Skip to content

← Home

The Mystery of the "Admiral Nakhimov" (Nuclear Tests Near Crimea?)

An article in the newspaper Krymska Svitlytsia (2018, No. 45) sets out a version of an underwater nuclear test conducted by the Black Sea Fleet near Crimea in 1960 and links to it the rapid decommissioning of the cruiser Admiral Nakhimov, while also presenting the skeptical perspective of an expert.

Overview

Valeriy Verkhovskyi's publication deals with an unconfirmed version that an underwater nuclear test was conducted in the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula in late 1960 — the detonation of a T-5 nuclear torpedo beneath the Project 68-bis light cruiser Admiral Nakhimov during Black Sea Fleet exercises. This version aims to explain the rapid decommissioning of the ship (July 29, 1960) as "obsolete," even though the remaining cruisers of the same project served until the 1990s. At the same time, the article objectively presents the arguments of skeptics (in particular expert Radiy Radutnyi), who consider this version unlikely.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Project 68-bis light cruiser Admiral Nakhimov: built in the early 1950s (commissioned in 1953), it served only until July 29, 1960, and was decommissioned as "obsolete"; 13 of its Project 68-bis "sister ships" served until 1990, and in the 1970s (during the Brezhnev-Ustinov arms buildup) returned to service once again.
  • Version of the T-5 nuclear torpedo detonation: according to anonymous testimony in V. B. Ivanov's book Secrets of Sevastopol, a nuclear torpedo was detonated beneath the cruiser from a Project 613 submarine, after which the ships allegedly underwent decontamination and were scrapped due to the radioactive background of their hulls.
  • Seismic activity on December 4, 1960: a recorded earthquake on the Black Sea floor specifically in Feodosia Gulf between Capes Meganom and Chauda — at a location and time matching the Black Sea Fleet exercises; it is also mentioned that before decommissioning, the deck planking was stripped from the cruiser and the hull was coated with lead minium.
  • Radionuclides in the Black Sea: according to data from the EMERCOM of the russian federation (2014, RIA Novosti agency), the content of cesium-137 and strontium-90 in certain areas of the sea exceeded normal levels by 70 times — although officially this is explained by fallout from nuclear tests and the Chornobyl disaster, rather than tests near Crimea.
  • Skepticism of Radiy Radutnyi: the expert considers the version extremely unlikely — due to the impossibility of concealing such an operation (lack of memoirs/recollections by participants), discrepancies between the description and the documented pattern of underwater explosions (the water column is significantly larger than the ship — causing it to sink rather than jump), the presence of a distinct "radiation signature" in nuclear explosions, and the lack of an answer to the question "why?" (heavily populated area, dachas of leadership, border with Turkey).
  • Khrushchev Era / "Voluntarism": the fate of the Project 68-bis cruisers is presented within the context of chaotic fleet management under Khrushchev — repairs, modernizations, mothballing, conversions, painting with lead minium, and ultimately decommissioning; decoupling techniques were only beginning to emerge back then, while T-5 torpedoes were actually tested in 1961 in Chornaya Bay on Novaya Zemlya.

Contradictions and Open Questions

  • The version of an underwater nuclear explosion near Crimea relies solely on anonymous testimony and indirect coincidences (seismic activity, radionuclides), whereas specialist Radiy Radutnyi provides strong arguments against it (impossibility of secrecy, radiation signature, lack of motive). The question remains open until closed archives reveal additional data.
  • The Mystery of the "Admiral Nakhimov" — original article from the newspaper Krymska Svitlytsia (2018, No. 45), Valeriy Verkhovskyi; foundation of this page.
  • Black Sea Fleet — Black Sea Fleet, in whose exercises the underwater nuclear test near the cruiser allegedly took place according to the version.
  • Kherson Admiralty — Kherson Admiralty — the cradle of the Black Sea Fleet, whose traditions were continued by the Project 68-bis cruiser.
  • Feodor Ushakov — Admiral Ushakov — representative of the same russian naval tradition to which the cruiser belonged.