North-2 (deep sea vehicle)

The project of the deepwater vehicle 1825 was developed by the Rubin design bureau , according to the project of the chief designer Sapozhkov Yuri Konstantinovich , commissioned by PINRO named after Knipovich Ministry of Fisheries of the USSR . As part of the project, the Admiralty Shipyards shipbuilding company delivered two vessels - the experimental Sever-2 and the lead Sever-2bis. The development of the second apparatus was carried out at Volna Central Design Bureau (now Malachite ), while the apparatus was partially redesigned, the pump unit, the water pump, the actuating hydromechanisms of the submersible hydraulic system and the electro-hydraulic manipulator were replaced.

Design work was led by chief designer Yu. K. Sapozhkov, and his deputies A. V. Kosidlo, G. G. Katsman, E. N. Shanikhin. ^[one]

In 1972, the chief designer of the project, Yu. K. Sapozhkov and his deputy A. V. Kosidlo, were awarded the VDNKh medal for the creation of the first domestic deep-sea apparatus Sever-2 for researching the World Ocean for national economic purposes. ^[one]

The first field tests of the experimental apparatus took place in 1971 in the Black Sea . During the test of the ability of the apparatus to maneuver near the bottom with a complex terrain, an emergency occurred. M.N. Diomidov, the commander of that dive, described the descent in his diary:

An unforgettable descent - not vertically, which is easier, but along the ground with a “shaving” move. While the slope of the bottom was small and the ground was even, the apparatus obediently walked on a guide - a steel ball on a cable etched 20 meters behind the stern. Yes, the guide, borrowed by O. Picard from the balloonists for the bathyscaphe of Trieste , also works successfully with us. I control from the remote control; I'm sitting crouching at the nasal portholes. Searchlights illuminate the plains going down, some unusually calm, serene. Here at this place, no one has ever been. But there is nothing unusual. Fish scurry, the light of our spotlights reflects from the white spots at the bottom, poor vegetation sways, every 3-4 m we cross furrows extending infinitely far beyond the visible horizon, the water is clear, almost without suspension. The lively voice of Odyssey every 20 minutes blocks the noise of the engines. Short information. Come on without stopping. 200 m. The steepness of the slope increases sharply. To see the soil, I plant the device on the “tail”. From time to time we are caught up with stones knocked down by stern; we hear deaf thumps; they are not dangerous - the speed is low. The silt in front swells from the stones rolling inside it. The concept of time disappears. My legs were numb for a long time from an uncomfortable posture, but we must see something! And they saw. The device hung over the Martian landscape. Ash-colored peaks of a pyramidal shape cast sharp shadows on a huge funnel going down. Lifeless fantastic landscape. We transfer to Odysseus: “400 m, 1 bond, normal health.” Suddenly a bright light splashed into my face, a dazzling white wall blocked our path. Full up and at the same time full back. Immediately breaks the noise of the engines. Slowly but inevitably, the portholes approach the wall. Again and again I order the flight engineer to turn on the engine. In vain, it does not start. Engine overload protection knocked out. Portholes are covered in mud. ^[2]

The nose of the device entered a steep wall. However, the cushion from the silt softened the blow, and the apparatus, working back and up with screws safely, emerged from the niche it had done in the rock. There, in the Black Sea, "North-2" sank under the water to a depth of 2020 m .

To transport deep-sea vehicles to the place of immersion at the Kherson Shipyard , carrier ships with the opening part of the Odyssey and Ichthyander board (project 394B) were converted from freezing trawlers. Deep-sea vehicles constantly maintained communication with accompanying vessels, adjusting coordinates. When a school of fish was detected from the underwater vehicle, a signal was sent to the carrier vessel to begin trawling . In addition to the hangar and the premises for cutting and freezing fish, inside the carrier vessels were located scientific laboratories, a residential part, and also rooms for servicing underwater vehicles (charging batteries, filling air cylinders).

Over the 14 years of service (1971-1985), the apparatus of the Sever-2 project made more than 700 dives in all oceans with the aim of conducting comprehensive studies of the abundance, species composition and behavior of commercial fish. In 1977-1978 The Sever-2 experimental apparatus completed 11 dives to depths of up to 1000 m in the Barents Sea and the North Atlantic to explore fish stocks using acoustic stations and trial trawls to determine the trawl abundance. During the same time, the Sever-2bis head unit completed 276 dives to depths of up to 2000 m in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Madagascar and Seychelles and 15 dives off the coast of Australia and Indonesia . After the collapse of the USSR, the Sever-2 apparatus was sold to a private individual and was parked in Sevastopol , and the Sever-2bis, presumably, was left in favor of the United States ^[3] .

In 2010, a traveler Fyodor Konyukhov , while visiting Sevastopol, met with the current owner of the Sever-2 apparatus, Rostislav Flegontov. Invited ship repair specialists concluded that the hull wear is only 3%, all project documentation has been saved and the vessel can be returned to service at minimal financial cost. Between Konyukhov and Flegontov an agreement was reached on the preparation of a round-the-world expedition on this unique ship. The transition was planned for 2012 ^[4] . The further fate of the project is unknown.

The deep-sea inhabited apparatus Sever-2 has a cylindrical robust hull with spherical extremities, divided into three rooms. There are 7 windows in the building. On board can be 4 people, including the commander and flight engineer. The device has 3 electric motors powered by on-board batteries located in the bottom of the light housing. The aft marching engine, mounted on a rotating vertical axis, provides longitudinal driving force; two swing-out motor columns on the deck of the apparatus, provide the necessary pitch to circumvent obstacles near the bottom. The onboard battery charge is enough for only 9 hours of engine operation, so the deep-sea vehicle was delivered to the place of immersion by the carrier vessels Odyssey and Ichthyander. Launching was carried out with the help of a launching device, which carried the apparatus out of the hangar on the port side with sea waves up to three points on the Beaufort scale (a tank system was provided to compensate the bank). The apparatus emerges when the tanks of the main ballast are purged with air; a sea water pump is used to pump out water from equalization tanks.
The device is equipped with an external manipulator and a special external container for collecting soil samples and other objects from the bottom. In the bow there are 4 lights and 2 flash lamps . The data collection system includes equipment for measuring and recording various parameters of sea water.

• Voitov D.V. Underwater habitable vehicles. - M .: Astrel, 2002. - S. 303. - ISBN 5-271-03683-9 .
• Shanikhin E.N. Deep-sea vehicles (milestones of deep-sea subjects). - M .: "Eastern Horizon", 2003. - S. 120.
• Website DeepStorm.ru ( unopened ) . Date of treatment February 11, 2018.