533-mm torpedo tubes, two twelve-barreled rocket launchers 12 RBU -6000 (range up to 6 km.). The crew consisted of 196 people. On November 7, a naval parade was to take place in Riga in honor of the next anniversary of the October Revolution, and since there were no modern ships in the capital of Latvia, the “Sentinel” set off there on November 5. After the parade, the ship was to leave for docking in Liepaja. In this regard, all standard ammunition (with the exception of small arms for the crew) was handed over for temporary storage to coastal depots. Below is an excerpt from a top secret report of the commission appointed by order of the USSR Minister of Defense Grechko “to investigate the case of insubordination that took place on November 8-9, 1975. on the large anti-submarine ship "Sentinel" of the 128th brigade of missile ships of the Baltic Fleet ". “At about 19.00 on November 8, VM Sablin fraudulently enticed the commander of the ship, Captain 2nd Rank A.V. Potulny. into the sonar post, slammed the hatch and locked it, thereby isolating the commander from the personnel. Later, the entrance to the room where the commander was isolated was guarded by Sablin's closest accomplice, sailor A.N. Shein. ... After the isolation of the commander of the ship, Sablin gathered 13 officers and 13 warrant officers in the midshipman's wardroom, outlined the hatched since 1963. thoughts about existing, in his opinion, violations of law and justice in Soviet society. At the same time, he demagogically used well-known shortcomings, which are reported in the Soviet press (individual facts of abuse in trade, shortages of some goods, violations of the rules of admission to universities, cases of fraud and postscripts, bureaucracy and the use of official position for personal purposes and etc.). Sablin presented all this as a manifestation of the party and government's departure from Leninist positions in the construction of socialism ... Sablin proposed to make an unauthorized transfer of the ship to Kronstadt, to declare it an independent territory, on behalf of the crew to demand from the leadership of the party and the country to give him the opportunity to speak on the Central television with their views. When asked how these views are linked to his partisanship, he replied that he left the party and did not consider himself connected with it. When asked where the commander of the ship was, he said that the commander was in the cabin and was considering his proposals ... ”. As you can see, there is no talk of flight to Sweden. Based on the recollections of the participants, we will try to present the events in more detail. On November 8, on the occasion of the holiday, a part of the officers and warrant officers of the "Watchdog" (including the first officer) went ashore. In the evening, the sailors watched the film "Battleship Potemkin" (it is obvious that Sablin did not choose this tape by chance). During the demonstration of the film, Sablin went to the commander of the Sentry, Captain 2nd Rank Potulny, and said that the hydroacoustics had started drinking in the wheelhouse. The commander immediately rushed to the post of hydroacoustics, located in the bow enclosure, below the waterline, Sablin hurried after him. When Potulny squeezed into the post, Sablin slammed the steel door behind him. The political commander left his assistant, the ship's librarian and part-time projectionist and senior sailor Shein, to watch the Potulny, having armed him with a pistol. In the room Potulny found a letter left by Sablin, which explained the motives of the sailors' performance. Then the political commander gathered the officers and midshipmen in the wardroom and announced that he took command of the ship and intended to lead him to St. Justice. Further events, as is evident from the same report, developed as follows. Sablin invited the midshipmen and officers with the help of black and white checkers to vote on his considerations, and part of the command staff supported him. 10 officers and 5 warrant officers, who did not share the views of the political officer, were "isolated in two separate rooms." After the end of the film at 21.40 at the signal of the "big gathering" the sailors and foremen lined up on the lower artillery deck, in the stern of the ship. Sablin addressed them with a short speech. According to the testimony of the sailor Maksimenko, he spoke of corruption at the top, that the authorities squander the national wealth of Russia, ruin the country and the people, and the need to change the leadership. Sailor Shein later recalled: “After his speech, general enthusiasm began. What we were talking about among ourselves in the smoking rooms suddenly sounded publicly. It was like a holiday. A sense of dignity has awakened in everyone. We felt ourselves to be human beings. " Sablin called on the team to oppose the unfair order in the state and brought the plan of action to the sailors - “Watchman” goes to Leningrad in order to call for correcting the mistakes made in a televised address. According to his plans, the performance of the "Watchman" was to be supported at the Leningrad naval base, by ordinary Leningraders, and then by the whole country. At the end of his speech, Sablin emphasized the voluntary participation of the crew members in the campaign: "Those who do not want to take part in them can go ashore on a ship's boat." According to A. Shein's testimony relating to 1998. there were no such among the sailors and foremen, only one abstained, the rest supported their political officer (Shein also claimed that the majority of warrant officers voted “for”). Later, almost everyone will renounce their words and condemn Sablin. A different version is given in the commission's report: “Not all of the ship's personnel succumbed to Sablin's agitation, as evidenced by the attempts of individual sailors, foremen and officers to release the commander and capture Sablin at the beginning of events. But these attempts were prevented by Sablin's supporters. " A more detailed address of Sablin was recorded on a tape recorder and broadcast several times during the night (the recording was preserved and was subsequently presented at the trial). Here is a fragment of it: “Thinking hard and long thinking about further actions, I made a decision: to end the theory and become a practitioner. I realized that some kind of tribune is needed from which one could begin to express their free thoughts about the need to change the current state of affairs. Better than a ship, I think you will not find such a platform. And the best of the seas is the Baltic, as it is located in the center of Europe. No one in the Soviet Union has and cannot have such an opportunity as we - to demand from the government permission to speak on television criticizing the internal situation in the country ... Our goal is to raise the voice of truth ... Our people have already suffered and are suffering significantly because of their political lack of rights ... Only a narrow circle of specialists know how much harm has been caused and is bringing voluntaristic interventions of state and party bodies in the development of the Armed Forces and the country's economy, in solving national issues and educating young people ... that, firstly, the current state apparatus will be thoroughly cleansed, and in some nodes it will be smashed and thrown into the dustbin of history, since it is deeply infected with nepotism, bribery, careerism, and arrogance towards the people. Secondly, the electoral system that transforms the people into a faceless mass must be thrown into the dustbin. Thirdly, all conditions that give rise to the omnipotence and lack of control of the state and party apparatus on the part of the masses must be eliminated. .. We are firmly convinced that many honest people in the Soviet Union have the need to express their views on the internal situation in the country, moreover, a purely critical plan in relation to the policy of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet government ... " On November 8-9, the officer in charge of the B-49 submarine, on duty on the roadstead on the Daugava River near Riga, where the ships of the naval parade were stationed, noticed a man on the anchor barrel waving his arms. He was removed, and he told the commander of the submarine, Captain 2nd Rank Svetlovsky, that he, Senior Lieutenant Firsov (Komsomol organizer), had escaped from the "Watchtower" to report a riot that had been raised by the political officer of the ship, Captain 3rd Rank Sablin arresting the commander and going to hijack the ship. Svetlovsky did not immediately believe this, he knew Sablin as an excellent sailor who had gone through all the steps of the naval service before becoming a commissar. While the bosses were being called, while they were getting there, and then they were sorting them out, a report came from the officer of the watch: "The watchman" is being taken off the anchor. But even the unauthorized exit of the ship did not make me believe in the stunning news. It was decided that the ship by mistake, having confused the time, goes for scheduled repairs in Liepaja. The fleet commander, Vice Admiral Kosov, at the beginning of the fourth night tried to get in touch with the BOD, but he did not answer calls. Sablin, having learned about Firsov's escape, realized that it was impossible to hesitate - the suddenness was lost. Having unanchored, the BOD went out of order, miraculously turned around in a narrow river and at 2 hours 50 minutes. (accompanied by border boats) sailed into the Gulf of Riga, heading for the Irbene Strait (located between the Latvian coast of the motherland and the southern tip of Saaremaa, connecting the Gulf of Riga with the Baltic Sea.)
Leningrad is 300 km away. northeast of Riga, and to get there, the ship had to leave through the Irbensky Strait (moving in the direction of the Swedish island of Gotland) from the Gulf of Riga to the Baltic Sea. After that, he could, having rounded the islands of Saarema and Hiiumaa, turn east to the Gulf of Finland - to Leningrad. It is possible to go along the shortest direction to Kronshtat, following first to the north through the Moondzun Strait, but it is dangerous for such large ship as a “Sentinel” because of the narrows, shallows and banks in the area of ​​the Moondzun archipelago. In addition, the ship did not have a navigator and the necessary navigation documents. (Moonsund is the German name for the Väinameri Strait between the Estonian mainland coast and the Moonsund archipelago, which includes about 500 of the largest islands - Saaremaa, Hiiumaa, Muhu). So at the first stage it was difficult to understand where the ship was heading to Leningrad or to Sweden. When the ship passed the Irbensky lighthouse (Irbensky floating lighthouse, it was a ship of a special design built in Finland, which was exhibited annually from 1963 to 1986 in the Baltic Sea on the way to the Irbensky Strait. In 1985 a stationary lighthouse was built) its course was 290 degrees - this is the course for Sweden. The recommended course to Kronstadt from this point is 337grad. This was the reason for the accusation of attempting to hijack a ship to Sweden. Forty-three miles remained from the Irbensky lighthouse to the territorial waters of Sweden, and 330 miles to Kronstadt. Perhaps, if the ship was in free navigation, then such a conclusion would have been legitimate, but the "Sentinel" at the exit from the Irbensky Strait was attacked by bombers and its course could slightly differ from the recommended one. But more on that later. At about four o'clock in the morning, the rebel political politician conveyed a telegram to the commander-in-chief of the Navy Gorshkov: “I ask you to urgently report to the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet government that the flag of the coming communist revolution has been raised on the“ Watchdog ”BPK. We demand: first, to declare the territory of the Sentry ship free and independent of government and party bodies within a year. The second is to allow one of the crew members to speak on Central Radio and Television for 30 minutes ... Our speech is purely political in nature and has nothing to do with betrayal of the Motherland. The homeland will be betrayed by those who will be against us. Within two hours, starting from the time announced by us, we expect a positive response to our requirements. In the event of silence or refusal to comply with the above requirements or attempts to use force against us, the entire responsibility for the consequences will fall on the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee and the Soviet government. " At the same time, the ship's radio station broadcasted an appeal “Everyone! Everyone! .. ”According to other sources, the radio operator, sailor N. Vinogradov, transmitted it only through a closed channel. During the investigation, he explained that there were no open negotiations and broadcasts, although the political commander gave the order to transmit the text “Everyone, everyone! »He did not execute this command. When asked why he answered: “That would be a direct violation of the instructions. Not allowed". The appeal, recorded on a tape, was preserved: “Everyone, everyone! The large anti-submarine ship "Sentinel" is speaking. Our speech is not a betrayal of the Motherland, but a purely political, progressive speech. And those who try to hinder us will be traitors to the Motherland. If the government uses force against us to eliminate us, then you will know about it by the absence of another broadcast on radio and television. And in this case, only your political activity, general action will save the revolution that we have begun. Support us, comrades! " At 7.39 a telegram was sent to the ship from the Central Command Center of the Navy: “Your telegram of the Main Command of the Navy has been received. The Civil Code ordered to return and anchor the roadstead of the Riga settlement. " There was no answer to it. The naval operation to detain the "rebels" was unfolded as follows. On the night of November 9, the commander of the Liepaja naval base received an order from the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Vice-Admiral of Kosovo to overtake the Sentinel BPK that left Riga and heading towards Sweden and “... with visual contact, use artillery to stop the ship. Fire the first salvo ahead along the course, followed by the propellers. At 8.45 am Captain 1st Rank L.S. Rassukovany (commander of the destroyer brigade of the Liepala Naval Base); went to sea on the patrol ship "Komsomolets Litvy" together with him went out a subordinate division of small rocket ships under the command of Captain 2nd Rank A.V. Bobrakov. In total, the group of pursuit ships, according to available information, consisted of one TFR, two missile and three small anti-submarine ships, one submarine, as well as a ship with naval paratroopers on board. According to available sources, it is impossible to say with certainty whether the listed ships of the border guards (they are sometimes called missile boats or patrol ships) that accompanied the "Sentry" from the port of Riga. The commander of the brigade of border patrol ships, 1st rank captain A. Naypert received an order from the commander of the Baltic border district of the KGB of the USSR, Lieutenant General K. Sekretarev, "Immediately open fire to kill and destroy the ship", At 8.55 on the border ship received a semaphore with a BOD “Guardian”: “Friend! We are not traitors to the Motherland. " The border guards refrained from using weapons, the rebel ship was simply escorted, without any active actions to stop or destroy it. A week later, Nipert was removed from command of the brigade and dismissed from the Navy. At 09.05 a.m. on the Sentinel ship, the semaphore of the commander of the Baltic Fleet was transferred: "To the commander and the political officer. I demand to immediately execute the order of the commander-in-chief to return to Riga. In case of return, the safety of the entire crew is guaranteed. " To this, the reply was received that the semaphore was accepted by the commander of the signalmen squad, foreman 2 of the article Surovin. To the question "Where are you going?" answered: "I do not know, Sablin is in command of the ship." The ships of the Liepaja naval base overtook the "Sentinel" already at the moment of the bombing of it by aircraft. Here is how A.V. Bobrakov. “On behalf of the fleet commander, an order has been given to me to overtake the Sentinel, and if it crosses the meridian of 20 degrees. after which the path straight to Sweden, then I was ordered to sink the ship ... When leaving the Irbensky Strait, we overtook the "Sentinel" ... And suddenly I saw how a huge water column shot up in place of the ship, I thought that it had exploded. Then the mass of water settled, and the "Watchman" moves as if nothing had happened. This aviation has already started warning bombing ”. On alarm, two bomber regiments were raised in Tukums and Rumbula (near Riga). According to available information, the pilots of the regiment located in Rumbula refused to use weapons (Swedish radio stations recorded “stormy” radio communications with the crew). Actions of another regiment in August 2004. A. Tsymbalov, who was at that time deputy chief of staff of the 668th Bomber Aviation Regiment (132nd Aviation Division of the 15th Air Army), described in detail the direct participant in the events. “The 668th bap, based at the Tukums airfield, two dozen kilometers from Jurmala, was raised on alert at about three o'clock in the morning on November 9, 1975. It was one of the most trained regiments of the front-line bomber aviation of the Air Force. Armed with the outdated by that time front-line bombers Yak-28, he was prepared to deliver air strikes by the entire regiment at night in difficult meteorological conditions. Having reported to the command post of the division about the received signal and ours, as always during combat readiness checks, an encrypted message was received from the headquarters of the air army with a legend describing the operational-tactical situation, and the task of the regiment. This time, a foreign destroyer URO (guided missile weapon), which has two anti-aircraft missile launchers of the Osa type, invaded the territorial waters of the Soviet Union. Were given geographical coordinates the point of its location in the Gulf of Riga and the task was set - to be ready to deliver an air strike against the ship in order to destroy it. For action on such a target, high-explosive bombs of 500kg caliber were needed. (they were stored in the warehouse in the third ammunition load). The planes were alerted to the bombs of the first ammunition load - OFAB-250SH (high-explosive air assault fragmentation, 250kg caliber), which were stored in the aircraft parking lots. But since they were going to carry out the strike on the ship conditionally, they did not outweigh the bombs. About seven o'clock in the morning from the headquarters air army the location of the ship was specified by phone - at the exit from the strait in the direction of the island of Gotland (Sweden). Closer to dawn, acting Major General Gvozdikov, commander of the 15th Air Force, demanded that two crews be assigned from the regiment's command personnel for warning bombing along the ship's course. But the general forbade changing the ammunition load. Five to six minutes after takeoff of the reconnaissance aircraft, two crews took off (the crew of the deputy commander for flight training and the crew of the chief of fire and tactical training of the regiment, navigator - secretary of the party committee of the regiment) with the task: according to the target designation of the scout, carry out preventive bombing along the course of the ship ... The reconnaissance aircraft did not find the ship at the indicated point and began to visually search for it. The meteorological conditions for aerial visual reconnaissance were not very suitable: morning twilight, broken clouds of 5-6 points with a lower edge at an altitude of 600-700m. horizontal visibility no more than 3-4 km. In such conditions, the reconnaissance aircraft did not fulfill its task - the ship was not found. The bomber crews were forced to split up and look for a target on their own. The crew of the deputy commander for flight training almost immediately discovered a large surface target and went to it at a predetermined height of 500m. visually identified it in the haze as a warship of the size of a destroyer and carried out bombing ahead of the ship's course, trying to place a series of bombs closer to the ship. But a series of bombs fell not in front of the ship's course, but with an undershoot along the line passing through its hull. The assault bombs exploded above the surface of the water, and a sheaf of debris ricocheted right into the side of the ship, which turned out to be a Soviet dry cargo ship that had left the port of Ventspils just a few hours ago. The vessel began to give a distress signal, accompanying it in plain text: “a bandit attack in the territorial waters of the Soviet Union”. Fortunately, there were no dead or wounded on board (the repair of the damage cost the Ministry of Defense an alcohol tanker and a 5-ton truck of oil paint). The second crew, having detected several groups of surface targets, remembering the failure of their friend, descended to an altitude of 200m. (by that time the haze had cleared a little and the visibility became 5-6 km). The vast majority of these were fishing vessels. Time passed, and the ship could not be found. Two crews of the first squadron were preparing to take off to replace them. At this time, the "Watchman" approached the border of the territorial waters of the Soviet Union. Obviously, then the final decision was made to destroy it by any forces, Major General Gvozdikov ordered to raise the entire regiment as soon as possible to strike at the ship, although its exact location was still unknown. In a hurry, we miraculously managed to avoid a plane collision on the runway. The commander of the third squadron, having received an order to take off the squadron according to the option of getting out of the attack, in accordance with a pre-developed plan in as soon as possible taxied to the runway, and immediately began takeoff, while on the other side of the runway, two aircraft of the first squadron were preparing for takeoff. The catastrophe was avoided thanks to the decisive actions of the flight director, but it was no longer possible to build the regiment's developed battle order in the air, and the planes went to the strike area interspersed on two echelons with a minute interval for each. It was an ideal target for two shipborne missile defense systems with a 40-second firing cycle. With a high degree of probability, it can be argued that if the ship had really repelled this air strike, then all 18 aircraft of this “order of battle” would have been shot down. Meanwhile, the second plane (the chief of fire and tactical training) finally found a group of ships, two of which, which looked larger on the radar screen, were at a distance of 5-6 km. apart. Having violated all the prohibitions, the crew passed between two warships at an altitude of 50 m, and clearly saw the desired number on board one of them. The regiment's command post immediately received a report on the azimuth and distance of the ship from the Tukums airfield, as well as a confirmation request for its attack. Having received permission, the crew performed a maneuver and attacked the ship from a height of 200m. front side at an angle of 20-25 degrees. from its axis. Sablin, controlling the ship, competently thwarted the attack, vigorously maneuvering towards the attacking aircraft to a heading angle equal to 0 degrees. The bomber was forced to stop the attack (it was unlikely to hit a narrow target when bombing from the horizon) and with a descent to 50m. (the crew remembered all the time about two "Wasp" type air defense systems) slipped over the ship. and attacked again from the side from behind at such an angle that the ship, before dropping the bombs, did not have time to turn around to the heading angle equal to 180 degrees. The first bomb of the series hit right in the middle of the deck on the ship's poop, destroyed the deck covering during the explosion and jammed the rudder. Other bombs of the series fell with a flight at a slight angle from the axis of the ship and did not cause any damage to the ship. The ship began to describe wide circulation and stalled. Interrupting the retelling of A. Tsimbalov's memoirs, I would like to quote the words of Major General of Justice A. Boriskin, head of the department of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office, according to which “... the bombing was carried out not on the ship, but in front of it, along the course of movement. And, of course, there was not a single hit, not a single damage either on the deck or on the superstructures. " The crew, having carried out the attack, began to climb sharply, keeping the ship in sight and trying to determine the result of the strike. At this time, the first crew of the regiment's column jumped onto one of the pursuit ships and attacked it outright, mistaking it for a rebellious ship. The attacked ship dodged the falling bombs, but responded with fire from all its automatic anti-aircraft guns. The ship was shooting a lot, but by. At this time, the command, in time asking itself the question of what would happen when the remaining 17 bombers went into the attack, decided that it was time to stop the “exercises” and in an open text the command “Control exercises of the forces of the fleet and aviation - retreat” was transferred. By 10 am on November 9, all the regiment's planes landed at their airfield. The division commander gathered the management and flight personnel for "debriefing." The essence of what was said boiled down to the following: the regiment completed the assigned task, while not losing a single aircraft and not killing a single innocent person on the attacked ships. Yes, there were costs, but it was not your fault. Anticipating the upcoming trial, the division commander advised not to hide anything, to tell only the truth, no matter how impartial to the top officials. The runaways were stopped 21 miles outside the Soviet state border and 50 miles from Swedish territorial waters. In the already mentioned report, the subsequent events are described as follows: “Receipt of telegrams with orders from the Minister of Defense, the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and the Commander of the Baltic Fleet to return to the raid and a warning about the use of weapons in case of disobedience, which became known to the crew through radio operators and ransomware, as well as escorting the ship aircraft, ships and boats led to the fact that a significant part of the personnel changed their minds and began to understand the crime of Sablin's plan, to take measures to disable weapons and some of the technical means, began to act more energetically to free the commander and officers. " Further, it is said that at about 10.20 (recall that according to Tsimbalov's recollections by 10.00 all the planes had already returned to base, perhaps this discrepancy is explained by the use of the time of different time zones), even before the bomb was dropped by the plane, a group of 25-30 sailors were the officers and the commander of the ship were released. By order of the ship's commander, the arsenal was opened, some of the sailors, foremen and officers were armed. The commander personally arrested Sablin, wounding him in the leg. Here is how the commander of the "Sentinel" Potulny says about it: “I tried to get out of the compartment where Sablin lured me. I found some piece of iron, broke the lock at the hatch, got into the next compartment - it was also locked. When he broke this lock too, the sailor Shein blocked the hatch with a sliding emergency stop. That's all, you can't get out yourself. But then the sailors began to guess what was happening. Petty Officer 1 of Article Kopylov with the sailors (Stankevichus, Lykov, Borisov, Nabiev) pushed Shein away, knocked out the emphasis and freed me. I took a pistol, the others armed themselves with machine guns and in two groups - one from the side of the tank, and I along the inner passage - began to climb to the bridge. Seeing Sablin, the first impulse was to shoot him right there, but then the thought flashed: “He will still come in handy for justice!” I shot him in the leg. He fell. We went up to the bridge, and I announced on the radio that order was restored on the ship. " At 10.32 the captain of the 2nd rank Potulny reported that he had taken command of the ship into his own hands. Sablin's supporters (some sources say about 11 servicemen, among whom were two young officers - the commander of the launching battery of the mine and torpedo unit, Lieutenant V. Dudnik and the assistant ship commander for supply, Lieutenant V. Vavilkin), were also arrested. With the arrival of the ship at the base, the entire crew was accommodated in the barracks, taken under guard. Sablin was demoted, stripped of his awards and sent to Moscow. And on the same day, a government commission arrived from Moscow, headed by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Gorshkov, including the Chief of the Main Administration, General of the Army Yepishev, Head of the Political Directorate of the Navy, Admiral Grishanov, employees of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the KGB, and military counterintelligence. The crew was disbanded, many officers were transferred to the reserve. The sailors and foremen were demobilized. Many high naval commanders were dismissed from their posts or received disciplinary sanctions, some were expelled from the party. The pilots also got it - almost the entire command staff of the division and the 885th regiment had, on behalf of the Air Force Commander-in-Chief, a warning about incomplete official compliance, Air Force Major General B. Gvozdikov, acting commander of the 15th Air Force, was quietly dismissed on a seniority pension. In addition, extraordinary measures were taken to exclude information leakage, which, in fact, surrounded this story with a string of the most incredible rumors. The ship was also sent into exile. On the night of November 9, the commander of the Druzhny shipyard of the Kamchatka flotilla (of the same type to the "Watchman") who was in the Baltic Sea in those days, Captain 3rd Rank A. Pechkorin and political commander Lieutenant Commander L. Beskaravayny were summoned by the head of the main political department of the army and Fleet Marshal Epishev and Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Admiral Gorshkov. The sailors received an order to "transfer" to the "Sentry" together with their crew. At the beginning of 1976. they brought the “Sentry” to the Pacific Ocean, where he stood at the head of the Kamchatka brigade of anti-submarine ships. Only the metal patches on the pipes, covering the traces of the November bombing, reminded of the past. In November 2002. the ship was taken out of the fleet and sold to India for scrap. The investigation in this case was conducted by counterintelligence; it was short-lived and uncomplicated. The zampolit did not deny anything, he took all the blame upon himself and only asked that the sailors Sablin be charged with the fact that for a long time (since the spring of 1973) he was hatching plans aimed at forcibly changing the state and social order The USSR, and then, breaking the oath, proceeded to their practical implementation and took the ship out of command. Sablin's guilt in the crime was fully proven by the testimony of many eyewitnesses, numerous material evidence, and his full confession of guilt. The investigation file contains a letter from Sablin to his parents seized during a search, dated November 8, 1975. “Dear, beloved, my good daddy and mommy! It was very difficult to start writing this letter, as it will most likely cause you anxiety, pain, and maybe even indignation and anger towards me ... My actions are guided by only one desire - to do what is in my power, so that our people, the good, powerful people of our Motherland, wake up from political slumber, because it has a destructive effect on all aspects of the life of our society ... ”For a long time, a top-secret document was kept in the famous“ Special Folder ”of the Central Committee of the CPSU. After the collapse of the USSR, it (like the entire folder) was declassified. Here is an excerpt from it: “... by the Committee of the State. Security investigation ends in a criminal case on charges of Captain 3rd Rank V.M. Sablin and other servicemen - participants in the criminal action on November 8-9, 1975. on the large anti-submarine ship "Guard". It has been established that the organizer of this crime Sablin, having fallen under the influence of revisionist ideology, for a number of years nurtured hostile views on Soviet reality. In April 1975. he formulated them in writing, recorded them on tape, and during the events at the "Storozhev" made an anti-Soviet speech in front of the personnel. Sablin's political “platform” included a set of slanderous statements borrowed from bourgeois propaganda about the “obsolescence” of the Marxist-Leninist doctrine and the “bureaucratic degeneration” of the state and party apparatus in the USSR and calls for the removal of the CPSU from the leadership of society, for the creation of a new “more progressive "party. In the spring of 1975. he developed a detailed plan for the seizure of a warship, which he intended to use as a “political platform” for making demands for a change in the state system in the USSR and the fight against Soviet power. He organized and carried out the unauthorized hijacking of a large anti-submarine ship outside Soviet territorial waters. These actions of his are qualified as treason to the Motherland ... ”The document bears the signatures of KGB Chairman Andropov, Prosecutor General Rudenko, Defense Minister Grechko and Chairman of the USSR Supreme Court Smirnov; - the new leadership of the USSR. So Sablin was sentenced at the highest level even before the trial, exactly as it happened under Stalin in the thirties. But nevertheless, formally, the fate of Sablin had to be decided at the trial. Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR consisting of Chairman Major General of Justice G. Bushuev, People's Assessors Major General engineering troops Kozlov, Lieutenant General I. Tsygankov under secretaries Colonel M. Afanasyev and employee of the SA V. Kuznetsov, with the participation of the State Prosecutor Senior Assistant to the Chief Military Prosecutor Major General of Justice V. Shanturov and defenders of lawyers L. Aksenov and L. Popov at its final closed session on July 13, 1976. accurately fulfilled all the formalities. V. Sablin was found guilty under clause "a" of Article 84 of the RSFSR Criminal Code (treason to the Motherland) and sentenced to death. The officer's request for pardon was rejected by the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet. Before the execution, Sablin was allowed to write a letter to his son: “Trust that history will honestly reward everyone according to their merits, and then you will never doubt what your father did. Never be around people who criticize without acting. These hypocrites, weak people who are nothing like themselves, are not able to combine their faith with their deeds. I want you to be brave. Be sure that life is wonderful. Believe that the Revolution always wins. " The verdict was carried out on August 3, 1976. Sablin was buried in an unmarked grave, the location of which is unknown. His right hand, sailor A. Shein, was sentenced to 8 years in prison. The first two years he served in a cell, then he was transferred to the so-called workers' building in the same Lefortovo, where the convict remained for another three and a half years. Shein spent the last two and a half years in the Kirov region, in a high-security camp. In the case, 6 more officers and 11 warrant officers were brought to trial for assisting Sablin in seizing the ship and taking it out of the USSR State Border, but the cases against them were soon dropped. Immediately after the collapse of the USSR, Sablina and Shein were spoken of as victims of a totalitarian regime. In 1992. For the first time in Russia, a public court session was held under the chairmanship of the well-known lawyer S. Alekseev. They discussed the events of November 8, 1975. in the roadstead of Riga. The verdict of that court: "By performing a highly civil act, sacrificing himself, he served the Fatherland and the people." Law enforcement agencies undertook to review the case three times, and only in 1994. The military collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation revised the Sablin case “taking into account new circumstances” and re-qualified it from “treason to the Motherland” to articles on military crimes (abuse of power, disobedience and resistance to the authorities), in the aggregate of which it changed the sentence to 10 years of imprisonment freedom, and the sailor Shein who helped him, the sentence was reduced to 5 years. At the same time, it was indicated that Sablin and his associate Shein were not subject to complete rehabilitation. So who is Valery Sablin - a hero or a traitor? Here is his autobiographical data from the same secret report: “... Captain 3rd rank VM Sablin, born in 1939. Russian, was a member of the CPSU since 1959. graduated from VVMU them. Frunze in 1960. until 1969 served in combat positions and from the position of assistant commander of the patrol ship of the Northern Fleet entered the VPA them. Lenin, which he graduated in 1973. As for the position, he was mostly assessed positively. Married. Has a son in 1962 birth. Father is a captain of the 1st rank of the reserve. " Father - Mikhail Sablin served in the Northern Fleet throughout the war, he was highly valued and respected by the then Commander of the Fleet, Admiral Golovko. Grandfather was also a military sailor. From early childhood, Valery dreamed of the sea and in 1956. entered the Higher Naval School. Frunze in Leningrad, where he became an exemplary cadet. While still at school, his comrades jokingly called him "the conscience of the class." One of his classmates recalled: “We were all brought up on socialist and communist ethics. We all believed in her, but Valery was so honest that he wanted to live by these ideals. " Another testimony belongs to AI Lyalin, Sablin's schoolmate: “We called Valery the conscience of the course. Do not think that he was a bore from the breed of inveterate honors. No, he was very lively, cheerful - and at the same time very firm in principles. I didn’t wag, I didn’t dodge. His superiors appreciated him. He quickly became a squad leader, one of the first in our stream to join the party - in his fourth year. We chose him as the secretary of the faculty committee of the Komsomol ... "As Boris Sablin, one of his brothers recalls," he could not lie. " He hated hypocrisy in all its manifestations and could not calmly and indifferently look at injustice. On this basis, he often argued with his father, arguing that it was impossible to live the way the country lived then. Lieutenant Sablin began his officer service in 1960. in Sevastopol, aboard the Fierce destroyer. He commanded an artillery fire control group, then a fire battalion. He served, as they say, not for fear, but for conscience. This is evidenced by the numerous gratitude of the command. However, the first promotion in rank was delayed for him by almost a year. The reason was that Lieutenant Sablin wrote a letter to Khrushchev in which he outlined his thoughts about the purity of the party ranks. He wrote as a communist, theoretically entitled to apply to any party authority. In practice, everything turned out to be a tough suggestion, the meaning of which is not difficult to guess: do not stick your head out! It seems that Sablin understood the lesson and went headlong into the service. He was predicted to be the ship's commander, but he again surprised everyone - after the first ten years of service, he asked for leave to study at the Lenin Military-Political Academy. And there, in Moscow, he also comprehended social sciences "conscientiously", and not as a typical careerist crammer. In 1973. after graduating from the academy, Sablin was appointed political officer at the "Watchdog" ship. From this moment, a long and painstaking preparation for the uprising begins. The zampolit decides to use in his work the deep motive of the revolutionary actions of the sailors in the Russian fleet - a heightened sense of justice. Each sailor leaving on vacation received the task after returning to describe in detail life in his hometown or village. At the same time, the political commander draws attention to numerous examples of all kinds of injustices and violations of the law. Soon he, and not the commander of the ship, the captain of the 2nd rank informal leader crew. For two years he managed to gradually acquaint some of the crew members with his views and plans to reorganize society in the Soviet Union. It is difficult to suppose that all this passed by the attention of special officers, but Sablin was not touched, perhaps because he studied with the son of the head of the political department of the Navy, Admiral Grishanov, and often visited their family. In his farewell letter Sablin writes to his wife: “I have been a liberal for a long time, confident that it is enough to slightly correct something in our society, write one or two incriminating articles, change something or someone. This was until about 1971. Studying at the academy finally convinced me that the steel state-party machine is so steel that any blows to the forehead will turn into empty sounds ... I began to dream of a free propaganda ship territory. Unfortunately, the situation developed in such a way that only in November 1975 there was a real opportunity to speak. What prompted me to do this? Love of life. I do not mean the life of a well-fed bourgeois, but a bright, honest life that evokes sincere joy ... I am convinced that in our people, like 58 years ago, revolutionary consciousness will still flare up and they will achieve communist relations in the country. .. "Until now, there is no (and, of course, there can be no) consensus in society about what Sablin did a feat or a crime. On the thirtieth anniversary of the uprising on the "Watchtower", Vice President public organization“Generals and admirals for humanism and democracy” V. Dudnik from the pages of “Izvestia” called for the complete rehabilitation of Sablin. He was opposed by a political scientist and publicist, former Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia G. Kunadze. Praising Sablin as “ good man, honest, sincere and fair "the author nevertheless spoke out against his justification:" ... wishing his Motherland well, Valery Sablin committed a grave crime - he rebelled on a warship ... "But the opinion of Captain 1st Rank O. Bar-Biryukova: “Sablin's act is akin to the feat of Lieutenant Schmidt. His honest name is completely undeservedly consigned to oblivion, and his family is disgraced. It's time to end this! Justice must triumph - as happened in relation to the majority of the repressed participants in the bloody Kronstadt rebellion of 1921. " Vice-Admiral A. Kornienko (in 1975 he served as deputy head of the political department of the Baltic Fleet) put it this way: “For the sake of achieving a dubious goal, Sablin endangered the life of the entire crew ... Now some people want to heroize Sablin. They see in his adventure almost a call for restructuring. Others say it was a brave act ... Yes, to a certain extent brave. But how does it differ from the actions of terrorists - they also take mortal risks to achieve their goals. But at the same time, they endanger hundreds of other lives. " "Mortal risk" is the only thing that can be found in common in the actions of Sablin and the terrorists. The ship was unarmed and practically could not pose a threat (if not used as a ram). There is no generally accepted legal definition of terrorism. In Russian law, terrorism is defined as the ideology of violence and the practice of influencing public consciousness, on decision-making by state authorities, bodies local government or international organizations associated with intimidation of the population and / or other forms of unlawful violence. In US law - as deliberate, politically motivated violence committed against civilians or objects by subnational groups or underground agents, usually with the aim of influencing the mood of society. Let's leave this comparison on the conscience of the almiral. But the comparison between Sablin and Lieutenant Schmidt is also not entirely correct. Schmidt was relieved of his oath by resignation and at first refused to lead the uprising, considering it premature and disastrous. But, obeying the circumstances, I was forced to agree to the demands of the revolutionary sailors. Sablin, on the other hand, remained under oath and, in addition to his own, risked the lives of the crew members (it is unlikely that the majority of those who supported Sablin's speech really assessed the situation). Part of the crew that did not provide him with support at all ended up in the role of hostages. For Sablin himself, Schmidt was obviously an example to follow - among the books of his home library there is a clipping from Schmidt's article “Deputy of the Revolution”, where Sablin’s hand emphasized: “... When the proclaimed political rights began to be taken away from the people, then a spontaneous wave life singled me out, an ordinary person, from the crowd, and a cry escaped from my chest. I am happy that this cry escaped from my chest! ... ”Sablin's speech is more akin to the“ uprising ”of the Decembrists. Judge for yourself. In the first decades of the XIX century. part of the representatives of the Russian nobility understands the destructiveness of autocracy and serfdom for the further development of the country. In their midst, a system of views is being formed, the implementation of which should change the foundations of Russian life, but their ideas and worldview were not the same. In December 1925. The Petersburg group ("Northern Society") decided to prevent the troops and the Senate from taking the oath to the new Tsar (Nicholas I). They intended to enter the Senate and demand the publication of a national manifesto, which would announce the abolition of serfdom and 25 years of military service, the introduction of compulsory military service for all classes, freedom of speech and assembly, and the introduction of a court jury. All government officials were to give way to elected officials. The insurgent troops were to occupy the Winter Palace and the Peter and Paul Fortress, royal family should have been arrested. The first significant difference from the Sablin “uprising” is that the Decembrists were armed and assumed the use of force up to the assassination of the tsar. A dictator, Prince Sergei Trubetskoy, was elected to lead the uprising. By 11 o'clock in the morning on December 14, 1825. 30 Decembrist officers were brought to Senate Square about 3,020 people: soldiers of the Moscow and Grenadier Regiments and sailors of the Guards Naval Crew. By this time, the senators had already taken the oath to Nicholas and proclaimed him emperor. Prince Trubetskoy did not appear on the square, and the insurgent regiments continued to stand in the square, without taking any active action, while the conspirators tried to come to a consensus about the new leader. True, the attack of the Horse Guards was twice repulsed and the Governor-General of St. Petersburg M. Miloradovich who was trying to convince the soldiers to return to the barracks was mortally wounded (the second difference). The troops, already swearing allegiance to the new emperor, surrounded the rebels. First, a volley of blank charges was fired at their formation, which had no effect. After that, the artillery hit the rebels with grapeshot, and their ranks disintegrated. After that, several more shots were fired at the crowd, which consisted mostly of curious inhabitants, as a result, 1271 people died, of which: "39 - in tailcoats and tires, 9 - female, 19 - minors and 903 - rabble" (so that the consequences of the uprising are also significantly different). Nevertheless soviet system made the Decembrists an example of serving the fatherland, and condemned Sablina as a traitor. It is clear that no state will be complacent about an officer who enters into political confrontation with him. But the fact is that in the mid-1970s, the Soviet regime was a totalitarian one-party dictatorship that mercilessly violated human rights. Fighting against such power is not only a right, but also a duty of the citizen, which goes beyond the requirements of military service. One of the provisions of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: "... it is necessary that human rights are protected by the rule of law in order to ensure that people are not forced to resort to rebellion against tyranny and oppression as a last resort." The US Declaration of Independence states: "When a long series of abuses and violence, invariably subordinated to the same goal, testifies to an insidious design to force the people to accept unlimited despotism, the overthrow of such a government ... becomes the right and the responsibility of the people." And now Sablin's dream has come true !? - The regime has fallen, but what has changed? The power of the party apparatus was replaced by the power of the oligarchs. Drug addiction, banditry, corruption came out of the underground. What would Sablin do these days?

On November 9, 1975, the crews of 18 Soviet bombers were ordered to destroy a target in the Baltic Sea. The task stated that a foreign military vessel had invaded the territorial waters of the USSR. But during the mission, the pilots learned that the real target was a Soviet anti-submarine ship.

What is known about Valery Sablin

From the report of the commission appointed by order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR Grechko "to investigate the case of disobedience that took place on November 8-9, 1975 on the large anti-submarine ship" Sentinel "of the 128th brigade of missile ships of the Baltic Fleet." Former deputy ship commander for political affairs, Captain 3rd Rank VM Sablin, born in 1939, Russian, has been a member of the CPSU since 1969, graduated from the Frunze Naval School in 1960. Until 1969, he served in combat positions and, from the position of assistant commander of the patrol ship of the Northern Fleet, entered the Lenin Military-Political Academy, from which he graduated in 1973. In terms of his position, he was certified mostly positively. Married. Has a son born in 1962.

Zampolit Sablin was a hereditary sailor. His grandfather served on the legendary frigate Pallada, his father has been in the navy since 1933. The question of a profession before young Valery did not stand: only the fleet. Sablin was a staunch communist, believed in the ideas of Marx and Lenin, constantly read and outlined the works of theorists and the memoirs of the Bolsheviks. Valery's brother, Nikolai, recalls that “in 1963 or 1962, he wrote a letter to Khrushchev that it was necessary to revise the Party's charter. But the letter did not go further than the Murmansk regional committee, and he received a good thrashing. And the fact that he entered the military-political academy is also not accidental. He told me that he wants to find out what is happening in the state. " As a result, such interest in the theoreticians of the revolution could play a major role in the tragedy that happened on November 8, 1975 in the Baltic Sea.

The best ship of the Baltic fleet

On the eve of the celebration of the 58th anniversary of the October Revolution, warships of the Red Banner Baltic Fleet entered the mouth of the Daugava River. On November 7, they took part in a spectacular entertainment of those years - a naval parade. The brightest was the new anti-submarine ship "Sentinel". Specifications battleship amazing: speed 32 knots, autonomy 30 days, crew of 190 people. Armament: blizzard anti-submarine missile system, 2 wasp anti-aircraft missile systems, 2 artillery mounts, 2 torpedo tubes, 2 rocket launchers.

The Sentinel was the most honored ship in that parade. He went on combat duty in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, patrolled the coastal waters of Cuba for 2 months. The ship's crew was considered one of the best in the Baltic fleet. “The sailors were very trained. For half a year we went to military service and, in general, the sailors could be trusted a lot, in particular, the helmsman was a brilliant executor of my orders, "notes Nikolai Novozhilov, who in 1975 was the senior mate of the captain of the" Watchdog "ship.

Nikolai Novozhilov, who at that time was an assistant to the captain of the ship, was released on November 8 to his family. Nikolai learned about what had happened on board only late at night, when he was summoned to the headquarters. The message was as follows: political commander Sablin raised a riot and seized the ship. Novozhilov notes that the attitude of the sailors to the political officer was not very positive, and why they followed Sablin is not clear.

After the parade, the "Watchman" was supposed to go on "rest". Since the ship was removed from combat duty, the ammunition was sent to warehouses. There was nothing on board except personal small arms. According to the charter, a warship, going on "rest" had to hand over weapons to the coastal depot, with the exception of artillery supplies.

The beginning of a ship mutiny

On the evening of November 8, political commander Sablin organized a movie show for the sailors, watched the film “Battleship Potemkin”. An hour before the movie show, the ship's commander, Anatoly Potulny, was arrested. The zampolit simply closed the captain in the cabin, as in a prison. While the sailors watched a film about a rebellious ship, Sablin wrote a letter to his family. In it, he wrote that his parents might condemn his behavior. But he wants to wake up the people from political hibernation, because this hibernation has a destructive effect on all aspects of society. Sablin's parents received a letter after the tragedy, so they did not have time to influence their son's behavior.

When the letter was finished, Sablin gathered the officers and announced his decision. The zampolit deceived the officers, telling them that Captain Potulny agreed with him. And although the captain of the ship was the only person who treated Sablin well, Valery knew that Potulny would not support his decision. The Political Politician appointed a ship librarian, Alexander Shein, to guard Potulny. The librarian was in favor of Sablin's idea from the very beginning, and was privy to all the details of the plan. Sablin gathered 13 officers and 13 warrant officers of the ship and presented them with his ideas, which he had been hatching since 1963. He presented them with his ideas regarding the shortcomings of Soviet society, and presented them as a departure of the party and government from the Leninist principles of building socialism.

On the shore I learned about the state of emergency closer to midnight. One of the officers, Firsov, was able to escape from the ship. The senior lieutenant moved from ship to boat, and conveyed to the shore that there was a riot on the "Sentinel". The message was received by Lev Vysokopolyansky. According to him, the stop was calm, and no one thought that this was happening seriously, and they connected it with the holiday - they say, people were drinking and doing rash things. By 3 o'clock in the morning, they realized that Firsov's message was true. Firsov reported that the "Watchman" was going to Leningrad to address the people.

The entire command arrived at the headquarters of the Kaliningrad fleet, Moscow demanded an explanation of the situation, but there was no explanation. Nobody believed that it was a rebellion and that it was headed by a political worker. They also could not determine where the ship was going, and only at 4 o'clock in the morning it became clear that Sablin himself went on the air. He openly said that this was a political and progressive speech, and that the purpose of this speech was to raise the voice of truth. Sablin proposed an unauthorized transfer of the ship to Kronstadt, declaring it an independent territory, and demanded that he be given the opportunity to appear on television.

The headquarters began to think seriously about the use of force. The 9th Aviation Regiment, which was based 200 km from Jurmala, was put on alert, because it was the most prepared regiment. The pilots could strike at night, in difficult meteorological conditions. But the hope did not fade that Sablin would change her mind.

At 7:39 am, a radiogram was sent to the ship: “Your telegram to the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy has been received. The commander-in-chief ordered to return and anchor the roadstead of the port of Riga. " The telegram was not answered.

Interception of the "Sentinel"

At 8:45 am, the rebel ship was sentenced to use artillery weapons to stop the ship. At the same time, bombers took off into the sky. The aircrews were sure that this was an extraordinary test of combat readiness. The task was short: to be ready to deliver an accurate air strike against the ship in order to destroy it. There were light ammunition in the bomb bays of the planes, because the pilots thought they were flying to bomb a conditional target. For the first time, in poor visibility, the pilots hit a Soviet dry cargo ship, which began to send a distress signal.

Sablin demanded a speech on TV within 30 minutes after the Vremya program and the right to publish his own organ and distribute it through Soyuzpechat. He also asked to support the revolution that Sablin and the crew of the Sentinel ship began. After these words, he said goodbye.

There were already 18 aircraft of the bomber regiment in the air - and the pilots had not yet fully understood that they had to sink. The confusion made them ideal targets for the Sentinel. They did not know that there was ammunition on the ship.
In his first specialty, Sablin was a ship gunner. But on the ship, the sailors damaged the equipment so as not to shoot at their own people. Sablin brought the ship out from under fire when the first part of the bombs was dropped. But the second time, the bomb hit the Sentry and the ship stopped. After that, Commander Potulny suddenly appeared on the air: “I ask you to stop firing. He took power into his own hands. " Later it turned out that the sailors had freed the commander of the ship, Potulny personally arrested Sablin and returned to his duties. The instigators of the "revolution" were isolated.

Consequences of the "revolution"

In the evening, the plane with 20 crew members landed at Vnukovo and everyone was brought to Lubyanka. During the first interrogation, Sablin told Admiral Grishanov, the head of the Navy: “Don't try to make me crazy. You know me well - I studied with your son. " According to Sablin's brother, Valery realized only in prison that he could not at that time, in 1975, break down the wall he went to break. Until the last day, Valery Sablin thought that everything would work out, believed in the decency of people and that he could achieve the truth.

The investigation into the case of Valery Sablin was short-lived. While the investigation was underway, the crew of the "Sentry" was disbanded, and the ship was sent to Kamchatka. Many commanders and chiefs lost their posts and received disciplinary sanctions, some were expelled from the party. Two cases were brought to court: political officer Sablin and ship librarian Shein.

On July 13, 1976, the military collegium of the Supreme Court delivered the final verdict: Sablin is guilty of treason. He was sentenced to capital punishment. On August 3, the sentence was carried out. Shein was sentenced to eight years in prison.