Sergey Anatolievich Preminin (; 18 October 1965 – 3 October 1986) was a Soviet Russian sailor who, after an explosion aboard nuclear submarine '' K-219'', prevented an impending

nuclear meltdown A nuclear meltdown (core meltdown, core melt accident, meltdown or partial core melt) is a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating. The term ''nuclear meltdown'' is not officially defined by the Internatio ...

by manually forcing damaged

control rods Control rods are used in nuclear reactors to control the rate of fission of the nuclear fuel – uranium or plutonium. Their compositions include chemical elements such as boron, cadmium, silver, hafnium, or indium, that are capable of absorbing ...

into place.
Vologda Oblast Government web site He was, however, unable to exit the reactor compartment because the hatch had jammed due to increased pressure, and died. Preminin was posthumously awarded the

Order of the Red Star The Order of the Red Star () was a military decoration of the Soviet Union. It was established by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 6 April 1930 but its statute was only defined in decree of the Presidium of the ...

, the medal of

Hero of the Russian Federation Hero of the Russian Federation ( rus, Герой Российской Федерации, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲijskəj fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨɪ), also unofficially called Hero of Russia ( rus, Герой России, p=ɡʲɪˈroj rɐˈsʲiɪ), is ...

and the

Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" The Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" () is a state decoration of the Russian Federation. It was instituted on 2 March 1994 by Presidential Decree 442. Until the re-establishment of the Order of St. Andrew in 1998, it was the highest order of ...

Early life

Preminin was born on 18 October 1965 in the village of Skornyakovo in

Vologda Oblast Vologda Oblast (, ; ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is Vologda. The oblast has a population of 1,202,444 (Russian Census (2010), 2010 Census). The largest city is Cherepovets, t ...

, then in the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

of the Soviet Union. Preminin's father Anatoly was an electrician and his mother Valentina worked in a flax factory. The couple had three sons. Sergei attended school in the city of

Krasavino Krasavino () is the name of several types of inhabited localities in Russia, inhabited localities in Russia. ;Urban localities *Krasavino, Veliky Ustyug, Vologda Oblast, a town under the administrative jurisdiction of the city of federal subject si ...

and decided to follow in the footsteps of his older brother Nikolai by graduating from engineering school in

Veliky Ustyug Veliky Ustyug () is a town in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the northeast of the oblast at the confluence of the Sukhona and Yug Rivers. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 31,665. Veliky Ustyug has a great historical signific ...

in the

Naval service

On 23 October 1984, Preminin started to serve in the

Soviet Navy The Soviet Navy was the naval warfare Military, uniform service branch of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy made up a large part of the Soviet Union's strategic planning in the event of a conflict with t ...

. Preminin initially underwent a training in a special group in

Severodvinsk Severodvinsk (; ) is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina, west of Arkhangelsk, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the 2021 Census, the population was 157,213. Due to the p ...

, after which he started to serve aboard the ''K-219''.

Death

On 3 October 1986, while on patrol northeast of

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, the ''K-219'' suffered an explosion and fire in missile compartment VI. Three sailors were killed outright in the explosion. The vessel surfaced to permit its twin

nuclear reactor A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...

s to be shut down. The remaining crew was assigned to the bow or the stern, as far away from the explosion site as possible, and had been issued gas masks. Soon after, the temperature indicator showed a very high temperature at the nuclear reactors, and the flow of coolant in the reactor gradually decreased further. This meant that a meltdown was imminent. However, the reactor shutdown could not proceed as planned from the control station; the trigger of the

had been damaged, by either the expanding gases or the intense heat. For this reason, the reactor

SCRAM A scram or SCRAM is an emergency shutdown of a nuclear reactor effected by immediately terminating the fission reaction. It is also the name that is given to the manually operated kill switch that initiates the shutdown. In commercial reactor ...

had to be carried out manually, directly into the reactor chamber. This also meant that the men doing this would be exposed to strong radiation, since the on-board contamination coveralls were not designed to protect the sailors from the strong gamma and neutron radiation directly in the vicinity of the reactor core. The officer of the reactor department, Nikolay Belikov, and his subordinatesailor Sergei Premininwent into the reactor chamber to complete the reactor SCRAM. They dropped three of four rods, but because of the high temperature (about 70°C or 158°F) Belikov lost consciousness. Preminin had to put the fourth rod in place. This was a job that required great physical strength, as the holders of the rods were now severely deformed by the heat.
War Heroes of Russia(in Russian) When he tried to leave the reactor chamber, he could not open the hatch, as a pressure difference had been established between the reactor chamber and the reactor control station. After further attempts from other colleagues to force open the hatch from outside, Preminin died in the hot reactor chamber, as the rest of the crew had to move further towards the rear to escape the poisonous gases that spread out in the boat.

In film

The sinking of the submarine and Preminin's feat were the subject for the book '' Hostile Waters (book), Hostile Waters'', written by

Peter Huchthausen Peter Anthony Huchthausen (September 25, 1939 – July 11, 2008 in Amfreville, Manche, France) was a Captain in the United States Navy and the author of several maritime books. Naval career The son of the late Chaplain (Colonel) and Mrs. Wal ...

, Igor Kurdin and R. Alan White. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

produced a television film of the

same name ''Same Name'' is an American reality television series in which an average person swaps lives with a celebrity of the same first and last name. It premiered on July 24, 2011 on CBS. The series received low ratings, and CBS pulled it after four-ep ...

in the same year, under the direction of David Drury of

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Rob Campbell Rob Campbell is an actor in stage, television and films. A graduate of Wesleyan University and the Yale School of Drama,Rob Campbell'. In: americanrepertorytheater.org, access date February 13, 2022. Campbell performed in numerous Yale Repertor ...

played the role of Preminin.

Honors

Military awards

(posthumously) by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR (23 July 1987) International Submariner, September 2011 *

(posthumously), Medal #409, President's decree number 844 of 7 August 1997 *

I degree (31 October 2003, posthumously)

Monuments

* In the city of Gadzhiyevo, a monument was erected, and a road and two schools were named after him. * In the city of Krasawino, a monument was erected in his honor. * In Preminin's native Skornyakovo, a marble plaque commemorates his heroism with an inscription that reads: "To Russian Seaman Sergei Preminin, who has saved the world from a nuclear catastrophe."
VOLOGODIANS

Other

Vologda Vologda (, ) is a types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and the administrative center of Vologda Oblast, Russia, located on the river Vologda (river), Vologda within the watershed of the Northern Dvina. Population: The city serves as ...

in 2004 named a street in south part of city in memory of Sergei. In

there are 2 schools named in memory of Sergei (including one school in his hometown,

). In 2015, in a letter to the Naming and Recognition Committee for National Heroes Day Preminin was also nominated as a national hero of Bermuda.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Preminin, Sergey 1965 births 1986 deaths People from Vologda Oblast Heroes of the Russian Federation Soviet Navy personnel Soviet submariners Recipients of the Order of the Red Star Recipients of the Order "For Merit to the Fatherland", 1st class Deaths due to shipwreck