Perhaps some of you have watched the movie "Earth's Core" directed by John Amisel. According to the plot of the film, the earth's core stops rotating, which threatens the death of all mankind. To save everyone from the impending end of the world, a group of American scientists and engineers are building an underground boat that goes straight to the Earth's core in order to restore its rotation by detonating several atomic bombs. What kind of nonsense, you ask, and you will be right. However, in the 20th century, several states at once seriously worked on the possibility of building underground boats (similar to submarines), or subterrins. Thus, the well-known phrase about “a submarine in the steppes of Ukraine” even acquires some meaning.
The 20th century as a whole was rich in seemingly strange developments, many of which eventually managed to change our understanding of the world. Even before the Second World War, several states at once, including the USSR, Germany and Great Britain, were working on the creation of subterrins. The prototype for all projects was the so-called tunneling shield. For the first time such a shield was used in Foggy Albion during the construction of a tunnel under the Thames back in 1825. With the help of a tunneling shield, metro tunnels were also built in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In our country, the idea of building an underground boat was addressed at the very beginning of the 20th century. So, back in 1904, Russian engineer Pyotr Rasskazov sent material to a British technical journal describing the possibility of developing a special capsule that could travel long distances by moving underground. However, later during the unrest in Moscow, he was killed by a stray bullet. In addition to Rasskazov, the idea of creating an underground boat is also attributed to another of our compatriot Evgeny Tolkalinsky. As an engineer colonel in the tsarist army, in the winter of 1918 he fled the country through the Gulf of Finland. He made a career in Sweden, where at one of the firms he improved the already mentioned tunneling shield.
But real attention was paid to such projects only in the 1930s. The first underground self-propelled vehicle in those years was created by the Soviet engineer A. Treblev, who was assisted in this by A. Baskin and A. Kirilov. It is curious that he largely copied the principle of operation of his device from the actions of the well-known builder of underground holes - the mole. Before starting work on the project, the designer studied the biomechanics of the actions and movements of the animal underground for a very long time. He paid special attention to the paws and head of the mole, and only then, based on the results obtained, he designed his mechanical device.
Subterrine by Alexander Trebelev
It is worth noting that, like any inventor, Alexander Trebelev was obsessed with his brainchild, but even he did not think about using an underground submarine for military purposes. Trebelev believed that the subterrine would be used for digging tunnels for utility needs, conducting geological exploration, and mining. For example, its subterrine could get close to oil reserves, extending a pipeline to them, which would begin to pump black gold to the surface. Even now, Trebelev's invention seems fantastic to us.
The Trebelev subterrine had a capsule shape and moved underground due to a drill, an auger and 4 feed jacks, which pushed it like the hind legs of a mole. At the same time, the underground boat could be controlled both from the outside - from the surface of the earth using cables, and directly from the inside. The subterrine was supposed to receive the necessary power supply through the same cable. The average speed of its movement underground was to be 10 meters per hour. However, due to frequent failures and a number of shortcomings, this project was still closed.
According to one version, the unreliability of the machine was proved as a result of the first tests. According to another version, just before the war, they still tried to finalize the underground boat on the initiative of the future People's Commissar of Arms of the USSR D. Ustinov. If we are guided by the second version, then in the 1940s, the designer P. Strakhov, on the personal assignment of Ustinov, managed to finalize and improve the Trebelev project. At the same time, this project was immediately designed for military purposes, and the subterrine was supposed to operate already without communication with the surface. For 1.5 years, it was possible to create one prototype. It was assumed that the underground boat would be able to work autonomously underground for several days. At this time, the boat was supplied with the necessary supply of fuel, and the crew, which consisted of only one person, with the necessary supply of oxygen, food and water. But the Great Patriotic War prevented the completion of work on this project, while the fate of the prototype of Strakhov's underground boat is now unknown.
UK Combat Trenchers
Similar projects were developed in the UK. In this country, they were supposed to be used for digging tunnels on the front line. Through such tunnels, infantry and tanks were supposed to suddenly enter the enemy's position, while avoiding a direct assault on ground fortifications. Work in this direction was due to the sad English experience of trench warfare during the First World War. The order to develop underground boats was given personally by Winston Churchill, who was based precisely on the bloody experience of storming well-fortified positions. By the beginning of 1940, it was planned to build 200 of these underground boats. All of them were designated by the abbreviation NLE (Naval Land Equipment - naval and land equipment). To disguise the military purpose of the machines being created, the developers gave them their own names: White Rabbit 6 (“White Rabbit 6”), Nellie (“Nellie”), Cultivator 6 (“Cultivator 6”), No mans Land Excavator (“Excavator without human intervention” ).
The trenchers created in England had the following dimensions: length - 23.47 meters, width - 1.98 meters, height - 2.44 meters and had two sections. The main section was tracked. In appearance, it resembled a very long tank, weighing 100 tons. The front section weighed less - 30 tons and could dig trenches 2.28 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep. The soil excavated by the machine was carried by conveyors to the surface and deposited on both sides of the trench, forming dumps, the height of which was 1 meter. The speed of the device was more than 8 km/h. After reaching a predetermined point, the subterrin stopped and was transformed into a platform designed for the exit of caterpillar vehicles from a dug trench into open space.
Initially, this car was going to be equipped with one Rolls-Royce Merlin engine, which developed a power of 1000 hp. But then, due to the lack of these engines, they decided to replace them. Two Paxman 12TP engines were installed on each underground boat, developing a power of 600 hp. everyone. One motor powered the entire structure, while the second was used for the cutter and conveyor in the front section. The rapid defeat of France in the war and a clear demonstration of the modern war of engines slowed down the implementation of this project. As a result, subterrins were tested only in June 1941, and in 1943 the project was closed. By this time, 5 such devices had been assembled in England. All of them were dismantled after the war, the last combat trencher in the early 1950s. In fairness, it is worth noting that the English project, although it turned out to be useless, was quite real. Another thing is that after all it was only a "perverted" vision of a trencher, and not a full-fledged underground boat.
Subterrines of Germany
Interest in such an unusual project was also shown in Germany. Before World War II, subterrins were constructed here as well. In the 30s of the twentieth century, engineer von Wern (according to other sources - von Werner) received a patent for an underwater-underground "amphibian", which she called Subterrine. The machine he proposed had the ability to move both in water and under the earth's surface. At the same time, according to von Wern's calculations, when moving underground, his subterrine could reach speeds of up to 7 km / h. At the same time, the underground boat was designed to transport the crew and troops of 5 people, as well as 300 kg. explosives, it was originally a military project.
In 1940, in Nazi Germany, the von Wern project was seriously considered; such devices could be useful in military operations against Great Britain. The plans for the Sea Lion operation being developed, which provided for the landing of German troops on the British Isles, would have found a place for von Wern's submarines. His offspring were supposed to swim unnoticed to the shores of Great Britain and continue moving underground through English territory, in order to then deliver a sudden blow to the enemy in the most unexpected area for the British troops.
The German Subterrine project fell victim to the overconfidence of Goering, who led the Luftwaffe and believed he could defeat the British in an air war without any help. As a result, the project of von Vern's underground boat remained in the form of an idea that was not implemented in practice, as well as the fantasies of his famous namesake - the French writer Jules Verne, who wrote his famous novel "Journey to the Center of the Earth" long before the appearance of the first projects of underground boats.
Another much more grandiose project of the German designer Ritter was called Midgard Schlange (“Midgard Serpent”) with a fair amount of pathos. The project received such an unusual name in honor of the mythical reptile - the world serpent, which encircled the entire inhabited earth. As planned by the creator, his car was supposed to move both above and below the ground, as well as on water and under water at a depth of up to 100 meters. At the same time, Ritter believed that underground in soft ground his underground boat could reach speeds of up to 10 km / h, in hard ground - 2 km / h, on the earth's surface - up to 30 km / h, under water - 3 km / h.
However, most of all the imagination is struck by the size of this huge amphibious machine. Midgard Schlange was conceived by the creator as a full-fledged underground train, which included a large number of caterpillar compartment cars. Each wagon was 6 meters long. The total length of such an underground train ranged from 400 meters to 500 meters in the longest configuration. The path of this colossus under the ground should have been punched by four one and a half meter drills at once. Also in the car there were 3 additional drilling kits, and the total weight reached 60,000 tons. In order to control such a mechanical monster, 12 pairs of rudders and a crew of 30 people were needed. The design armament of the huge subterrine was also impressive: up to two thousand 250-kg and 10-kg mines, 12 twin machine guns and special underground torpedoes 6 meters long.
Initially, this project was planned to be used to destroy strategic facilities and fortifications in Belgium and France, as well as for subversive work in English ports. However, in the end, this crazy project of the gloomy German genius was never implemented in any acceptable form. But some technical information regarding the underground boats being developed in Germany nevertheless fell into the hands of Soviet intelligence officers at the end of the war.
Soviet "Battle Mole"
Another semi-mythical subterrin development project is the Soviet post-war project called the Battle Mole. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the head of SMERSH, V. Abakumov, attracted professors G. Babat and G. Pokrovsky to the implementation of the project for the construction of underground submarines, they had to work with captured drawings. However, it was only after Stalin's death in the 1960s that real progress was made in this direction. The new General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev liked the idea of "getting the imperialists out of the ground." Moreover, Khrushchev even publicly announced his plans, perhaps he had some reason for that.
Little is known about this development, it was mentioned only in a number of books that do not claim to be authentic. According to available information, the Soviet subterrine "Battle Mole" was supposed to receive a nuclear reactor. The underground boat had an elongated cylindrical titanium hull with a pointed end and a powerful drill in the front. The size of such an atomic subterrine could be from 25 to 35 meters in length and from 3 to 4 meters in diameter. The speed of movement of the apparatus underground lay in the range from 7 km/h to 15 km/h.
The crew of the "Battle Mole" consisted of 5 people. In addition, this device could immediately transport up to a ton of various cargoes (weapons or explosives) or 15 paratroopers with their equipment. It was assumed that such underground boats would successfully hit underground bunkers, fortifications, command posts and silo-based strategic missiles. Such devices were also being prepared for solving a special mission.
In the event of an aggravation of relations between the USSR and the USA, according to the plan of the Soviet command, the subterrins could be used to deliver a full-fledged underground strike on US territory. With the help of Soviet submarines, the subterrins were supposed to be delivered to the American coast in the region of seismically unstable California, after which they were to drill into American territory and install underground nuclear charges in areas where the enemy's strategic facilities were located. It was assumed that the detonation of atomic mines could set off a powerful earthquake and tsunami, which, in which case, could be attributed to ordinary natural disasters.
According to some reports, the tests of the Soviet nuclear underground boat were carried out in different soils - in the Rostov and Moscow regions, as well as in the Urals. At the same time, the atomic subterrine delivered the strongest impressions to the test participants in the Ural mountains. The "battle mole" easily passed through hard rock, destroying the training target at the end. However, during the repeated tests, a tragedy occurred: the subterrine exploded for an unknown reason, and its crew died. After this incident, the project was closed.
The idea to create such a machine that, like a mole, could dig underground passages and go deep into the planet, excited not only the minds of science fiction writers, but also serious scientists and designers.
Today, you will not surprise anyone with various tunneling equipment. With its help, thousands of kilometers of mines and tunnels were dug, through which trains rush, huge streams of water flow, various reserves are stored ...
However, in addition to such peaceful tunneling machines, under cover of secrecy, combat "moles" were developed that could destroy enemy underground communications, destroy its buried and well-protected command posts, and undermine arsenals hidden in rock masses. And they could also imperceptibly break through literally into the deep rear of the enemy, crawl out and land troops where no one was waiting for them. Such underground boats at the beginning of the twentieth century seemed to be almost a superweapon.
It is believed that the first draft of a combat underground self-propelled vehicle was developed by our compatriot, Muscovite Petr Rasskazov back in 1904. But during the revolutionary events that engulfed Moscow at that time, he was killed as if by a stray bullet. At the beginning of the First World War, his drawings disappeared, and later surfaced, of course, in Germany. In the early 1930s, the USSR returned to this idea. The engineer Trebelev was engaged in the creation of the "fighting mole". Moreover, he wanted to design a machine that would copy a real mole. It was even possible to build and test a prototype, but things did not go further.
Also, attempts to create an underground combat vehicle in Nazi Germany were unsuccessful. The project was called "Midgard Serpent" (Midgard Schlange) - after the underground monster from the Scandinavian sagas. The total weight of the underground "serpent" was 60 thousand tons with a crew of 30 people. The project turned out to be insanely expensive to implement, and it was closed. Then almost mystical events began to occur.
The war machine had fantastic abilities
The "snake" is believed to be based on the drawings of Pyotr Rasskazov, stolen by German intelligence at the beginning of the First World War. And the detailed German drawings were already obtained by Soviet intelligence officers at the end of the Great Patriotic War. Traditionally, we recognize only Western authorities. Despite the fact that it was our engineers who were the pioneers in the creation of "battle moles", only the German drawings of an underground miracle forced the competent authorities to push through the start of work on Soviet underground boats. The Minister of State Security of the USSR Abakumov literally demanded that the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Sergei Vavilov, create a special group to study the possibility of designing an underground boat. The creation of the "battle mole" was even more classified than the Soviet nuclear project. Information about him is the most approximate. It is known that Khrushchev also actively supported the project. Still, the Soviet underground apparatus could make its way through the thickness of the earth, passing rocks like a butter knife. Maybe the extravagant Khrushchev dreamed that the time would come and the steel Soviet fist would come out of the ground right on the lawn near the White House in Washington? She will still be Kuz'kina's mother!
More than 50 years ago, a combat vehicle was created in our country that passed through granite like butter. Infographics: Leonid Kuleshov/RG
According to experts in their publications, the underground combat vehicle was not only built, but also had truly fantastic abilities. They called her, without further ado, "Fighting mole." The underground boat had a nuclear power plant, like a classic nuclear submarine. It is alleged that the Battle Mole had the following parameters: hull length 35 m, diameter 3 m, crew 5 people, speed 7 km/h. He could also carry troops up to 15 fully equipped fighters. The plant for the manufacture of underground boats was built in 1962 in Ukraine. After 2 years, the first copy was made.
The device simply evaporated, and the punched tunnel collapsed
There is evidence that Academician Sakharov also had a hand in the creation of this apparatus. An original technology for crushing soil and a propulsion system was developed. A certain cavitation flow was created around the body of the "mole", which reduced the friction force and made it possible to break through even through granites and basalts. It was assumed that the actions of the "mole" would be mistaken by the enemy for the results of an earthquake.
The first tests gave amazing results. The "fighting mole" really calmly bit into the rocks and went into their depths at an unprecedented speed for tunneling machines. However, during the next test in 1964, a car that penetrated the Ural Mountains near Nizhny Tagil at a distance of 10 km exploded for unknown reasons. Since the explosion was nuclear, the apparatus itself with the people in it simply evaporated, and the broken tunnel collapsed. The name of the deceased commander of the "Battle Mole" was called in the press - Colonel Semyon Budnikov. But there has never been any official confirmation of this. The project was closed, all documentary evidence about it was liquidated, as if nothing had happened. Why did it happen so? Why, having actually created a unique tunneling machine for underground work that had no world analogues, the USSR abandoned its further development after the very first catastrophe. Rockets exploded much more, but no one turned off rocket science. There were also many accidents and disasters with nuclear submarines, but their designs were eventually brought to an almost perfect state. The answer to this may seem incredible and beyond fantastic. But... There is no other explanation.
What external force did not allow the "Mole" to deepen?
A long time ago, legends appeared that inside our planet there is another intelligent life - there is its own underground and completely unknown to us civilization that really controls the Earth, and maybe the entire solar system. And as if there are some portals that allow the chosen ones to enter this other world, as well as exit it. Nazi mystical scientists from the secret society Ahnenerbe seriously looked for these portals. Not the fact that they were not found. However, you can enter the interior of the Earth only if you are allowed to. And so the civilization of "Middle-earth" is protected by a powerful energy sphere and rocky armor, known to us as the earth's crust of the planet.
It is believed that the deepest well in the world is located on the Kola Peninsula. Indeed, during the Soviet era, it managed to break through to 12,262 meters deep. This is a world record. But even in Soviet times, work on the well began to be curtailed, allegedly because of their high cost. Today it is completely destroyed, the inlet is welded. However, there is a version that drilling was stopped for another reason. When it became possible to lower the video equipment into the wellbore to its entire depth, it turned out that the vertical depth was 8 km. And then, for some unknown reason, the drill began to spin in a horizontal plane, as if it had stumbled upon an obstacle of impenetrable strength. So I clocked over 4 km.
Or maybe another civilization exists not in space, but under our feet, and its guards did not want the Soviet "mole" to penetrate the forbidden limits
What external force did not allow to go deeper by more than 8 km?
Many cases have been recorded when people heard the rumble of working mechanisms coming from somewhere underground, although no underground work was carried out within a radius of thousands of kilometers. Submarine acoustics also recorded some technological noise coming from the ocean depths. We are looking for aliens in outer space. Or maybe another civilization exists literally under our feet? And her guards did not want the Soviet "mole" to penetrate the forbidden limits. After all, the technical characteristics allowed the "Battle Mole" to reach the center of the Earth. That is why the unique underground machine was destroyed. And the secret of the long-standing Soviet project is unlikely to ever be fully disclosed.
Underground Trebeleva
For the first time, the inventor Peter Rasskazov thought of an underground boat at the beginning of the 20th century. Here are just his thoughts and ideas he published in one of the English magazines. What happened to Rasskazov after the revolution is unknown. He disappeared along with his developments.
The idea of creating an apparatus moving underground was returned to before the start of the Second World War. In the USSR, engineer and designer Alexander Trebelev began work on the creation of an underground vehicle. He borrowed the principle of operation of this device from moles. Moreover, the inventor approached the matter very thoroughly. Before proceeding with the creation of the boat, he studied the behavior of the animal when it dug holes with the help of X-rays. The designer paid special attention to the movements of the paws and head of the animal. And only then he began to embody the mole in metal.
The movement of the subterrine Trebelev borrowed from the mole
Trebelev's underground boat resembled a capsule in shape, on the bow of which the inventor placed a drill. She also had an auger and two pairs of feed jacks. These jacks served as the paws of a mole. As conceived by the creator, it was possible to control the subterrine both from the inside and from the outside. That is, from the surface through a special cable. It also provided power to the machine.
Trebelev's creation turned out to be quite viable (it moved at a speed of 10 meters per hour), but needed a lot of improvements. A lot of money was required to eliminate them, so the designer still refused his offspring.
There is a version that shortly before the collision with Germany, Ustinov set the task for the designer Strakhov: to finalize the Trebelev project. And the emphasis should be on the military component of the subterrin. But the war began, and there was no time for fantastic combat vehicles.
German response
In parallel with the USSR, Germany was also puzzled by the creation of underground boats. For example, von Wern (or von Werner) patented an underwater subterranean apparatus, which he gave the name Subterrine. The car could move underground at a speed of 7 km / h, carry 5 people and several hundred kilograms of explosives.
Subterrine wanted to be used in Operation Sea Lion
The military became seriously interested in these projects. In their opinion, he was suitable for the role of "the punisher of Britain." In the Sea Lion special operation, they had to swim to England, and then continue their journey underground. Then deliver an unexpected blow to some important object.
But for some reason, underground boats were abandoned. The military leadership decided that Britain would be defeated in the air. And everything else is trifles. Therefore, the potential of von Wern's creation remained undiscovered. Fortunately for the same British.
But von Wern is not the only German who wanted to build an underground vehicle. Designer Ritter set about turning a more ambitious project, the Midgard Schlange, into reality. The underground boat was named "Midgard Serpent" in honor of the mythical creature. This serpent, according to legend, encircled the whole earth.
The brainchild of Ritter was remarkable for its amazing versatility. It just couldn't fly. And so, the machine, according to the creator's plan, was supposed to move on land and water, underground and under water. It was assumed that the device could move in solid ground at a speed of about 2 km / h. If there was soft soil on the way, its speed increased to 10 km / h. On the ground, the “Snake” could have accelerated to 30 km / h. And under water, its speed would be about 3 km / h.
Inspired and the size of the machine. Ritter dreamed of creating not just an apparatus, but a real underground train with caterpillar cars. Estimated length of equipment "assembly" - from 500 meters. Actually, that's why the project got the name "Midgard Schlange". According to the calculations made by Ritter, the weight of the colossus totaled several tens of thousands of tons. In theory, a crew of thirty people could cope with the control of the "Snake". Underground movement of the car was provided by 4 main drills of one and a half meters, as well as 3 additional ones.
The Midgard Schlange project remained on paper
Since the "Snake" was conceived as a military vehicle, its armament was appropriate: a couple of thousand mines, more than a dozen twin machine guns, and torpedoes. It was planned that the subterrine would be involved in hostilities against France, Belgium and Great Britain. But the project was not implemented. He, like his "relatives" Subterrine, remained on paper.
Soviet "Mole"
After the war in the USSR, they again returned to the subterrins. The most active work in this direction began under Khrushchev. The fact is that he really liked the idea of "getting the imperialists out of the ground." Nikita Sergeevich took the project under his patronage and publicly announced the development of the subway. On the territory of Ukraine, a secret plant for the production of subterrins was promptly erected. And already in 1964 the first boat with a nuclear reactor was ready. She received a telling name - "Fighting Mole".
There is no exact information about the boat. According to various sources, its diameter ranged from 3 to 4 meters. And the length varied from 25 to 35 meters. As for the speed, depending on the ground, it changed from 7 to 15 km/h. The crew of the "Mole" consisted of 5 people. In addition to them, the boat could transport another 15 soldiers and about a ton of various cargo.
They counted on the "mole" in the event of a war with the United States
As conceived by the creators, the “Battle Mole” was supposed to destroy underground bunkers, rocket launchers in mines and enemy command posts. Great hopes were pinned on the subterrins in the event of an aggravation of relations with the United States.
"Combat mole" was actively tested in different conditions. Especially well, he demonstrated his capabilities in the Urals, easily biting into the rock. But repeated tests put an end to the project. "Mole" for unknown reasons exploded underground. The crew could not be saved. After the catastrophe, they decided to abandon the creation of subterrins.
Incredible combat vehicles created for various tasks do not cease to amaze so far.
What seemed to us a fantasy in the work of Grigory Adamov (one of the best science fiction writers of the USSR), "The Secret of Two Oceans" was a device really created at that time: an underground cruiser.
A machine capable of cutting its way through hard rock, carrying out acts of sabotage behind enemy lines!
In 1976, at the initiative of the head of the Main Directorate of State Secrets Antonov, reports about this project began to appear in the press. And the remains of the underground cruiser itself rusted in the open air until the 90s. Now the former landfill seems to be declared a restricted area.
A dull echo of these works remained only in Eduard Topol's novel Alien Face, where the master of the detective genre describes how they intended to test the subterrine off the coast of North America. The nuclear submarine was supposed to unload the “subterrine” there, and the latter was going to get under its own power to California itself, where earthquakes are known to occur quite often. In a pre-calculated place, the crew left a nuclear warhead, which could be detonated at the right time. And all its consequences would then be attributed to a natural disaster ... But all this is just a fantasy: the tests of the underground boat were not completed.
From fantasy to reality
Nevertheless, those wishing to dream up were still there. One of these dreamers was our compatriot Peter Rasskazov. Despite his last name, he was not a writer at all, but an engineer and expressed his idea not in words, but in drawings. For which, they say, he was killed in the troubled times of the First World War. And his drawings mysteriously disappeared and "surfaced" after a while, not just anywhere, but in Germany. But they didn’t go into business, because Germany soon lost the war. She had to pay huge indemnities to the winners, and the country was not up to any kind of underground boats.
Meanwhile, the brains of the inventors continued to work. A similar design in the United States tried to patent Peter Chalmi - an employee of the "factory of inventions", which was headed not by anyone, but by the famous Thomas Alva Edison himself. However, he was not alone. The list of inventors of the underground boat includes, for example, a certain Evgeny Tolkalinsky, who emigrated from revolutionary Russia to the West in 1918 along with many other scientists, engineers and inventors.
"Mole" under Mount Grace
But even among those who remained in Soviet Russia, there were bright minds who took up this matter. In the 1930s, the inventor A. Trebelev, designers A. Baskin and A. Kirillov made a sensational invention. They created a project of a kind of "underground vehicle", the scope of which promised to be simply fantastic, up to the installation of metal lighting poles along the route of the car. For example, an underground boat reaches an oil reservoir and floats from one "lake" to another, destroying mountain barriers on its way. She pulls the oil pipeline behind her and, having finally reached the oil "sea", begins to pump "black gold" from there.
As a prototype for their design, the engineers took ... an ordinary earthen mole. For several months they studied how he makes underground passages, and created their apparatus "in the image and likeness" of this animal. Something, of course, had to be redone: the paws with claws were replaced with more familiar milling cutters - about the same as those of coal mining combines. The first tests of the mole boat took place in the Urals, in the mines under Mount Blagodat. The apparatus bit into the mountain, crumbling the strongest rocks with its milling cutters. But the design of the boat was still not reliable enough, its mechanisms often failed, and further developments were considered untimely. Moreover, the Second World War was on the nose.
Meanwhile in Germany
However, in Germany, the same war just served as a catalyst for a revival of interest in this idea. In 1933, the inventor W. von Wern patented his version of the subway. The invention, just in case, was classified and sent to the archive. It is not known how long it could lie there if Count Klaus von Stauffenberg had not accidentally stumbled upon it in 1940. Despite his magnificent title, he enthusiastically accepted the ideas set forth by Adolf Hitler in the book Mein Kampf. And when the newly-minted Fuhrer came to power, von Staufenberg was among his associates. He quickly made a career under the new regime and, when Verne's invention caught his eye, he realized that he had attacked his own gold mine.
After the end of World War II, not far from Koenigsberg, Soviet counterintelligence authorities discovered adits of unknown origin, and nearby were the remains of an exploded structure, it was assumed that these were the remains of the “Midgard Serpent” - an experimental version of the “Weapon of Retribution” of the Third Reich, some writers even associated this with the famous "Amber Room", which the Nazis hid in one of these adits.
Von Staufenberg brought the essence of the matter to the influential officials of the General Staff of the Wehrmacht. The inventor was soon found and all conditions were created so that he could put his idea into practice. The fact is that in 1940 the General Staff developed Operation Sea Lion, the main goal of which was the Nazi invasion of the British Isles. Underground boats would be very useful in this operation: having plowed the land under the English Channel, they could freely deliver detachments of saboteurs to the UK, which would sow panic among the British.
The development is based on Horner von Wern's patent, registered back in 1933. The inventor promised to make an apparatus with a capacity of up to 5 people, capable of moving underground at a speed of 7 km / h and carrying a warhead weighing 300 kg (this is quite enough to carry out an impressive sabotage). Moreover, von Wern's boat "floated" both under water and underground.
The Germans managed to develop and test this boat.
However, the initiative was seized by Hermann Goering, chief of the Luftwaffe. He convinced the Fuhrer that it was not worth engaging in "mouse fuss" when the valiant aces of the Third Reich could bomb Britain from the air in a matter of days. By order of Hitler in 1939, work on the underground boat was curtailed. The famous air war began in the skies of Britain, which, in the end, was won by the British. Wehrmacht soldiers were never destined to set foot on British soil.
Khrushchev's dream
However, the idea of creating an underground boat has not sunk into oblivion. In 1945, after the defeat of fascist Germany, trophy teams of the former allies scoured its territory with might and main. The project fell into the hands of General SMERSH Abakumov. Experts gave a conclusion - this is a unit for moving underground. In the spring of 1945, it was discovered on the Lubyanka that one Russian self-taught engineer, Rudolf Trebeletsky, who graduated from the gymnasium and Moscow University as an external student, was shot during the repressions in 1933, took part in the German project. Copies of drawings brought by him from Germany were found in the special depository.
Trebeletsky significantly improved von Wern's invention. Now the boat could move equally successfully both underground and under water. In addition, he invented the "thermal super circuit", which greatly facilitated the movement underground. He named his boat "Subterina".
Trebeletsky told his classmate, the famous science fiction writer Grigory Adamov, about his ideas. Adamov used Trebelecki's ideas in his novels The Secret of Two Oceans and The Subsoil Conquerors. For mentioning secret technologies, Adamov was punished by complete oblivion during his lifetime and died before reaching his 60th birthday.
The project was sent for revision. Leningrad professor G.I. Babat suggested using microwave radiation to supply the "subterranean" with energy. And the Moscow professor G.I. Pokrovsky made calculations showing the fundamental possibility of using cavitation processes not only in a liquid, but also in a solid medium. Bubbles of gas or steam, according to Professor Pokrovsky, were able to destroy rocks very effectively. He spoke about the possibility of creating "underground torpedoes" and Academician A.D. Sakharov. In his opinion, it was possible to create conditions under which the underground projectile would move not in the thickness of the rocks, but in a cloud of sprayed particles, which would provide a fantastic speed of advance - tens or even hundreds of kilometers per hour!
Again, they remembered the development of A. Trebelev. Given the trophy developments, the case looked promising. But Beria, with the support of Ustinov, convinced Stalin that the project had no prospects. But in 1962 the project was developed - in Ukraine. For the serial production of underground boats, the testing of which, in fact, had not yet begun, in the town of Gromovka, on the orders of Khrushchev, a strategic plant for the mass production of underground boats was built! So this is where the well-known saying came from... And Nikita Sergeevich himself publicly promised to get the imperialists not only from outer space, but also from underground!
By 1964 the plant was built. The first Soviet underground boat was titanium with a pointed bow and stern, 3 meters in diameter and 25 meters long, a crew of 5 people, and could accommodate 15 fighters, and a ton of weapons, speed - up to 15 km / h. The combat mission is to detect and destroy enemy underground command posts and missile silos. Khrushchev personally examined the new weapon.
Several variants of the created underground vehicles were sent for testing in the Ural Mountains. The first cycle was successful - the underground boat at the speed of a pedestrian confidently made a move from one side of the mountain to another. Which, of course, was immediately reported to the government. Perhaps it was this news that gave Nikita Sergeevich the grounds for his public statement. But he hastened.
Since ancient times, man has been drawn to either sink to the bottom, or rise into the air, or reach the very center of the Earth. However, this was possible until some time only in fantasy novels and fairy tales. Nowadays, an underground boat is no longer just a fantasy. Successful developments and trials have been carried out in this area. After reading our article, you will learn a lot of interesting things about such an apparatus as an underground boat.
Underground boats in literature
It all started with a flight of fancy. In 1864, Jules Verne published a famous novel called Journey to the Center of the Earth. His heroes descended to the center of our planet through the mouth of a volcano. In 1883 Shuzi's Underground Fire was published. In it, the heroes, working with pickaxes, laid a mine to the earth's center. True, the book has already said that the core of the planet is hot. Alexei Tolstoy, the Russian writer, has had more success. In 1927, he wrote "Engineer Garin's Hyperboloid". The hero of the work made his way almost through the thickness of the earth, while casually and even with some cynicism.
All these authors built hypotheses that could not be substantiated in any way. The matter remained with the inventors and engineers, the rulers of people's thoughts of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. However, in the "Winners of the Subsoil" published in 1937, he reduced the problem of storming the earth's interior to the usual achievements of the USSR authorities. The design that the underground boat had in his book seemed to have been written off from the drawings of a secret design bureau. Is this a coincidence?
First developments
Now no one can answer the question of what formed the basis of Grigory Adamov's bold guesses. However, judging by the few data, there were still reasons for them. The first engineer who allegedly created the drawings of the underground apparatus was Petr Rasskazov. This engineer was killed in 1918 by an agent who stole all his documentation from him. The Americans believe that the first developments were started by Thomas Edison. However, it is more reliable that they were carried out in the late 20-30s of the 20th century by engineers from the USSR A. Treblev, A. Baskin and A. Kirilov. It was they who developed the design of the first underground boat.
However, it was intended solely for utilitarian purposes related to oil production, in order to facilitate this process and satisfy the needs of the socialist state. They took as a basis a real mole or earlier developments in this area by Russian or foreign engineers - now it's hard to say. However, it is known that in the Ural mines located under the test "floats" of the boat were carried out. Of course, the sample was experimental, rather a reduced copy than a full-fledged working device. Apparently, it resembled later coal mining combines. The presence of flaws, a reliable engine, a slow penetration rate was natural for the first model. It was decided to curtail the work on the subway.
Strakhov resumes the project
After some time, the era of mass terror began. Many specialists who participated in this project were shot. However, on the eve of the war, they suddenly remembered the "Steel Mole". The authorities were again interested in the underground boat. P. I. Strakhov, a leading specialist in this field, was summoned to the Kremlin. At that time, he worked as a curator on the construction of the Moscow metro. The scientist, in a conversation with D. F. Ustinov, who headed the arms commissariat, confirmed the opinion about the combat use of the underground vehicle. He was instructed to develop an improved experimental model according to the surviving drawings.
War interrupts work
People, funds, necessary equipment were urgently allocated. The Russian underground boat had to be ready as soon as possible. However, the outbreak of the Great Patriotic War, apparently, interrupted the work. Therefore, the state commission never adopted an experimental sample. He was destined for the fate of many other projects - the sample was sawn into metal. The country at that time needed more aircraft, tanks and submarines for defense. But Strakhov never returned to the underground boat. He was sent to build bunkers.
German submarines
Similar designs, of course, were also carried out in Germany. Any superweapon capable of bringing world domination to the Third Reich was necessary for leadership. In fascist Germany, according to information received after the end of the war, there were developments of underground military vehicles. The code name of the first of them is Subterrine (project by R. Trebeletsky and H. von Wern). By the way, some researchers believe that R. Trebeletsky is A. Treblev, an engineer who fled the USSR. The second development is Midgardschlange, which means "Midgard Serpent". This is a Ritter project.
After completion, the Soviet authorities discovered adits of unknown origin near Koenigsberg, next to which were the remains of a blown up structure. It has been suggested that these are the remains of the Midgard Serpent.
No less remarkable project was the "Sea Lion" (its other name is Subterrine). Back in 1933, Horner von Werner, a German engineer, filed a patent for it. According to his plan, this device could reach speeds of up to 7 m / h. On board could be 5 people, and the weight of the warhead was up to 300 kg. This device, moreover, could move not only underground, but also under water. This underground submarine was immediately classified. Her project ended up in the military archive.
Probably no one would have remembered him if the war had not started. Count von Staufenberg, who oversaw military projects, pulled it out of the archive. He suggested that Hitler use a submarine to invade the British Isles. She had to quietly cross the English Channel and secretly go underground to the right place.
However, these plans were not destined to come true. Hermann Goering convinced Adolf Hitler that England could be forced to surrender much cheaper and faster by simple bombing. Therefore, the operation was not carried out, although Goering could not fulfill his promise.
Exploring the Sea Lion Project
After the victory over Germany in 1945, an unspoken confrontation began on the territory of this country. Former allies began to compete among themselves for the possession of German military secrets. Among some other developments, the German project of an underground boat called "Sea Lion" fell into the hands of Abakumov, a SMERSH general. The group, led by professors G. I. Pokrovsky and G. I. Babata, began to study the capabilities of this apparatus. As a result of the research, the following verdict was issued - the underground vehicle can be used by the Russians for military purposes.
Designed by M. Tsiferov
Engineer M. Tsiferov created his own underground projectile at the same time (in 1948). He was even given a USSR copyright certificate for the development of an underground torpedo. This device could move independently in the thickness of the earth, while developing a speed of up to 1 m / s!
Construction of a secret factory
Meanwhile, Khrushchev came to power in the USSR. In the beginning of the Cold War, their own trump cards, military and political, were needed. The engineers and scientists who were confronted with this problem came up with a solution that took the underground boat project to a new level of development. It was supposed to be done with the type of the first submarines that had a nuclear reactor. In a short time for pilot production, it was necessary to build another secret plant. By order of Khrushchev, in early 1962, construction began near the village of Gromovka (Ukraine). Khrushchev soon announced publicly that the imperialists should be obtained not only from space, but also from underground.
Development of the "Battle Mole"
After 2 years, the plant produced the first underground boat of the USSR. She had a nuclear reactor. The underground nuclear boat was named "Battle Mole". The design had a titanium body. The stern and bow were pointed. The underground boat "Battle Mole" in diameter reached 3.8 m, and its length was 35 meters. The crew consisted of five people. In addition, the underground boat "Battle Mole" was able to take on board a ton of explosives, as well as another 15 paratroopers. "Battle Mole" allowed the boat to reach speeds of up to 7 m / h.
What was the atomic underground boat "Battle Mole" intended for?
The combat mission that was assigned to her was the destruction of missile silos and underground command bunkers of the enemy. The General Staff planned to deliver such "subs" to the United States using nuclear submarines specially designed for this. California was chosen as the destination, where high seismic activity was observed due to frequent earthquakes. She could mask the movement of the Russian subway. The underground boat of the USSR, in addition, could install a nuclear charge and, by detonating it remotely, in this way cause an artificial earthquake. Its consequences could be attributed to an ordinary natural disaster. This could undermine the power of the Americans financially and materially.
Testing a new underground boat
In 1964, in early autumn, the Battle Mole was tested. The subway showed good results. He managed to overcome heterogeneous soil, as well as destroy the command bunker located underground, which belonged to a mock enemy. Several times the prototype was demonstrated to members of government commissions in the Rostov region, in the Urals and in Nakhabino near Moscow. After that, mysterious events began. During scheduled tests, the nuclear-powered ship allegedly exploded in the Ural Mountains. The crew, led by Colonel Semyon Budnikov, died heroically (it is possible that this is a fictitious name). The reason for this is an allegedly sudden breakdown, as a result of which the "mole" was crushed by rocks. According to other versions, there was a sabotage by foreign intelligence services or even the device got into the anomalous zone.
Minimizing programs
After Khrushchev was removed from leadership positions, many programs were curtailed, including this project. The underground boat again ceased to interest the authorities. The economy of the Soviet Union was bursting at the seams. Therefore, this project, like many other developments, such as the Soviet ekranolet flying over the Caspian in the 60-70s, was abandoned. in the ideological war could compete with the United States, but noticeably lost in the arms race. I had to save money on literally everything. This was felt by the common people and Brezhnev understood. The existence of the state was put on the line, so the advanced bold projects that did not promise quick superiority were classified and curtailed for a long time.
Is work ongoing?
In 1976, information about the underground nuclear fleet of the Soviet Union was leaked to the press. This was done for the purpose of military-political disinformation. The Americans fell for this bait and set about building such devices. It is difficult to say whether the development of such machines is currently underway in the West and in the USA. Does anyone need an underground boat today? The photos presented above, as well as historical facts, are arguments in favor of the fact that this is not just a fantasy, but a real reality. How much do we know about the modern world? Perhaps, right now, underground boats are plowing the earth somewhere. No one is going to advertise the secret developments of Russia, as, indeed, of other countries.
