February 19th, 2013
Almost from the very beginning of his existence, man wanted to either rise into the skies, or descend underground, and even reach the center of the planet. However, all these dreams were embodied only in science fiction novels and fairy tales: “Journey to the Center of the Earth” by Jules Verne, “Underground Fire” by Shuzi, “Hyperboloid of Engineer Garin” by A. Tolstoy. and only in 1937, G. Adamov, in his work “Winners of the Subsoil,” described the design of an underground boat as an achievement of the Soviet government. It even seemed that this description was based on real drawings. Despite the fact that at present it is impossible to determine what lay at the basis of such bold guesses and descriptions of Adamov, it is still obvious that there were grounds for this.
Let's see what myths (or not myths?) does the Internet live on this topic?
There are many legends regarding who was the first in the world to start developing underground boats and whether they were developed at all, because there is practically no documentary material on this topic.
Nevertheless, there were still those who wanted to fantasize. One of these dreamers was our compatriot Pyotr Rasskazov. In 1918, he made drawings of such a device. But in the same year he died at the hands of a German agent, who, in addition, also stole all the developments. But they never got involved, since Germany soon lost the war. She had to pay huge indemnities to the winners, and the country had no time for any kind of underground boats.
According to the Americans, Thomas Alva Edison was the first in the world to develop developments in this industry. However, according to more reliable information, at the turn of the 20-30s of the last century, the design of the first underground boat was developed in the Soviet Union. Its authors were engineers A. Treblev, A. Baskin and A. Kirilov. At the same time, it was assumed that the main purpose of the device would be limited to the oil production industry.
Meanwhile, the inventors' brains continued to work. A similar design in the USA was attempted to be patented by Peter Chalmy, an employee of the “invention factory”, which was headed by none other than 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 in 1918 emigrated from revolutionary Russia to the West along with many other scientists, engineers and inventors.
But even among those who remained in Soviet Russia, there were bright minds who took up this matter. In the 1930s, inventor A. Trebelev and designers A. Baskin and A. Kirillov made a sensational invention. They created a project for a kind of “underground tunnel”, the scope of which promised to be simply fantastic. For example, an underground boat reaches an oil reservoir and floats from one “lake” to another, destroying mountain dams along the way. It pulls an oil pipeline behind it and, having finally reached the oil “sea”, begins pumping “black gold” from there.
As a prototype for their design, the engineers took... an ordinary earthen mole. For several months they studied how it makes underground passages and created their apparatus “in the image and likeness” of this animal. Some things, of course, had to be altered: the paws with claws were replaced with more familiar cutters - approximately the same as those used in coal mining combines. The first tests of the mole boat took place in the Urals, in the mines under Mount Blagodat. The device bit into the mountain, crushing the strongest rocks with its 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 was on the nose World War.
It is difficult to say at the moment what was taken as the basis for the development of the boat: either it was a real mole, or the previous developments of scientists. As a result, a small model was created, equipped with an electric motor that drove special devices for its movement and cutting devices. However, the first prototypes were tested in the Ural mines. Of course, this was just a prototype, a smaller copy of the device, and not a full-fledged underground boat. The tests were not successful, and due to numerous shortcomings, the very low speed of the apparatus and the unreliability of the engine, all work on the underground tunnel was curtailed. And then the era of repression began, and most of those who took part in the development were shot.
However, a few years later, on the eve of the Second World War, the Soviet leadership nevertheless remembered this fantastic project. At the beginning of 1940, D. Ustinov, who soon became the People's Commissar of Armaments of the Soviet Union, summoned P. Strakhov, Doctor of Technical Sciences, who was engaged in the design of underground tunneling machines. The conversation that took place between them is interesting. Ustinov wondered whether the designer had heard about the development of an autonomous underground self-propelled vehicle in the 30s, carried out by Treblev. Strakhov answered in the affirmative. Then the People's Commissar said that the designer had much more important and urgent work related to the creation of a self-propelled underground vehicle for the needs of the Soviet army. Strakhov agreed to take part in the project. He was allocated unlimited human resources and material resources, and allegedly after a year and a half the prototype was being tested. The underground boat created by the designer could operate autonomously for about a week; it was for this period that the reserves of oxygen, water and food were calculated.
However, when the war began, Strakhov was forced to switch to the construction of bunkers, so the further fate of the underground apparatus he created is unknown to the designer. But it is quite possible to assume that the prototype was never accepted by the state commission, and the device itself was cut into metal, since at that time the army needed planes, tanks and submarines much more.
One of the many myths about the secret super-technique of the Third Reich says that there were developments of underground combat weapons under the code names “Subterrine” (project of H. von Wern and R. Trebeletsky) and “Midgardschlange” (“Midgard Serpent”) (project of Ritter).
In Germany, the same war served as a catalyst for a revival of interest in this idea. In 1933, inventor W. von Wern patented his version of the underground tunnel. Just in case, the invention was classified and sent to the archives. It is unknown how long it could have lain there if Count Claus von Stauffenberg had not accidentally stumbled upon it in 1940. Despite his pompous title, he enthusiastically accepted the ideas outlined by Adolf Hitler in the book Mein Kampf. And when the newly-minted Fuhrer came to power, von Stauffenberg was among his comrades. He quickly made a career under the new regime and, when Verne’s invention caught his eye, he realized that he had attacked his gold mine.
The leadership of the Third Reich needed any superweapon that would help achieve world domination. According to information that was made public after the end of the war, underground military devices were being developed in Germany, which were given the names “Subterrine” and “Midgardschlange”. The last of the named projects was supposed to be a super-amphibian, which could move not only on the ground and underground, but also under water at a depth of about one hundred meters. Thus, the device was created as a universal combat vehicle, consisting of a large number of interconnected compartments-modules. The module had a length of six meters, a width of about seven meters, and a height of about three and a half meters. The total length of the device was approximately 400-525 meters, depending on what tasks were assigned to this vehicle. The underground cruiser had a displacement of 60 thousand tons. According to some reports, tests of the underground cruiser were carried out back in 1939. On board it was placed a large number of small shells and mines, Fafnir underground combat torpedoes, coaxial machine guns, Alberich reconnaissance shells, and a Laurin transport shuttle for communication with the surface. The crew of the device consisted of 30 people, and inside it was very similar to the structure of a submarine. The device could reach speeds on land of up to 30 kilometers per hour, under water - three kilometers, and in rocky soil - up to two kilometers per hour.
The underground boat was a device, in the front of which there was a drilling head with four drills (the diameter of each was one and a half meters). The head was driven by nine electric motors, the total power of which was about 9 thousand horsepower. Its chassis was made on tracks, and was serviced by 14 electric motors with a total power of about 20 thousand horsepower.
Underwater, the boat moved with the help of 12 pairs of rudders, as well as 12 additional engines, the total power of which was 3 thousand horsepower. The explanatory note to the project provided for the construction of 20 such underground cruisers (each costing about 30 million Reichsmarks), which were planned to be used for attacks on strategically important French and Belgian targets, and for mining the ports of England.
After the Second World War was over, Soviet counterintelligence near Königsberg discovered adits of unknown origin and purpose, and not far from them the remains of a structure, presumably the “Midgardschlange”.
In addition, some sources mention another German project, less ambitious, but no less interesting, which was started much earlier - “Subterrine” or “Sea Lion”. The patent for its creation was received back in 1933 and it was issued in the name of the German inventor Horner von Werner. According to the inventor's plan, his device was supposed to have a speed of about seven kilometers per hour, a crew of 5 people, and carry a warhead equal to 300 kilograms. It was assumed that he would be able to move not only underground, but also under water. The invention was immediately classified and transferred to the archives. And if the war had not started, hardly anyone would have remembered this project. However, Count von Stauffenberg, who oversaw some military projects, came across it completely by accident. In addition, in those years Germany had just developed a military operation called “Sea Lion”, the purpose of which was to invade British Isles. Therefore, the existence of an underground boat with a similar name could be very useful. The idea was as follows: an underground vehicle, with saboteurs on board, would cross the English Channel and then get to Right place underground. However, as history shows, these plans were not destined to come true, because Hermann Goering managed to convince the Fuhrer that bombing would be enough for the surrender of England, especially since to achieve this goal the Vs were required, and, accordingly, and huge material resources. As a result, Operation Sea Lion was canceled and the project itself was closed, despite the fact that Goering was never able to fulfill his promises.
Meanwhile, machines similar in their functions were developed in England. They were typically designated by the acronym NLE (i.e., Naval and Land Equipment). Their main purpose was to dig passages through enemy positions. Through these passages, equipment and infantrymen were supposed to penetrate enemy territory and organize surprise attacks. English developments had four names: “Nelly”, “Excavator without human intervention”, “Cultivator 6” and “ White Rabbit" The final version of the English project was an apparatus about 23.5 meters long, about 2 meters wide, about 2.5 meters high and consisted of two compartments. The main compartment was located on caterpillar tracks, and was very reminiscent of a tank. Its weight was one hundred tons. The second compartment, which weighed about 30 tons, was designed for digging trenches up to 1.5 meters deep and up to 2.3 meters wide. The English design had two motors: one drove the conveyors and cutters in the front compartment, and the second drove the machine itself. The device could reach speeds of up to 8 kilometers per hour. After reaching the extreme point of movement, “Nelly” had to stop, turning into a platform for equipment to exit.
However, the project was closed after the fall of France. Before that period, only five cars were produced. By the end of World War II, four of them were dismantled. The fifth car suffered the same fate in the early 50s.
However, the idea of creating an underground boat has not sunk into oblivion. In 1945, after the defeat fascist Germany, captured teams of former allies were scouring its territory with might and main. Special agents from Beria's department discovered drawings and remains of a strange mechanism. After studying the finds, experts came to the conclusion that they were looking at a device for making passages underground. General Abakumov sent it for revision.
The project was sent for revision. Leningrad professor G.I. Babat proposed using ultra-high-frequency radiation to supply the “underground” with energy. And Moscow professor G.I. Pokrovsky made calculations showing the fundamental possibility of using cavitation processes not only in liquid, but also in solid media. Bubbles of gas or steam, according to Professor Pokrovsky, were capable of very effectively destroying rocks. Academician A.D. also spoke about the possibility of creating “underground torpedoes”. Sakharov. In his opinion, it was possible to create conditions under which an underground projectile would move not in the thickness of the rocks, but in a cloud of sprayed particles, which would ensure a fantastic speed of progress - tens, or even hundreds of kilometers per hour!
After research, they came to the conclusion that the device can be used for military purposes. Around the same time, the Soviet engineer M. Tsiferov received a patent for the creation of an underground torpedo - a device that could move underground at a speed of one meter per second. Tsiferov’s ideas were continued by his son, but the problem of maintaining the rocket’s course was never solved. In 1950, A. Kachan and A. Brichkin received a patent for the creation of a thermal drill, which was very similar to a rocket.
They again remembered the development of A. Trebelev. Taking into account the trophy developments, the matter looked promising. Moreover, Comrade Khrushchev, who replaced the deceased Stalin at the helm of the state, became personally interested in the project. For the serial production of underground boats, the testing of which, in essence, had not yet begun, a huge plant was urgently built in the Crimean steppes. And Nikita Sergeevich himself publicly promised to get the imperialists not only from space, but also from underground!
Several versions of the created underground tunnels were sent for testing to the Ural Mountains. The first cycle was successful - the underground boat confidently moved from one mountainside to the other at walking speed. Which, naturally, was immediately reported to the government. Perhaps it was this news that gave Nikita Sergeevich the grounds for his public statement. But he was in a hurry. During the second series of tests, a mysterious explosion occurred, and the underground boat with its entire crew died, finding itself walled up deep in the earth's thickness.
The development of underground devices has begun again. Engineers and scientists who were involved in solving this problem proposed a project to create a nuclear underground boat. Especially for the first pilot production, a secret plant was built in the shortest possible time (it was ready by 1962 and was located in Ukraine, near the village of Gromovka). In 1964, the plant allegedly produced the first Soviet underground nuclear boat, which was called “Battle Mole”. It had a diameter of about 4 meters, a length of 35 meters, and a titanium body. The crew of the device consisted of 5 people; in addition to it, another 15 landing troops and a ton of explosives could be placed on board. The main task assigned to the boat was to destroy the enemy's underground missile silos and bunkers. There were even plans to deliver these boats to the shores of American California, where earthquakes often occur. The boat could have left a nuclear charge and detonated it, thereby causing an artificial earthquake, and all the consequences could have been attributed to the elements.
Tests of a nuclear underground boat, according to some sources, began in 1964, during which amazing results were obtained. Subsequently, tests continued in the Urals, in Rostov region, since there are harder soils there, and in Nakhabino near Moscow
The photo shows traces of testing. Subterrine passed here.
Further tests were carried out in the Urals, but during one of them a tragedy occurred, as a result of which the boat exploded and the entire crew died. After the incident, testing was stopped. Moreover, when L. Brezhnev came to power, the project was completely closed and classified. And in 1976, for the purpose of disinformation, in the press, on the initiative of the head of the Main Directorate for the Protection of State Secrets Antonov, reports began to appear not only about this project, but also about the existence of an underground nuclear fleet in the Soviet Union, while the remnants of the “Battle Mole” » rusted under open air.
A faint 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 North America. The nuclear submarine was supposed to unload the “subterrine” there, and the latter, under its own power, was going to reach California itself, where, as you know, earthquakes occur quite often. In a pre-calculated location, the crew left a nuclear warhead that could be detonated at the right moment. And all its consequences would then be attributed to a natural disaster... But all this is just fantasy: the tests of the underground boat were not completed.
They also say that there are patented technologies for tunneling machines that do not leave behind rocks, because In fact, the tunnel is not cut, but melted. There is even indirect “evidence” that such machines exist, for example the DUMB (Deep Underground Military Bases) program, where there are tunnels, but no rock emissions. Of course, there are a lot of crazy patents, but there is no direct evidence and, in fact, this is all speculation, but the very possibility of the existence of such machines cannot be denied.
Or here’s another thing: the Americans were also engaged in similar developments in the 40s. Their project looked something like this: the boat was a hollow 2- or 3-story cylinder without bottoms, filled with 800 blacks. Some of the blacks, concentrated in the front part of the cylinder, pierced the rocks with a pick, crowbar and shovel. Another group of blacks crushed the falling stones with sledgehammers and hammers and packed them into bags and wheelbarrows. The third group transported waste to the surface. The fourth group pushed the cylinder forward. With good feeding and changing groups, a decent penetration rate was achieved in some places - approximately 2-3 meters per day. In the future, it was planned to install weapons on these devices or fill all available space with dynamite in order to deliver an unexpected blow to the enemy.
Many enthusiasts of creating “underground tunnels” are not happy with the idea of crushing rocks mechanically. As modern tunneling shields show, this process wastes a huge amount of energy. And yet the shield moves at a speed of several meters per day. This is not “swimming”, but rather “crawling”.
There have been attempts to speed up the mining process more than once. In 1948, engineer M. Tsiferov received a USSR author's certificate for the invention of an underground torpedo - a device capable of independently moving through the earth at a speed of 1 m/s (for comparison: the speed of Trebelev's unit is 12 m/h). Tsiferov proposed a method of drilling using a hidden explosion. He designed a special drill head that resembled a giant drill with cutting edges. The powder compartment contained a charge that exploded from an electric fuse. At the moment of the explosion, the powder gases created a pressure of 2-3 thousand atmospheres in the combustion chamber! With enormous force they burst out of the narrow slots of the head, their jet streams rotating the drill. As soon as one checker burned out, a new one was supplied from a special compartment.
However, the rod or cable on which the drill hangs can break when diving more than 10-12 km, unable to withstand its own weight. To overcome this limitation, Tsiferov also proposed an underground... rocket. It was turned upside down to burn and actively push the soil out of the hole being made. Half a century has passed since the first application. The inventor's son is currently improving underground rockets. But they have not been introduced into widespread practice. Why? The fact is that such a process is difficult to manage. A launched rocket actually goes tens of meters deep in a matter of seconds. But will her path be straight? After all, the subsoil is heterogeneous, and there is a very high chance that the projectile will “lead” to the side. And a Caucasian proverb says that even a lame man walking on the right road will overtake a horseman galloping in the wrong direction...
It is unknown whether such underground boats are being developed today. This topic is both secret and at the same time mythical, and a country that will have such devices in its arsenal will, of course, receive big advantage. If we talk about the scientific value of such devices, it is obvious that only with their help will it be possible to answer fundamental questions about the structure of the planet.
Here's what the skeptics say:
Why is an autonomous underground tunnel impossible:
1. When classic scheme When drilling rocks (with a cutter or a bit), a huge amount of heat is generated, which is removed by the drilling fluid. Where will the underground tunnel get enough drilling fluid? And out of nowhere. For the same reason, it will not be able to wash away drill cuttings from under the bit (cutter), and after a couple of minutes the cuttings will clog the bit tightly.
2. Where will the underground tunnel take the drilled rock? When drilling wells, cuttings are carried upward by drilling fluid. We have already talked about drilling mud reserves. The option of “throwing it into a tunnel” is not an option, since the volume of drilled rock due to its looseness will be greater than the volume of the tunnel. Simply put, if you freeze water in a glass and then crush the ice, all of it will not fit into the glass.
3. Option with “melting” the rock. OK, let's imagine an underground tunnel equipped with such a powerful nuclear reactor that it melts the rock around it. Where to put the melt? Throw it back? In this case, it forms a plug, tightly clogging the tunnel from behind. Well, in the end, no one thinks about returning the same way, and we have a reactor. BUT! Where to remove the heat, which sooner or later will melt the underground tunnel itself or, at least, bring the temperature of its insides to the temperature of the reactor? A refrigerator of any design is not suitable here - since the heat needs to be removed somewhere in any case, and where will it be taken in a molten tunnel?
The original article is on the website InfoGlaz.rf Link to the article from which this copy was made -
One of the many myths about the secret super-technique of the Third Reich says that there were developments of underground combat weapons under the code names “Subterrine” (project of H. von Wern and R. Trebeletsky) and “Midgardschlange” (“Midgard Serpent”) (project of Ritter).
The huge underground passage according to the second project consisted of several compartments measuring 6 meters in length, 6.8 in width and 3.5 in height, with a total length of 400 to 524 meters. Weight - 60 thousand tons. There were 14 electric motors with a capacity of 20 thousand horsepower. Speed - under water 30 km/h, in the ground - from 2 to 10 km/h. The vehicle was operated by a crew of 30 people. Armament - mines and machine guns, underground torpedoes "Fafnir" (combat) and "Alberich" (reconnaissance). Auxiliary detachable means are projectiles to facilitate excavation in rocky soils “Mjolnir” and a small transport shuttle for communication with the surface “Laurin”.
At the end of the Second World War, in the area of Konigsberg, adits of unknown purpose were found, and nearby an exploded structure of unknown purpose. There is a possibility that these were the remains of the “Midgard Serpent” being developed as one of the incarnations of “retribution”.
Watch movie: underground boat
Lost Subterina
For thousands of years, people have dreamed of conquering the elements. Our ancient ancestors took the first steps in the development of the seas and oceans; Watching the flight of birds, people dreamed of freeing themselves from gravity and learning to fly. And so, it would seem, today man has realized his dreams - high-speed ocean liners proudly cut through the waves of all seas and oceans, nuclear submarines silently sneak through the water column, and the sky is streaked with the contrails of jet aircraft. Over the past 20th century, we have even managed to overcome gravity, taking the first step into endless outer space. All this is true, but humanity had another secret dream - to travel to the center of the Earth.
The underground world has always been something very mysterious, alluring and at the same time frightening for people. The mythology and religion of almost all nations, in one way or another, is connected with the underground kingdom and the creatures that inhabit it. And if in ancient times underworld was a forbidden place for humans, then with the development of science and the emergence of the first hypotheses of the structure of the Earth, the idea of traveling to its center became more and more tempting. But how to do that?
Of course, this question could not help but worry science fiction writers, and while scientists were wondering about the structure of the underworld, in 1864 Jules Verne finished the novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth”, in which the main characters of his work, Professor Lindenbron and his nephew Axel, make a journey to the center of the Earth through the mouth of a volcano. They travel on a raft through the underground sea and return to the surface through a cave. It must be said that in those years there was a popular theory about the existence of vast cavities inside the Earth, which, apparently, Jules Verne used as the basis for his novel. However, later scientists proved the inconsistency of the “hollow Earth” hypothesis, and in 1883 Count Shuzi’s story “Underground Fire” was published. The heroes of his work, using ordinary picks, break through an ultra-deep shaft into the “underground fire” zone. And although the story “Underground Fire” does not describe any mechanisms, its author already realized that the road to the center of the Earth must be made by man, and that there are no cavities through which one can travel deep underground. This is understandable, because the Earth’s core is exposed to colossal pressure and temperature, and from this it follows that there is no need to talk about any “underground cavities,” much less the existence of life in them.
In subsequent science fiction works, descriptions of tools for penetrating the earth’s surface appear, much more advanced than the pickaxe from Count Shuzi’s story “Underground Fire. So, for example, in 1927 a scientific fantasy novel Count Alexei Nikolaevich Tolstoy “Engineer Garin’s Hyperboloid”, in which engineer Garin, with the help of his invention - a hyperboloid (thermal laser) - breaks through many kilometers of earthly rock and reaches the mysterious olivine belt.
As Earth science improves and mine laying technology develops, deep drilling, the idea of an underground tunnel arose, a kind of fantastic machine capable of moving through the thickness of solid earth rocks. Thus, in Grigory Adamov’s novel “Winners of the Subsoil,” published in 1937, the author sent his heroes into the underground world on an underground rover, which was a massive rocket-like projectile. This fantastic apparatus had drill bits in the front and sharp knives, made of heavy-duty metal and capable of crushing any rock in its path. His underground boat could travel at speeds of up to 10 km per hour.
It must be said that many science fiction works have been created and are being created to this day, dedicated to the theme of travel to the center of the Earth, and if earlier in them a person reached the depths of our planet on foot, then with the development of technology and science, underground travelers make their way with the help of devices in much like modern submarines. The existence of such devices in real life is still in doubt, but there are some facts that suggest that people have repeatedly tried to design and build an underground boat.
According to one version, the primacy in the creation of underground shells belongs to the Soviet Union. Back in the 30s, engineer A. Treblev and designers A. Kirilov and A. Baskin created a project for an underground boat. According to their plan, it was to be used as an underground oil producer - to go deep into the ground, find oil deposits, and lay an oil pipeline there. The inventors took the structure of a living mole as the basis for the design of the underground tunnel. Tests of the underground boat took place in the Urals in the mines under Mount Blagodat. With its cutters, approximately the same as those used on coal mining combines, the underground mine destroyed strong rocks, slowly moving forward. But the device turned out to be unreliable, often broke down and the project was considered untimely. However, the story of the first pre-war developments in our country does not end there. It is known that Doctor of Technical Sciences P.I. Strakhov, who was a designer of underground roadheaders, at the beginning of 1940, while he was busy building the Moscow metro, was called by D.F. Ustinov, the future People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR. The conversation between them was more than interesting. Ustinov asked Strakhov whether he had heard about the work of his colleague, engineer Treblev, who in the 30s proposed the idea of an underground autonomous self-propelled vehicle? Strakhov was aware of these works, and he answered in the affirmative.
Then Ustinov said that for him there was a much more important and urgent task than the metro - work on the creation of an underground self-propelled vehicle for the Red Army. According to Strakhov himself, he agreed to participate in this project. He was allocated unlimited funds and human resources, and after a year and a half, a prototype of the underground tunnel passed acceptance tests. The autonomy of the underground boat was designed for a week, which is exactly how much oxygen, food and water supplies should have been enough for the driver. However, with the beginning of the war, Strakhov had to switch to building bunkers and the further fate of the underground boat is unknown to him.
We should not forget about the numerous legends that shrouded the superweapons of the Third Reich. According to one of them, in Nazi Germany, there were projects of underground combat vehicles under the code names “Subterrine” (project of H. von Wern and R. Trebeletsky) and “Midgardschlange” (“Midgard Serpent”, project of Ritter).
The Midgardschlange underground rover was designed as a super-amphibious vehicle, capable of moving on the ground, underground and under water at a depth of up to 100 meters. The device was created as a universal combat vehicle and consisted of a large number of compartments connected together, measuring 6 meters in length, 6.8 m in width and 3.5 m in height. The total length of the device varied from 400 to 524 meters, depending on the assigned tasks. The weight of this “underground cruiser” was 60 thousand tons. According to some assumptions, its development began in 1939. This weapon had on board big number mines and small charges, 12 coaxial machine guns, underground combat torpedoes "Fafnir" and reconnaissance "Alberich", a small transport shuttle for communication with the surface "Laurin" and detachable shells to help in digging difficult areas of soil "Mjolnir". The crew consisted of 30 people, internal organization hull, resembled the layout of the submarine compartments (living compartments, galley, radio room, etc.). 14 electric motors with a capacity of 20 thousand horsepower and 12 additional engines with a capacity of 3 thousand horsepower were supposed to provide the Midgard Serpent with a maximum speed under water of 30 km/h, and underground - up to 10 km/h.
When World War II ended, in the area of the city of Königsberg, adits of unknown origin were discovered, and nearby the remains of an exploded structure, perhaps these are the remains of the “Midgard Serpent” - a possible version of the “Weapon of Vengeance” of the Third Reich.
There was another one in Germany, less ambitious than the “Midgard Serpent,” but no less interesting project, - besides, it was started much earlier. The project was called “Sea Lion” (another name is “Subterrine”) and a patent for it was registered back in 1933 by the German inventor Horner von Werner. According to von Werner's plan, his underground vehicle was supposed to have a speed of up to 7 km/h, a crew of 5 people, carry a warhead of 300 kg and move both underground and under water. The invention itself was classified and transferred to the archive. Perhaps it would never have been remembered if Count von Staufenberg had not accidentally stumbled upon it in 1940, besides, Germany developed Operation Sea Lion to invade the British Isles and an underground boat of the same name could have been very useful . The idea was that an underground boat with saboteurs on board could freely cross the English Channel and, having reached the island, pass unnoticed under English soil to the desired location. However, these plans were not destined to come true. Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering managed to convince Hitler that his aviation alone could bring England to its knees. As a result, Operation Sea Lion was cancelled, the project was forgotten, and Goering was never able to fulfill his promise.
In 1945, after the victory over Nazi Germany, numerous “trophy teams” of former allies operated on its territory, and the project of the German underground boat “Sea Lion” fell into the hands of SMERSH General Abakumov. The project was sent for revision. Professors G.I. Babat and G.I. Pokrovsky studied the possibilities of developing the idea of an underground combat boat and came to the conclusion that these developments have a great future. Meanwhile, general secretary Nikita Sergeevich Khrushchev, who replaced the deceased Stalin, personally showed interest in the project. Scientists working on this problem already had their own developments in an underground boat, and a breakthrough in science in the field nuclear power, brought the project to a new stage of technological development - the creation of a nuclear underground boat. For their mass production, the country urgently needed a plant, and in 1962, on the orders of Khrushchev, in Ukraine, in the town of Gromovka, construction of a strategic plant for the production of underground boats began, and Khrushchev made a public promise “to get the imperialists not only from space, but also from underground " In 1964, the plant was built and produced the first Soviet nuclear underground boat, called the "Battle Mole". The underground boat had a titanium hull with a pointed bow and stern, with a diameter of 3.8 m and a length of 35 m. The crew consisted of 5 people. In addition, she was capable of taking on board another 15 landing personnel and a ton of explosives. The main power plant - a nuclear reactor - allowed it to reach speeds underground of up to 7 km/h. Its combat mission was to destroy enemy underground command posts and missile silos. Ideas have been expressed about the possibility of delivering such “subs” by specially designed nuclear submarines to the shores of the United States, to the California region, where earthquakes are known to occur frequently. Then the “subterrine” could install an underground nuclear charge and, by detonating it, cause an artificial earthquake, the consequences of which would be attributed to a natural disaster.
The first tests of the “Battle Mole” took place in the fall of 1964. The underground boat showed amazing results, passing through difficult soil “like a knife through butter” and destroying an underground bunker of a mock enemy.
Subsequently, tests continued in the Urals, in the Rostov region and in Nakhabino near Moscow... However, during the next tests, an accident occurred that resulted in an explosion and the underground boat with the crew, including paratroopers and the commander, Colonel Semyon Budnikov, remained forever immured in the thickness of the stone breeds Ural mountains. In connection with this incident, the tests were stopped, and after Brezhnev came to power, the project was closed, and all materials were strictly classified.
In 1976, on the initiative of the head of the Main Directorate of State Secrets, Antonov, reports about this project began to appear in the press, while the remains of the underground nuclear-powered ship itself, meanwhile, rusted in the open air until the 90s. Is research and testing of underground boats being carried out nowadays and if so, where? All this will remain a mystery to which we are unlikely to receive a satisfactory answer in the foreseeable future. One thing is clear that man has only partially realized the dream of traveling to the center of the Earth, and even though the “subterin” projects created by scientists cannot be compared with devices from science fiction works and capable of reaching the Earth’s core, humanity has nevertheless taken its first timid step into exploration of the underground world.
On the eve of World War II, the Soviet Union and Germany were actively developing new weapons - combat subterrines (underground boats), designed to strike strategically important enemy targets literally from underground.
The ideas of underground warfare were not forgotten even after the victory over Germany, but developments in this area are still under a veil of secrecy. According to some reports, 50 years ago in the USSR a successful prototype of a new type of combat vehicle was created.
Back in 1904, Russian inventor Pyotr Rasskazov published material in an English magazine about a self-propelled capsule that could move underground. Moreover, his drawings subsequently surfaced in Germany. And the first underground self-propelled vehicle in the 1930s of the last century was created by the Soviet engineer and designer A. Trebelev, who was helped by A. Kirilov and A. Baskin.
The operating principle of this underground boat was largely copied from the actions of a mole digging a hole. Before starting to design the subterrine, the designers carefully studied the biomechanics of the movements of the animal placed in a box with earth using X-rays.
Particular attention was paid to the work of the mole’s head and paws, and based on the results obtained, its mechanical “double” was constructed. Trebelev's capsule-shaped subterrine moved underground due to a drill, an auger and four stern jacks, which pushed it like the hind legs of a mole.
The machine could be controlled both from the inside and from the outside - from the surface of the earth using a cable. The underground boat also received power via the same cable. average speed the movement of the subterrine was 10 meters per hour.
But due to a number of shortcomings and frequent failures of the device, the project was closed. According to one version, the unreliability of the subterrine was revealed already during the first tests. According to another, just before the war they tried to finalize it on the initiative of the future People's Commissar of Armaments of the USSR D. Ustinov.
According to the second version, at the beginning of 1940, designer P. Strakhov, on the personal instructions of Ustinov, improved the Trebelev subterrine. Moreover, this project was initially created exclusively for military purposes, and the new underground boat was supposed to operate without communication with the surface.
Within a year and a half, a prototype was created. It was assumed that it would be able to work autonomously underground for several days. For this period, the subterrine was supplied with fuel, and the crew, which consisted of one person, was supplied with oxygen, water and food. However, the war prevented the completion of the project. The fate of the prototype of the Strakhov underground boat is unknown.
Interest in underground boats was shown not only by Soviet Union. Before the war, subterrines were also developed by German designers. In the 1930s, engineer von Wern (according to other sources - von Werner) filed a patent for an underwater-underground “amphibian” which was called Subterrine.
The device had the ability to move both in the water element and under the surface of the earth, and, according to von Wern’s calculations, in the latter case the subterrine could reach speeds of up to 7 kilometers per hour. At the same time, the Subterrine was designed to transport a crew and troops of five people and 300 kilograms of explosives.
In 1940, Germany was seriously considering von Wern's design for use in military operations against Great Britain. In the plans of Operation Sea Lion developed by Hitler, which envisaged the landing of German troops on the British Isles, there was also a place for von Wern's submarines.
His amphibians were supposed to quietly sail to the British shores and continue moving underground through English territory, and then deliver a surprise attack on the British defenses in the most unexpected area for the enemy.
The Subterrine project was ruined by the arrogance of G. Goering, who led the Luftwaffe and expected to defeat the British in the air war without help from underground. As a result, von Verne’s underground boat remained an unrealized idea, like the fantasies of his famous namesake Jules Verne, who wrote the science fiction novel “Journey to the Center of the Earth” long before the appearance of underground boats.
Another even more ambitious project of a German designer named Ritter was named with a fair amount of pathos “Midgard Serpent” (Midgard Schlange) in honor of the mythical reptile - the world serpent encircling the entire inhabited earth.
This machine was supposed to move above and below ground, as well as through and under water at a depth of up to one hundred meters. It was assumed that the “Snake” would move underground at a speed of 2 km/h (in hard ground) to 10 km/h (in soft ground), 3 km/h under water and 30 km/h on the surface land.
But what is most striking is the colossal size of this gigantic machine. Midgard Schlange was conceived as an underground train consisting of many compartment cars on caterpillar tracks. Each is six meters long. The total length of the “snake” phalanx cars connected together ranged from 400 meters, in the longest configuration - more than 500 meters.
Four one-and-a-half-meter drills made the path for the “Snake” in the ground. In addition, the vehicle had three additional drilling kits, and its weight was 60,000 tons. To control such a colossus, 12 pairs of rudders and 30 crew members were required.
The armament of the giant subterrine was also impressive: two thousand 250-kilogram and 10-kilogram mines, 12 coaxial machine guns and six-meter underground torpedoes. Initially, it was planned to use the “Midgard Serpent” to destroy fortifications and strategic objects in France and Belgium, as well as to undermine British ports.
But in the end, the underground colossus of the Reich never took part in any of the combat operations. There is no exact information about whether at least a prototype of the “Snake” was made or whether this idea, like the Subterrine, remained only in paper form.
It is known that the advancing Soviet troops discovered mysterious adits near Koenigsberg, and nearby a destroyed vehicle of unknown purpose. In addition, the intelligence officers fell into technical documentation, describing German underground boats.
After the war, the head of SMERSH V. Abakumov tried to implement the subterrine project, who attracted professors G. Babat and G. Pokrovsky to work with captured drawings and materials. But real progress in this area was achieved only in the 1960s, with N. Khrushchev coming to power.
The new leader of the USSR liked the idea of “getting the imperialists out of the ground.” Moreover, he even announced these plans publicly. And, apparently, there were already compelling reasons for such statements by that time. In particular, it is known that in Ukraine, near the village of Gromovka, a secret factory for the production of underground boats was built.
In 1964, the first Soviet subterrine with a nuclear reactor was released, called the “Battle Mole”. However, little is known about this development. The underground boat had an elongated titanium cylindrical body with a pointed end and a powerful drill.
According to various sources, the dimensions of the atomic subterrine ranged from 3 to almost 4 meters in diameter and from 25 to 35 meters in length. The speed of movement underground is from 7 km/h to 15 km/h. The crew of the "Battle Mole" included five people. In addition, the vehicle could carry up to 15 paratroopers and about a ton of cargo - explosives or weapons.
Such combat vehicles were supposed to destroy fortifications, underground bunkers, command posts and missile launchers in mines. In addition, the “Battle Moles” were preparing to carry out a special mission. According to the plan of the USSR military command, in the event of aggravation of relations with the United States, the subterrines could be used for an underground attack on America.
With the help of submarines, it was planned to deliver the “Battle Moles” to the coastal waters of seismically unstable California, then drill into US territory and install underground nuclear charges in those areas where American strategic objects were located.
If atomic mines were activated, powerful earthquakes and tsunamis would occur in the region, which could be attributed to an ordinary natural disaster. According to some reports, tests of the Soviet atomic subterrine were carried out in different soils- in the Moscow region, Rostov region and the Urals.
The testing of the newest “miracle weapon” took place on the territory Sverdlovsk region, near the city of Kushva, in the area of Mount Grace. The first Ural test was completed successfully. All test participants were amazed by the results of the first launch in the conditions of hard Ural soils - the underground boat passed through at low speed from one mountain slope to another.
However, during the second test, in the thickness of the rock of Mount Grace, an experimental machine with a nuclear reactor exploded for unknown reasons, the entire crew of the boat died due to the explosion, and the boat remained walled up in the thickness of the rock. The fate of the boat's nuclear reactor remains unknown.
Mount Grace with a chapel on top, 1910
After the accident, the project was closed, and all data on testing the latest weapons were either destroyed or classified. There was no official confirmation of the tests and still is not.
After the project was closed, according to some reports, they tried to repurpose the equipment and prototypes of the installations for civilian needs and adapt combat vehicles for mining needs, for example, for the construction of the metro. But military technology required significant improvements before it could be used in a civilian environment.
As a result, it was decided not to spend money on refurbishment of machines and their processing, but simply to liquidate everything. This marked the end of the history of the underground combat vehicle. Unfortunately, Soviet designers failed to make the fairy tale come true.
Materials used from the article by Andrey Lyubushkin from the site
Trebeleva's underground passage
The inventor Peter Rasskazov first thought of an underground boat at the beginning of the 20th century. But he published his thoughts and ideas 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 a device that moves underground was returned to before the start of the Second World War. In the USSR, engineer and designer Alexander Trebelev began work on creating an underground tunnel. He borrowed the operating principle of this device from moles. Moreover, the inventor approached the matter very thoroughly. Before starting to create the boat, he used X-rays to study the behavior of the animal when it dug holes. The designer paid special attention to the movements of the animal’s paws and head. And only then began to embody the mole in metal.
Trebelev borrowed the movement of the subterrine 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 stern jacks. These jacks acted as mole paws. According to the creator's plan, the subterritory could be controlled both from the inside and from the outside. That is, from the surface using a special cable. The car received power through it.
Trebelev's creation turned out to be quite viable (it moved at a speed of 10 meters per hour), but needed many improvements. Eliminating them required a lot of money, so the designer still abandoned his creation.
There is a version that shortly before the collision with Germany, Ustinov set the designer Strakhov the task of finalizing Trebelev’s project. And the emphasis should be placed specifically on the military component of the subterrine. But the war began, and there was no time for fantastic combat vehicles.
German response
In parallel with the USSR, Germany also became interested in creating underground boats. For example, von Wern (or von Werner) patented an underwater-underground vehicle, which he gave the name Subterrine. The car could move underground at a speed of 7 km/h, transport 5 people and several hundred kilograms of explosives.
Subterrine wanted to be involved in Operation Sea Lion
The military became seriously interested in these projects. In their opinion, he was suitable for the role of “punisher of Britain.” In the special operation "Sea Lion" 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 unrevealed. Fortunately for those same Englishmen.
But von Wern is not the only German who wanted to create an underground tunnel. Designer Ritter took on the task of turning a more ambitious project into reality - “Midgard Schlange”. The underground boat was named “Midgard Serpent” in honor of the mythical creature. According to legend, this serpent encircled the entire earth.
Ritter's brainchild was distinguished by its amazing versatility. It just couldn't fly. And so, according to the creator’s plan, the car was supposed to move on land and water, underground and under water. It was assumed that the device could move in hard 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 even accelerate to 30 km/h. And under water its speed would be about 3 km/h.
They also suggested the size of the car. Ritter dreamed of creating not just an apparatus, but a real underground train with carriages on caterpillar tracks. The estimated length of the assembled equipment is from 500 meters. Actually, that’s why the project was called “Midgard Schlange”. According to calculations made by Ritter, the weight of the colossus was several tens of thousands of tons. In theory, a crew of thirty people could cope with the control of the Snake. The movement of the machine underground was ensured by 4 main drills of one and a half meters each, 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 coaxial machine guns, as well as torpedoes. It was planned that the subterrine would be involved in hostilities against France, Belgium and Great Britain. But they did not implement the project. He, like his “relatives” Subterrine, remained on paper.
Soviet "Mole"
After the war, the USSR returned to subterrines. 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 an underground tunnel. A secret plant for the production of subterrine was quickly erected on the territory of Ukraine. And already in 1964 the first boat with a nuclear reactor was ready. It received a telling name - “Battle Mole”.
There is no exact information about the boat left. 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 varied from 7 to 15 km/h. The Mole's crew 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 case of war with the United States
According to the creators' plan, the "Battle Mole" was supposed to destroy underground bunkers, missile launchers in mines and enemy command posts. Subterrines were assigned big hopes in case of aggravation of relations with the United States.
"Battle mole" was actively tested in different conditions. He demonstrated his capabilities especially well in the Urals, biting into rock with ease. But repeated tests put an end to the project. "Mole" exploded underground for unknown reasons. The crew could not be saved. After the disaster, they decided to abandon the creation of subterrines.
More than 50 years ago, our country created a combat vehicle that could pass through granite like butter. The “Battle Mole” calmly bit into the rocks and went into their depths at a speed unprecedented for tunneling machines. However, during the next tests in 1964, the vehicle, which penetrated a distance of 10 km into the Ural Mountains near Nizhny Tagil, exploded for unknown reasons.
But first things first.
Today, you won’t surprise anyone with various mining equipment. Since the beginning of the twentieth century, a great many have been developed and created from them. However, in addition to peaceful vehicles, military “moles” were developed under the cover of secrecy, capable of destroying the enemy’s underground communications, destroying his buried control posts, and undermining arsenals hidden in rock formations. They could also quietly break underground into the enemy’s rear, crawl out and land troops where no one was expecting them. How much is truth here, and how much is fiction?
The first project of a combat underground self-propelled vehicle was developed by our compatriot Pyotr Rasskazov back in 1904. But during the revolutionary events he was killed and before the First World War his drawings disappeared; it is believed that they were stolen by German intelligence and, naturally, surfaced in Germany in the 30s
In 1930, engineer Trebelev was involved in the creation of a “combat mole”. It was even possible to build and test a prototype, but things didn’t go any further. Trebelev's underground tunnel was tested in the Urals, on Mount Blagodat, in 1946; during testing, the experimental model was able to make a tunnel 40 m long.
In 1933, the German engineer W. von Wern patented his own version of an underground boat. The invention was classified and archived.
Then the Nazis came to power in Germany, in 1940 Verne’s project caught the eye of Count Claus von Stauffenberg, who informed the Wehrmacht leadership about it, the “Verne Underground Boat” project began, and in parallel they began to intensively develop the “Battle Mole” based on Trebelev’s drawings (began in 1934), but the project was called “Midgard Schlange” - after the underground monster from the Scandinavian sagas. They say that the weight of the underground “kite” was 60 thousand tons with a crew of 30 people. The project turned out to be incredibly expensive to implement; Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering convinced Hitler of the futility of the underground boat; Germany relied on an air war, and von Wern’s project was closed, and Vern’s project was also buried there.
Detailed German drawings have already been obtained Soviet intelligence officers at the end of the Great Patriotic War. German drawings of underground miracle weapons gave rise to the development of Soviet “underground boats” or “battle moles”: they never decided on a code name.
USSR Minister of State Security Abakumov demanded that the USSR Academy of Sciences create a group of scientists to study the possibility of designing an underground boat. The creation of the “combat mole” was even more secret than the Soviet atomic project. Still, they say, the Soviet underground apparatus could break through the thickness of the earth, passing through rock like a knife through butter.
Professor G.N. Pokrovsky and Academician A.D. Sakharov developed more effective and quick ways movement in rocks. G.I. Pokrovsky carried out calculations and proved the theoretical possibility of cavitation in rocks. In his opinion, gas or steam bubbles can effectively destroy rocks. According to Academician Sakharov, under certain conditions, an underground boat will move in a cloud of hot particles, which will give a speed of tens or even hundreds of kilometers per hour. Trebelev's earlier developments were also useful.
Some experts claim that the underground combat vehicle was not only built, but also had truly fantastic abilities. They called her “Battle Mole” after all. The installation had a nuclear power plant, like a classic nuclear submarine.
Here are the parameters of the “Battle Mole”: hull length 35 m, diameter 3 m, crew 5 people, speed 7 km/h. A secret factory for the production of “Battle Moles” was built in 1962 in Ukraine, in Crimea. After 2 years, the first copy was made.
The first tests gave amazing results. The “Battle Mole” really calmly bit into the rocks and went into their depths at a speed unprecedented for tunneling machines.
Minister of Defense Malinovsky to the commander
troops of the Ural Military District
Groznetsky:
I order to ensure the conduct of exercises with
using a new type of weapon. To bosses
military branches to establish operational cooperation
personnel and equipment.
The first test was successful. All test participants
were amazed. The underground boat passed through at low speed from one slope of the mountain to the other. During the second test in 1964, the machine, which penetrated a distance of 10-30 km (it was not possible to determine exactly) into the thickness of the Ural Mountains near Nizhny Tagil into Mount Blagodat, exploded for unknown reasons. Mount Grace was chosen for the second time as a testing ground for an underground “mole”. Since the explosion was nuclear, the device itself with the people in it simply evaporated, and the broken tunnel collapsed.
But there has never been any official confirmation of this. The project was closed, all documentary evidence about it was classified or destroyed, as if nothing had happened. Why did it happen so?
There have long been legends that inside our planet there is another intelligent civilization unknown to us, which actually controls the Earth. And it’s 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 Ahnenerbe secret society were quite seriously looking for these portals.
It is no secret that the Urals are a place of concentration of observed UFOs, and those that go underground or under the water of lakes. There are enough myths, legends and fairy tales about the Northern Urals, as about the gateway to other worlds. And here they are testing the “Battle Mole” not somewhere in Siberia or the desert steppes of Central Asia, but in the Urals, even near Nizhny Tagil: a place of concentration unexplained phenomena, north of the city 25 km, in Mount Grace. Mount Blagodat is part of the Ural ridge and is located on the outskirts of the town of Kushva. Now on the site of the central part of Mount Blagodat there is a quarry with a kilometer diameter and a depth of 315 meters.
Rumor has it that the underground civilization presented earthlings with a strict ultimatum: “don’t meddle in our world,” which is why the creation and testing of combat “Moles” have since been stopped all over the world. Well, or, what is most likely: there is no point in gnawing the earth’s crust with expensive devices where aircraft and missiles can handle the bunkers.
An underground nuclear explosion near Nizhny Tagil was recorded by seismic stations in different parts of the Earth and was felt by residents of neighboring settlements: Kushva, Verkhnyaya Tura, Krasnouralsk, Baranchinsky. The Americans who recorded an underground nuclear explosion sent a request: “How can this be?! After all, we recently agreed to ban nuclear tests.”
Due to this incident, testing was stopped. The specific reasons for the explosion of the underground boat were classified.
Mine, Mount Grace. Photo from the archive
In the archives of the Seismological Laboratory of the USSR Academy of Sciences there is a record that seismic sensors at the Nizhny Tagil weather station recorded tremors on the day of testing, but their epicenter could not be detected.
According to the test results, the boat traveled underground for a total of about 10-30 kilometers, and possibly much more, but its trace was lost somewhere at the boundary of the earth’s crust and mantle. It seems that the titanium case could not withstand immersion to the maximum depth, which led to the explosion of the nuclear reactor.
This is the legend about underground boats. What's true and what's fiction?