Igor Spassky
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n (and former Soviet
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
) scientist, engineer and entrepreneur, General Designer of nearly 200 Soviet and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n nuclear submarine
Nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor . The performance advantages of nuclear submarines over "conventional" submarines are considerable: nuclear propulsion, being completely independent of air, frees the submarine from the need to surface frequently, as is necessary for...
s, and the head of the Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering Rubin
Rubin Design Bureau
Rubin Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering in Saint Petersburg is one of the main Russian centers of submarine design, having designed more than two-thirds of all nuclear submarines in the Russian Navy...
.
Igor Dmitriyevich Spasskiy was born in the town of Noginsk
Noginsk
Noginsk is a town and the administrative center of Noginsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of the MKAD ring road on the Klyazma River. Population:...
in the Moscow Region on August 2, 1926. In 1949 he graduated from the Engineering Department (паросиловой факультет) of Dzerzhinsky Higher Naval Engineering School, after which he briefly served as lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
-engineer on the cruiser
Cruiser
A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundreds of years, and has had different meanings throughout this period...
Frunze.
Hero of Socialist Labor
In 1950 he started work as a submarine designer, first in Construction Design Bureau-143 (currently Malakhit Design Bureau). Since 1953 he has worked in Construction Design Bureau-18 (currently Rubin Design Bureau). In 1956 he became the vice Chief Engineer of Rubin; in 1968 he became the Chief Engineer; and since 1974 he has been the head of that bureau with the position title of Chief Designer .As General Designer, he was the main designer of all of Rubin's projects since 1974, which according to Rubin's website include:
- strategic ballistic missileBallistic missileA ballistic missile is a missile that follows a sub-orbital ballistic flightpath with the objective of delivering one or more warheads to a predetermined target. The missile is only guided during the relatively brief initial powered phase of flight and its course is subsequently governed by the...
submarineSubmarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...
s:- Delta-III class submarine (or 667BDR Kal'mar since 1974)
- Typhoon class submarineTyphoon class submarineThe Project 941 or Akula, Russian "Акула" class submarine is a type of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine deployed by the Soviet Navy in the 1980s...
(or Project 941 Akula built since 1980s).
-
- Delta IV class submarines (or Delfin since 1981)
- Cruise missileCruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and is propelled, usually by a jet engine, towards a land-based or sea-based target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy...
submarines:- Oscar IOscar class submarineThe Project 949 and Project 949A Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines ....
(or Project 949 Granit) class of submarines - Oscar IIOscar class submarineThe Project 949 and Project 949A Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines ....
(or Project 949A Antey) class of submarines
- Oscar I
- and other submarines as surface ships.
Altogether, Spassky's projects have included 187 submarines (91 diesel-electric
Diesel-electric
Diesel-electric transmission or diesel-electric powertrain is used by a number of vehicle and ship types for providing locomotion.A diesel-electric transmission system includes a diesel engine connected to an electrical generator, creating electricity that powers electric traction motors...
and 96 nuclear
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
) that have been the core of the Soviet and Russian Navy.
Spasskiy has also published scientific works on the theory of submarine design and construction. He has been a full member of the Soviet Academy of Science since 1987 (a corresponding member since 1983). He is the Chairman of the Commission on Hydrodynamics of the Russian Academy of Science. He has been awarded the Lenin Prize
Lenin Prize
The Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23, 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
(1965), USSR State Prize
USSR State Prize
The USSR State Prize was the Soviet Union's state honour. It was established on September 9, 1966. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the prize was followed up by the State Prize of the Russian Federation....
(1983), became a Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labor
Hero of Socialist Labour was an honorary title in the Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries. It was the highest degree of distinction for exceptional achievements in national economy and culture...
(1978), received two Orders of Lenin, the Order of the October Revolution
Order of the October Revolution
The Order of the October Revolution was instituted on October 31, 1967, in time for the 50th anniversary of the October Revolution. It was awarded to individuals or groups for services furthering communism or the state, or in enhancing the defenses of the Soviet Union, military and civil...
and two Orders of the Red Banner of Labour
Order of the Red Banner of Labour
The Order of the Red Banner of Labour was an order of the Soviet Union for accomplishments in labour and civil service. It is the labour counterpart of the military Order of the Red Banner. A few institutions and factories, being the pride of Soviet Union, also received the order.-History:The Red...
.
"Hero of Capitalist Labor"
Since the time of the perestroikaPerestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
and the dissolution of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
, state orders for new nuclear submarines have dramatically decreased. Nevertheless, Spassky continued to work on nuclear submarines, including the new fourth-generation ballistic missile Yuriy Dolgorukiy class (construction started in 1996), but he expanded his Bureau into new areas in order to provide a livelihood for his employees.
One such area was the design and construction of oil platform
Oil platform
An oil platform, also referred to as an offshore platform or, somewhat incorrectly, oil rig, is a lаrge structure with facilities to drill wells, to extract and process oil and natural gas, and to temporarily store product until it can be brought to shore for refining and marketing...
s (together with Halliburton
Halliburton
Halliburton is the world's second largest oilfield services corporation with operations in more than 70 countries. It has hundreds of subsidiaries, affiliates, branches, brands and divisions worldwide and employs over 50,000 people....
) that are now used for oil drilling around Sakhalin
Sakhalin
Sakhalin or Saghalien, is a large island in the North Pacific, lying between 45°50' and 54°24' N.It is part of Russia, and is Russia's largest island, and is administered as part of Sakhalin Oblast...
island, in the Sea of Okhotsk
Sea of Okhotsk
The Sea of Okhotsk is a marginal sea of the western Pacific Ocean, lying between the Kamchatka Peninsula on the east, the Kuril Islands on the southeast, the island of Hokkaidō to the far south, the island of Sakhalin along the west, and a long stretch of eastern Siberian coast along the west and...
, and off the coast of South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
.
Sea Launch
Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets...
, a unique spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
launch service that uses a specially modified floating oil drilling platform, positioned in the equatorial Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
, for its launch platform. Spassky was the chief constructor of the marine part of the project. Sea Launch provides an economical way to send satellites into space, almost ten times cheaper than NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
.
Spassky also became a CEO of the Non-Nuclear Submarines consortium
Consortium
A consortium is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations or governments with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a common goal....
(which includes Rubin, Admiralty Shipyards, and other shipbuilding companies). The company provides non-nuclear military submarines for the Russian Navy (among them diesel-electric submarines of the Petersburg class) and for export to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
and others, among them submarines of the Amur class and the Sadko class ("tourist submarine"). Two of the latter were built and are now operating on Cyprus
Cyprus
Cyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
.
Spasskiy also proposed such exotic projects as a cargo submarine for year-round operations in the Arctic Ocean
Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions...
, and a nuclear underwater gas transfer station for trans-ocean natural gas
Natural gas
Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...
pipelines
Pipeline transport
Pipeline transport is the transportation of goods through a pipe. Most commonly, liquids and gases are sent, but pneumatic tubes that transport solid capsules using compressed air are also used....
, as well as more humble projects such as modifications of city tram
Tram
A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...
s.
These projects provided a reasonably smooth transition for thousands of Rubin employees to the market economy as well as some help to the Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
city and philanthropy. Spasskiy and his enterprises financed reconstruction of Nikolo-Bogoyavlensky Cathedral in Saint-Petersburg, Church of John the Baptist (Ioann Pretechi) in Old Ladoga, the monument to the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy, the celebration of the centenary of the Russian Museum
Russian Museum
The State Russian Museum is the largest depository of Russian fine art in St Petersburg....
, and many other projects. For his philanthropy, the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
awarded Spasskiy the Order of Saint Prince Daniil of Moscow. Anatoly Sobchak
Anatoly Sobchak
Anatoly Alexandrovich Sobchak was a Russian politician, a co-author of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the first democratically elected mayor of Saint Petersburg, and a mentor and teacher of both Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev....
referred to Spasskiy's success in the transformation to a market economy when he called him a "Hero of Capitalist Labor".
Spasskiy was also awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation
State Prize of the Russian Federation
State Prize of the Russian Federation is a state honorary prize established in 1992 as the substitute for the USSR State Prize. In 2004 the rules for selection of laureates and the status of the award was significantly changed making them closer to such awards as Nobel Prize or the Soviet Lenin...
(2006)
Kursk submarine
Spassky was the creator of the K-141 KurskRussian submarine K-141 Kursk
K-141 Kursk was an Oscar-II class nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine of the Russian Navy, lost with all hands when it sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000...
project, the last of the Oscar II class submarines
Oscar class submarine
The Project 949 and Project 949A Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines ....
built for the Russian navy. On August 12, 2000, torpedoes aboard the submarine accidentally exploded
Russian submarine Kursk explosion
On 12 August 2000, the Russian Oscar II class submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea after an explosion. The investigation showed that a leak of hydrogen peroxide in a torpedo led to explosion of its fuel, causing the submarine to hit the bottom which in turn triggered the detonation of further...
and the submarine sank. Most of the crew died during the explosion, but some remained alive for days afterward. Unfortunately, the rescuers were hampered by the slow and secretive military and government response. It was a week before they could get to the submarine site and then bad weather further slowed the recovery. By that time, the rest of the crew had long perished.
Spasskiy was a consultant in the rescue effort and some perceived that he was responsible for the ineffective actions of the military in the first days after the explosion. There were also accusations that a fault in the design of the submarine might have been responsible for difficulties in the rescue operation. Some journalists, like Elena Milashina
Elena Milashina
Elena Milashina is a Russian investigative journalist for Novaya Gazeta.In October 2009 she was awarded Human Rights Watch's Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism....
from Novaya gazeta http://2002.novayagazeta.ru/nomer/2002/29n/n29n-s06.shtml http://novayagazeta.ru/rassled/kursk/n58n-s16.shtml, were asking why most of the Russian nuclear submarine mishaps in the preceding years had happened with Spasskiy-designed submarines. In the open letter to Novaya Gazeta, the vice-president of Rubin, Alexander Zavalishin, and the General Designer of Submarines with Cruise Missiles (like Kursk), employee of Rubin, Igor Baranov http://novayagazeta.ru/rassled/kursk/n58n-s18.shtml, responded to the charges that no vessel could ever survive simultaneous explosions of torpedoes, as had the Kursk, when each torpedo was designed to disable or destroy warships. They also noted that more than three quarters of Russian nuclear submarines are of the Spasskiy design, therefore, the percentages greatly reduced the argument of faulty design and did not indicate flaws in overall submarine design or integrity. Investigators agreed that the automatic system of shutting down the submarine's nuclear reactor, developed by Spasskiy's designers, operated perfectly and saved the Barents Sea
Barents Sea
The Barents Sea is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located north of Norway and Russia. Known in the Middle Ages as the Murman Sea, the sea takes its current name from the Dutch navigator Willem Barents...
from a nuclear disaster.
Raising the stricken submarine and transporting it to a salvage plant became another Herculean effort. More than five hundred proposals were submitted to recover the Kursk. Rubin bureau's own plans included separating the destroyed compartment of the submarine, lifting the intact section, and transporting it to the ship repair facility in Roslyakovo near Severomorsk. The project included equipment from Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
firms Mammoet
Mammoet
Mammoet is a privately held Dutch company specializing in the hoisting and transporting of heavy objects.- History :Mammoet was founded in 1973, specialised in heavy transport over water and roads. In 2001 it was taken over by Van Seumeren transport. The name Mammoet became the name for the new...
and Smit International
Smit International
Smit Internationale N.V. is a Dutch company operating in the maritime sector. The company was founded in 1842 by Fop Smit as a towage company with only the 140 hp paddle steamer tug 'Kinderdijk'....
. Within five months, the Russian government contracted Dutch firms to raise the Kursk in an extremely difficult, large-scale and rather emotionally strained operation coordinated by Igor Spasskiy. The transporting and docking were performed by another multinational project team.
External links
- Rubin website - in English and Russian
- Igor Spasskiy Five Colors of Time - book by Igor Spasskiy, in English (PDF).
- Biography - in Russian
- Another biography of Spassky - in Russian
- Spassky's interview on Radio Liberty - in Russian
- Spasskiy's interview on radio station Echo of MoscowEcho of MoscowEcho of Moscow is a Russian radio station based in Moscow, broadcasting in many Russian cities, in some of the former-Soviet republics , and via the Internet, which some observers describe as "the last bastion of free media in Russia"...
- Kursk recovery