Past the moon. Hollywood is going to the moon. And again about the lunar scam! Now let's get back to Operation Ocean.

Naval exercises "Ocean" in 1970

“Ocean-70”, also “Ocean-100” or simply “Ocean” is the code name for large-scale maneuvers (naval exercises) of the USSR Navy, which took place from April 14 to May 5, 1970 and dedicated to the centenary of the birth of V. . I. Lenin.

Exercise "Ocean" was a major event on the operational-tactical training of the Soviet Navy in the post-war period and became the largest in world naval history.
Under the leadership of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy Sergei Georgievich Gorshkov, the forces of all four fleets of the USSR Navy took part in the maneuvers: hundreds of combat units - surface ships, nuclear and diesel submarines, missile and torpedo boats, landing ships, dozens of auxiliary vessels, as well as the forces of coastal missile forces, long-range aviation and air defense . For the first time in the history of the Soviet fleet, a large number of nuclear submarines armed with ballistic and cruise missiles and homing torpedoes were involved in participation in the maneuvers.
Background Late 1960s and early 1970s was a period of rapid development of the Soviet Navy. Over the previous decade and a half, the fleet has significantly strengthened and been replenished with dozens of new ships: missile cruisers of Project 58 (Grozny) and Project 1134 (Admiral Zozulya), anti-submarine cruisers-helicopter carriers of Project 1123, large anti-submarine ships of Project 61, large missile ships of Project 57 and 57-A, destroyers of Project 56, patrol ships of Project 50. Since the mid-1960s, active construction of a nuclear submarine fleet has been underway. Every year, up to a dozen strategic and multi-purpose nuclear submarines left the slipways of Sevmash.
The coming year 1970 was a jubilee year - one hundred years have passed since the birth of the leader of the world proletariat V.I. Lenin. Since the anniversary was “round,” all institutions of the Soviet state structure were preparing for it, including the USSR Navy, the origin of which was believed to be associated with the name of Lenin. Large-scale "Ocean" maneuvers, in addition to their main goal - operational-tactical training of the Navy - were supposed to demonstrate the successes of the Soviet system in economics and politics and the growing power of the Soviet fleet. All forces of the fleet “had to confirm their high special training and excellent combat training, and the fleet as a whole had to demonstrate that it is a truly ocean-going fleet.”
Purpose and area of ​​maneuvers. Strengths of the parties Practiced during maneuvers coherence of headquarters, interaction of fleets with operational formations of other branches of the Armed Forces and fleets of friendly states in solving problems of searching and destroying enemy missile submarines, destroying its ground facilities, defeating enemy AUGs, landing forces and convoys.
The maneuvers covered the waters of two oceans (Atlantic and Pacific) and adjacent seas (Barents, Norwegian, Northern, Okhotsk, Japanese, Philippine, Mediterranean, Black and Baltic). Most of the training tasks in the maneuver plan were supposed to be solved in areas of the open sea, away from the main shipping routes, in strict compliance with international law. During periods of live firing, the areas where the latter were to take place were declared in advance as temporarily dangerous for navigation and flights of civil aviation. After the maneuvers, individual ships had to visit foreign ports to rest the crews, replenish food supplies and inspect and repair mechanisms.
Forces of the parties participating in the maneuvers conventionally designated as “northern” or “red” and “southern” or “blue”. In total, about 80 submarines were deployed in remote areas of the oceans and seas, including 15 nuclear-powered, 84 surface ships and 45 auxiliary vessels. In some areas, nuclear submarines formed the basis of force groups solving main tasks. More than twenty naval aviation regiments and two marine regiments took part in the maneuvers. Other branches of the USSR Armed Forces were represented by eight long-range aviation regiments, three corps and three divisions of air defense troops: they included fourteen anti-aircraft missile brigades and regiments, thirteen fighter air regiments, seven radio engineering brigades and regiments, and a squadron of radar patrol aircraft. Communications during the maneuvers were provided by signalmen under the leadership of the chief of communications of the navy, Vice Admiral G.G. Tolstolutsky.
Progress of the exercise From the Northern Fleet The maneuvers were attended by: fleet management, commanders and directorates of formations, commanders and headquarters of formations, operational groups of the 2nd and 6th separate heavy bomber aviation corps of Long-Range Aviation, 10th Separate Air Defense Army, Leningrad Military District, designation forces. The Northern Fleet exercises were led by Fleet Commander S.M. Lobov.
By April 14 The fleet completed the secret build-up of BS forces (up to 60% of strategic submarines and up to 40% of the remaining permanent readiness forces) and the formation of fleet strike groups from these forces. Designation forces of 40 submarines, including 10 nuclear-powered, 21 surface ships and eight auxiliary vessels, as well as naval aviation forces in full - 10 air regiments were deployed in the Atlantic Ocean, Norwegian and Barents Seas. Three submarines of the Baltic Fleet, four air regiments of Long-Range Aviation, five air regiments and a squadron of the 10th Separate Air Defense Army participated from the interacting associations.
April 14 at 06:08 On signal, the fleet forces were brought to full combat readiness within 24 hours. At 00:00 on April 15, the Northern Fleet began deploying and supporting a second echelon of strategic submarines, which were not actually designated; In total, 46 submarines were supposed to be deployed in this echelon. In order to check the following were brought into full combat readiness according to the training plans on April 14: - 1st submarine flotilla, 23rd submarine division and 15th brigade of water area security ships; April 15 The following were put on full combat readiness: - the 9th submarine squadron, the 5th naval missile-carrying air division and the 392nd separate reconnaissance air regiment; April 17 - 4th submarine squadron. In total, 87 submarines and surface ships, 12 submarine bases and auxiliary vessels were involved in checking the organization of dispersal.
The first bases of the Navy minesweepers and units of anti-submarine ships left. The task of the former was to “clear” the fairways from mines, the latter was to provide anti-submarine defense. The participation of patrol and anti-submarine ships in maneuvers took place in conditions close to the real conditions of modern combat, and was a serious test of the readiness of their personnel to perform complex tasks.
Before leaving The main forces of the “northerns” were at sea, and dozens of reconnaissance aircraft were sent for naval reconnaissance in order to search for the enemy. During this task, aircraft were refueled in the air.
The main efforts of the Northern Fleet during fleet maneuvers, they were concentrated against the main targets of attack - SSBNs and enemy attack aircraft carriers. The means of destroying the “southern” group, according to the plan of the exercise headquarters, was to be a joint missile strike of large forces of naval aviation, surface and submarine ships at the moment the “southern” approach the boundaries of possible actions.
From 15 to 22 April In the northeast Atlantic and the Norwegian Sea, search operations were carried out to detect and destroy the “southern” SSBNs, involving four nuclear and fourteen diesel-electric submarines, thirteen surface ships and an air regiment of Il-38 anti-submarine aircraft. During the search operation, submarines were detected seventeen times, while the total tracking time for detected foreign submarines was 11 hours. The submarine K-38 carried out tracking for the longest time - 6 hours 40 minutes. From 00:00 on April 23, seven hours before the expected start of hostilities, anti-submarine forces were given “permission” to use weapons against enemy submarines. By this point, anti-submarine forces were tracking two submarines. Long-range aviation carried out 48 sorties to operate against enemy missile submarines.
Northern Fleet actions against aircraft carrier strike formations (AUS) and other naval groups of the “southern” were launched on April 18. The naval combat service forces from the Atlantic and North Sea areas identified all enemy groups, established surveillance and tracking of them, and organized the guidance of strike groups. To accomplish the task of destroying the “southern” forces, by 06:00 on April 22, mixed strike groups of submarines and surface ships were formed, accompanying the AUS in readiness for the immediate use of weapons.
On the days of maneuvers the weather was unusually stormy. The joint operation of ships and naval missile-carrying aircraft in the Norwegian and North Seas took place in difficult weather conditions - a dense thick veil of low clouds hung over the sea, a strong wind blew, at times a severe storm, and waves reached a height of 15-20 meters.
After receiving the order, mixed strike groups were the first to “strike” in cooperation with naval missile aviation, commanded by Hero of the Soviet Union, Colonel General I.I. Borzov, a powerful joint strike on all “southern” groups before they approach the line of raising deck attack aircraft and using their weapons. In fact, from 07:00 to 08:53 on April 23, three naval strike groups consisting of three nuclear and five diesel-electric submarines, seven surface ships and five naval missile-carrying air regiments of the Northern, Black Sea and Baltic fleets carried out mock strikes on the “southern” forces. As a result of the first “dealt” strike, the enemy was “weakened” and “lost” up to 30% of the naval personnel and 25% of the carrier aircraft.
As the threat grows In the event of a nuclear attack by the enemy, the forces of the Northern Fleet regrouped and, having received the order at 11:00 on April 24, “used” tactical nuclear weapons against the aircraft carrier strike group (AUG) of the “southern”, “preempting” its actions in a general nuclear war. In the “first nuclear strike” the defeat of the AUG was completed. “Nuclear strike” meant eight missile and torpedo submarines and seven naval missile aviation regiments.
One of the main tasks The “southern” grouping carried out a landing on the territory of the “northern” (an unnamed island 2 km from the coast) under the cover of naval missile-carrying aircraft, cruisers and destroyers. To clear a bridgehead for the landing forces, the “southern” launched missile and bomb strikes using nuclear weapons at the landing site (a ballistic missile with a notional nuclear warhead was launched from a nuclear missile submarine).
Destruction of landing and covering forces “southern” forces during the sea crossing were carried out by “northern” groups through successive massive “strikes”. The first of them was carried out by two regiments of naval missile aviation with the landing forces entering the Norwegian Sea on April 24; the second at 15:00 and the third at 20:00. On April 26 in the northern part of the Norwegian Sea with the help of six submarines and four naval missile regiments. At the same time, tactical landings took place in the Black and Baltic Seas.
From the Black Sea Fleet About 20 ships took part in the maneuvers, 15 of them from the 30th division of anti-submarine ships (six of them were in the Atlantic, the rest in the Mediterranean): Project 68 bis artillery cruisers Mikhail Kutuzov and Admiral Ushakov, cruiser project 70-E "Dzerzhinsky", missile cruiser "Grozny", anti-submarine cruisers-helicopter carriers "Moscow" and "Leningrad", large missile ship "Bedovy", missile ships "Braviy" and "Boikiy", large anti-submarine ships of project 61 "Komsomolets" Ukraine”, “Brave”, “Resolute”, “Red Caucasus” and others. The detachment of ships in the Mediterranean Sea was commanded by the commander of the 5th Mediterranean squadron of Navy ships, Rear Admiral S.S. Sokolan, the chief of the marching staff was captain 2nd rank Yu.P. Afanasiev.
Rocket ships from the detachment were supposed to solve the task of destroying the aircraft carriers of a potential enemy, the artillery cruisers were supposed to conduct a “battle” with an equivalent “enemy”, or pin down the escort forces of the aircraft carriers with their “fire”. Anti-submarine ships searched for submarines of a potential enemy. Three ships of the 30th division (cruiser Dzerzhinsky, BOD Soobrazitelny and Komsomolets of Ukraine) under the command of S.S. Sokolan was given the task: after leaving Gibraltar, follow north to Iceland, pretending to be a detachment of “blue” (enemy) warships and, during the exercises, record the attacks of the “red” and launch counterattacks on them.
Detachment of remaining ships was divided into two search and strike anti-submarine groups: western and eastern. The flagship of the western one was the anti-submarine cruiser "Moscow", the group also included large anti-submarine ships "Resolute" and "Red Caucasus". At the end of March, the western group searched for a NATO submarine in the area west of the island of Sardinia in a force 4-5 storm. The flagship of the eastern group was the anti-submarine cruiser "Leningrad", the guard of the cruiser and the search for submarines were provided by the large anti-submarine ships "Komsomolets of Ukraine", "Brave", and the missile ship "Brave". On March 29, 1970, Leningrad searched for an American SSBN south of the island of Crete, and after its discovery, it followed it for 8 hours and 15 minutes. On April 1, the cruiser searched and tracked an unidentified submarine in the Ionian Sea for six hours.
April 15 The captain of the Leningrad, M. Zvezdovsky, received an order to follow the Otvazhny BOD to the Bay of Biscay, where the accident of the Soviet nuclear submarine K-8 of Project 627A occurred. After passing Gibraltar, the ship commanders were given updated coordinates of the tragedy and the order to conduct search operations in conditions of a force eight storm. A group of three ships under the command of S.S. received a similar order. Sokolan, but the order was soon canceled - the ships were to continue completing the task of the exercises. Designating the ships of the “blues”, “Dzerzhinsky”, “Soobrazitelny” and “Komsomolets of Ukraine” repelled the attack of three Tu-95 “red”, carried out by anti-ship missiles. At the same time, a search was carried out for “red” submarines, but it did not yield any results. “Leningrad” and “Votvazhny”, after an unsuccessful search for submariners from K-8, carried out for five days, were ordered to proceed to Severomorsk for scheduled repairs, bypassing the British Isles to the west. Near the Faroe Islands, the ships were caught in a severe storm and were slightly damaged. After eliminating the damage, they continued their journey and arrived in Severomorsk at the end of April. In the Barents Sea, an exercise was conducted with a Project 670 nuclear submarine, during which, due to shallow depths, both the boat and the ships lost acoustic contact with each other.
April 22 seven submarines of the 14th submarine division of the Black Sea Fleet (S-100, S-70, S-74, S-157, S-147, S-97, S-348) were deployed to the sea to identify the detachment’s entry into the Black Sea warships consisting of the cruisers “Mikhail Kutuzov”, “Slava”, the BOD “Red Caucasus”, the destroyers “Resourceful” and “Elusive”, returning from the Mediterranean Sea. Six of the above submarines were built in three curtains, and the S-348 operated in a reconnaissance-strike version, and it also discovered the entry of a detachment of ships into the Black Sea. According to data reported by S-348 to the fleet command post, the commander of the 14th division was placing screens on submarines. All attacks were rated positively.
During the maneuvers, the fleet completed the following tasks :From the 37th Division Submarines of the Baltic Fleet, 15 submarines took part in the Ocean exercises. During the exercise, a test command and staff exercise of the 37th division was conducted. The division's four submarines were deployed to the Northeast Atlantic with the task of searching for and destroying a detachment of warships consisting of a cruiser, four patrol ships and a large landing ship. The S-142 missile submarine of the 40th brigade carried out a simulated missile strike on a coastal facility, upon orders from the fleet command post. The boat's performance was rated excellent. The S-191 boat of the 156th submarine brigade successfully operated in the attack of the detachment of warships.
During the exercises in the Indian Ocean there was a detachment of ships of the Pacific Fleet under the command of Rear Admiral N.I. Khovrin (consisting of the large missile ship Admiral Fokin, the destroyer Blestyaschiy and the tanker Vishera). The detachment paid a friendly visit to the island of Mauritius at the invitation of the government of this state.
Results of the maneuvers During the maneuvers, 31 tactical and command post exercises were conducted, including: in the Northern Fleet - 11, in the Pacific - 8 exercises, in the Baltic and Black Sea fleets - 6 exercises each. Submarines and ships performed about 1,000 combat exercises, including: 64 missile, 430 artillery and 352 torpedo firing, and 84 depth bombing. A total of 416 torpedoes, 68 missiles and 298 sea mines were used.
amphibious landings, conducted during the exercises, more than 2,500 marines and more than 420 units of military equipment were landed ashore, including about 90 tanks and more than 200 armored personnel carriers and self-propelled guns. The anti-landing defense on the coast involved formations of about 3,400 people, 470 units of military equipment, including 80 tanks and 90 artillery pieces.
All participants in the maneuvers were awarded a commemorative token “For a Long March” with the “Ocean” pendant and the anniversary medal “In commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of V.I. Lenin”, many advanced ships and units received Lenin honorary anniversary certificates of the CPSU Central Committee and the Council of Ministers of the USSR for excellent achievements in combat and political training.
Assessment of results and impact on the construction of the USSR Navy At the same time During the maneuvers, the problem of an acute shortage of escort ships in the ocean zone was revealed, as well as the need to create new formations of anti-submarine and missile ships to perform combat service not as operational formations, but as regularly formed parts of ships. The conclusions drawn from the Ocean maneuvers were confirmed during the Horizon strategic war game held at the Naval Academy in 1970.
Retired US Navy Captain 2nd Class, Associate Professor of Sovietology at the Joint College of Military Intelligence in Washington, Bruce Watson, in his monograph dedicated to the Soviet Navy, writes that Ocean-70 became the site of naval testing of all the latest naval developments of the Soviet Union. The maneuvers, according to Watson, were intended to combine the implementation of a strategic (global) naval operation with air, surface and underwater components with high-precision intelligence data - and they achieved their goal.
According to an American historian and naval strategist and professor at the Naval War College George Baer, ​​"Ocean-70" was very impressive to American sailors, especially in light of the fact that more than 90% of the ships and vessels of the Soviet surface and submarine fleet were no older than 20 years . At the same time, most of the US Navy was ready to be scrapped. The exorbitant military expenditures of the Vietnam War and the extremely expensive project to convert thirty submarines carrying Polaris missiles to Poseidon missiles literally “ate” the American military shipbuilding budget of the 60s, despite the statement made by Admiral Thomas Moorer that maneuvers like “Ocean” " are "a confirmation of the expansionist nature of Soviet naval policy" and that the United States must return to its planetary mission of controlling the world's oceans. Giving a general description of the Ocean-70 maneuvers, Baer writes that they “opened the eyes” of the American fleet.
Consultant to the US Naval Command and the leadership of the US Department of Defense, Norman Polmer confirms that this was indeed the largest naval exercise since World War II. "Ocean-70", according to Polmer, became a report to the government and people of the USSR about the real capabilities of the Soviet Navy.

Which Apollo was captured by the USSR? Conspiracy of silence?

Operation Crossroad took place, as we know, during the launch of Apollo 11. About the next Apollo launch for No. 12 (November 1969), the author has no information that this time Soviet radio intelligence and American counter-jamming clashed. Perhaps both sides during this period reflected on the results of the special operations carried out and future plans. On April 13, 1970, the next Apollo (No. 13) launched with fanfare. And everything seemed to go smoothly. And 5 months after the launch of A-13, the following curious event occurred in the polar Soviet port of Murmansk.

"September 8, 1970 in Sovetskaya Harbor Murmansk to the surprised crew US icebreaker "Southwind" in a solemn ceremony, the Apollo command module, “caught by a Soviet fishing trawler in the Bay of Biscay”, was handed over! .

At the same time, Hungarian journalists with cameras found themselves in the secret port of Murmansk. The capsule was loaded and "Southwind" left" Information about this event with corresponding photographs (Fig. 1) was published Hungarians in the book in 1981. However, this book did not become widely known, and the amazing event

remained virtually unknown for almost 40 years. Ill.1.

September 8, 1970: transfer of the Apollo capsule to American sailors in the Sovetskaya harbor of Murmansk. Photo: Hungarian News Agency. From: Nandor Schuminszky. None of the Soviet media ever mentioned this fact.

And the witnesses were also asked to remain silent. Most likely, it was the USSR that did this. Firstly, because the Hungarians were, of course, invited to the Soviet city of Murmansk by the Soviet side. Secondly, Hungary at that time belonged to the socialist camp and was both a military and political ally of the USSR. In 1985, the leadership of the CPSU began the destruction of the Soviet system and the consistent surrender of the USSR's positions in Eastern Europe. Just as the wind gets stronger before a storm, nothing happens suddenly in politics. The winds of future change have begun to blow in Hungary. And then in 1981, Hungarian witnesses published their photographs.

However, even after this, for about 20 years, the fact of such a publication was surrounded by deathly silence on the part of the main participants. Of course, Hungary is far from being a major space power, but it’s hard to imagine that these photos passed the attention of all American and Soviet space specialists without exception. But the Hungarians, with their persistence, forced the American Encyclopedia of Astronautics to speak. Until then" none of the Western sources ever mentioned this fact » . Thus, there is a fact of agreed mutual silence about the Murmansk episode by both parties involved.

The curtain opened to show nothing

What the American M. Wade writes

The Americans started talking in 2001, when, figuratively speaking, the Hungarians “fed up” the editor of the large American Internet encyclopedia “Cosmonautics” M. Wade with their persistence. What did the encyclopedia tell readers? In his twenty-page article, encyclopedia editor Wade writes that yes, it happened. The icebreaker was sailing (ill. 2). Wade also talks about the fact that there are polar bears in the Arctic (2 photos). Shows views of the Arctic with and without an icebreaker (5 photos). He talks about the affairs and entertainments of the crew of an American icebreaker (3 photos), gives views of Murmansk as it seemed to American sailors, and adds to this the appearance of a receipt for receiving rubles in exchange for dollars (4 photos), to which he adds photographs of visits of Soviet sailors to American ship (3 photos). A total of 17 photos “about and in connection.”

Ill.2. The American icebreaker Southwind, which took on board the Apollo capsule caught by Soviet sailors.

It must be said that none of the researchers of this story, including the American Wade , didn't take seriously the mention of the lucky fishing trawler. It is not fishing trawlers that hunt for this kind of “fish”. By chance, fishermen can catch, for example, a giant squid (Fig. 3). This will be a rare, but quite possible success. Because although giant squids are very rare among other squids, there are a lot of them throughout the ocean. But accidentally catching the only Apollo capsule in the ocean in a fishing trawl is already in the realm of unscientific fiction.

And the Bay of Biscay is mentioned in the Soviet message, rather, as a mockery of the Americans, more precisely of the American sailors. They, according to the author, on their way to the area where the capsule fell, were diverted into the Bay of Biscay by another “bait” - the Soviet nuclear submarine K-8. On April 10, 1970, just before the launch of the A-13 (neither earlier nor later), this nuclear submarine became the victim of a severe accident on yet another occasion. Isn’t it tempting to try to capture a Soviet nuclear submarine? Oh, the capsule can wait a day or two. No one knows the area where it splashed down, the American commanders believed. It has a beautiful light beacon of “original design”. And she floats like a barrel.

As a result, the Americans did not capture the submarine, nor did they find the capsule upon arrival in the area. One can sympathize with the American naval forces. If the accident with K-8 had happened a couple of days earlier, they would have had time to hunt for the boat and get to their main destination. If it happened even a day later, there would be no problems again: having the capsule on board, you can safely hunt for nuclear submarines. But chance decreed that the events overlap in time. And it turned out like that proverb about chasing two hares at the same time.

But for some reason, accidents helped the Soviet sailors. It is clear that the Americans would not hesitate to use force to take the find from the “weakling”. Remember Operation Crossroad, American ships with uncovered guns and submarines surrounding our radio observation vessels. So, in April 1970, this “trick” would not have worked for the Americans. Because the Soviet sailors who found the capsule were helped by another accident. Just a couple of days after the launch of Apollo 13, the global exercises of the Soviet Navy "Ocean" began, and dozens of Soviet warships entered the Atlantic ahead of time. This means that by the time Apollo 13 launched (April 11), large areas of the Atlantic were already under the control of Soviet warships. So there was someone to find the find, and to whom to deliver it, and to whom to guard it until arrival in Murmansk.

Aren't there too many accidents in the history of the capture of the capsule (bad ones for the Americans, and good ones for the Soviet naval forces)? Or is there a plan behind all these coincidences for a cleverly conceived and well-executed special operation? Let the reader decide.

Arrival point - Atlantic

5 months after the launch of the A-13 in the port of Murmansk, the found capsule was returned to the Americans. It was obviously not found the day before. While they were bringing it to the Union, while they were getting acquainted with the find, while they were thinking about what was what, time passed. And witnesses for the broadcast had to be selected. After all, having received the lost capsule without witnesses, the Americans could well have denied the very fact of the transfer the very next day. They chose Hungarians - representatives of the then union socialist country. All this takes time (contacts, diplomatic negotiations, approvals, bargaining, in the end).

Fortune smiles on the brave and skillful, and Soviet sailors were not lacking in these qualities. Some, despite jamming, were able to identify the area where the “lunar” rockets and “ships” fell. Others managed to catch a mock-up capsule of the “lunar” Apollo 13. According to one of the skeptics, capsule A13 could contain recording equipment . Perhaps for this reason the Americans envisaged her rescue. And for the same reason, such a model was of particular value for Soviet intelligence.

It is clear that the Americans had a vested interest in keeping this story secret. And it served the Soviet political leadership as a powerful argument for putting pressure on the Americans. But it, as we will see later, used this argument not to expose the American lunar epic, but for political bargaining. For us, the fact of catching an empty model of the Apollo spacecraft in the Atlantic will serve as the last stage in our research on the “lunar” rocket. It’s time for us to draw conclusions on everything that has become known about the American “lunar” rocket.

1. Y. Golovanov, “The Truth about the APOLLO Program”, M.: Yauza - EKSMO-Press, 2000, chapter 7, p. 210.

This book is available on the Internet: Chapter 7

As you know, after the flight to the Moon, the Apollo capsules with astronauts on board splashed down in the Pacific Ocean. The return vehicles are covered with a layer of thermal protection to prevent them from burning out when entering the Earth's atmosphere. Usually they were picked up by American ships, but one day such a capsule, completely empty and without thermal protection, was found by Soviet sailors in the Bay of Biscay, in the waters of the Atlantic. This happened in 1970 (the exact date is not reported by any source, from which we can conclude that it is still classified).

Apollo Command Module » (NASA archive)

But already on September 8, 1970, in the Sovetskaya harbor of Murmansk, the crew of the US icebreaker “Southwind” was solemnly handed over this same Apollo command module, “caught by a Soviet fishing trawler in the Bay of Biscay.” At the same time, Hungarian journalists with cameras “accidentally” ended up in the secret port of Murmansk and took historical photographs. The capsule was loaded onto the ship, and “Southwind” went home.

According to the testimony of our specialists who were allowed to inspect the capsule, “it was a metal model, very well made of thick galvanized iron, without traces of corrosion. Inside, everything was extremely simple. The light search beacon set has been preserved, even the thermal protection was not imitated in any way.” Thus, the Soviet sailors found an empty mock-up of the capsule, in some way a large empty galvanized “space bucket”. The Americans themselves call it “boiler plate” (boiler plate or BP for short).

For some reason, this extraordinary event remained virtually unknown for almost 40 years. The Hungarians were the first to break their vow of silence, telling about it in a small-circulation book in their native language, but only recently, thanks to their efforts, the story began to gain fame.

Engineers at work on the capsule (NASA archives)

From this story it follows that the main secret here is the date of the loss of the capsule and the date of its discovery. Space research historian M. Wade in the article “SovietsRecoveredanApolloСapsule!” writes: “In early 1970, warships based in England were training to salvage a mock-up of the Apollo capsule (BP-1227) in the event of an emergency return to Earth. The capsule disappeared at sea. The circumstances surrounding the loss of the capsule are still unclear. It is unclear whether the Soviet fishing vessel hovering nearby was actually a spy trawler or whether the capsule was stolen as part of a related intelligence operation.” Please note that there are no dates given here either, although the author could easily have tried to find them out from NASA and at least write that he was not told them.

Let's try to determine the dates ourselves. In any month other than April, American ships could well have found an unarmed “trawler” and forced it to hand over the capsule. Thus, just 10 months earlier, on the day of the Apollo 11 launch, 15 American surface ships and several submarines threatened to use force against Soviet “reconnaissance trawlers.” But, unfortunately for the Americans, it was in April 1970 (this has never happened before or since) that several dozen Soviet warships entered the Atlantic. They participated in the only global exercise “Ocean” in the entire history of the USSR and, by chance, were able to ensure the safe transportation of an unexpected find.

Crew Rescue « Apollo 10 » after splashdown (NASA archive)

Based on all that has been said, it can be assumed that both the loss and the discovery of the capsule model occurred on the harsh night of April 11-12, 1970, when Biscay was very stormy and snowing. For information: Apollo 13 launched from Cape Canaveral on the evening of April 11 at 19:00 GMT. Thus, both the unique find and the unique space launch are separated by a matter of hours. What could this mean?

That this was not a training session: on the night of April 11-12, 1970, US ships were waiting in the Bay of Biscay for the capsule from Apollo 13. The same famous Apollo 13, which, like the two previous ships of the Apollo series, was supposed to land people on the lunar surface, but due to a serious accident (an oxygen tank exploded on the ship and two of the three batteries failed fuel cells) did not complete this mission. Nevertheless, the ship, having found itself in such a critical situation, still managed to fly around the Moon at a distance of 250 km and return safely to Earth (according to the official version, the landing capsule splashed down on the evening of April 17) - thanks to the skill, courage and resourcefulness of the astronauts. That's how it was, according to NASA. But in fact it turns out that it was the “Biscay” mock-up capsule, completely empty and without astronauts, and not the “Pacific” capsule presented to the whole world, that took off in the evening (Greenwich Mean Time) on April 11, 1970 on a “lunar” rocket from the cosmodrome to Cape Canaveral. Only she did not fly to the Moon, but to the Bay of Biscay - away from the Soviet electronic surveillance ships, which were then constantly on duty near the United States.

According to NASA, the “lunar” Apollos, after launch, entered an intermediate low-Earth orbit, from which, after two orbits, they launched towards the Moon. But the fact that the descent module “surfaced” in the Atlantic allows us to draw a conclusion: the Apollos did not enter any orbit, and their path ended on Earth. The Apollos launched from the spaceport almost in an easterly direction. Tens of thousands of spectators saw this. But none of them saw where they were flying next. And if the rocket’s trajectory was deviated several tens of degrees to the left from the officially announced course, then the flight could end in the Bay of Biscay.

The strange fate of the Saturn 5 rocket suggests that the Americans were never able to achieve its carrying capacity of 120-130 tons, necessary for flights to the Moon. And they went ahead with the lunar rocket hoax. For this purpose, the Saturn-1B rocket was used, which in its standard version is capable of delivering a payload of only 15 tons into low-Earth orbit.

At the start of “flights to the Moon”, a Saturn-1B was placed, covered with a body from a Saturn-5. Such a body “pulled” tens of tons, and therefore the “lunar” rocket could not even enter low-Earth orbit. It was unmanned, and its main task was to fly away from the cosmodrome. Under such circumstances, every extra, technically unreasonable kilogram was a burden for her.

Capsule « Apollo 8 » (NASA archive)

That’s why at the top of the fake “moon” rockets there were extremely lightweight empty Apollo models. Simple estimates show that with a wall thickness of about 5 mm, an empty Biscay capsule would weigh no more than a ton, that is, 6 times less than a full capsule. Naturally, such an empty “basin” does not need thermal protection. There is simply no one to protect in it. And it was the lack of thermal protection in the “Biscay” capsule that our experts first noted.

The performance of the lunar launch could go something like this. Before the launch, the elevator lifted the “astronauts” to the top of the launch complex, where, in front of admitted correspondents, they walked along the bridge to the “ship” and climbed into the model, supposedly for a trip to the Moon. Everything happened at an altitude of 140 m, and no one, except these correspondents and a small number of employees, saw this scene.

Rescue mission (NASA archives)

It looks like the “astronauts” climbed into some capsules at the start, and came out of others after splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. They sat in mock-ups with rough rectangular doors without portholes, which can be seen in photographs, and went out into public after returning “from the Moon” from full-fledged capsules with round doors and a porthole, which did not fly anywhere due to their heaviness. This discrepancy is a flaw of the hoaxers. It is impossible to foresee everything, especially with such a large-scale “cardboard fool”.

“I would venture to suggest that NASA’s favorite broadcast took place on September 8, 1970 in the port of Murmansk (USSR).
The point is that in June–November 1970, the US Coast Guard icebreaker Southwind cruised the Arctic, carrying out oceanographic research in the Barents and Kara Seas and resupplying supplies at American Arctic research bases. After visiting Greenland and Iceland, the icebreaker anchored in the Sovetskaya harbor of Murmansk.
Here, on September 8, 1970, the surprised crew was solemnly handed over... the Apollo command module, “caught by a Soviet fishing trawler in the Bay of Biscay”! It was object BP-1227, seemingly lost at the beginning of the year under unclear circumstances. The capsule was loaded into the bow of the ship, and the Southwind went back. In Portsmouth (UK), the module was removed from the ship.
This amazing event was written about both in “Cosmonautics News” (2) and in Mark Waid’s encyclopedia (1). "

Photo.1 Loading the Apollo capsule in the port of Murmansk onto an American ship.
"Murmansk (USSR). The Apollo capsule is handed over to US representatives. A Soviet fishing vessel caught it in the Bay of Biscay. Photo: Hungarian News Agency. September 8, 1970"
It all started with the fact that a letter from a Hungarian arrived in the name of Mark Waid, the creator and keeper of the “Encyclopedia of Cosmonautics” (1), where he indicated, among other things, that this absolutely secret photograph was published not even twenty-five years ago in one Hungarian book:
"Urhajozasi Lexikon" (Encyclopedia of Space Research), 1981, ISBN 963 05 2348 5, Zrinyi, p.33, photo 2"x2.5" b/w"
There is no doubt that it is a strange case, it is not every day that a NASA training capsule is caught in the net of a USSR fishing trawler.

http://www.free-inform.ru/pepelaz/pepelaz-10.htm
"Photo 2. The transfer took place in a warm and friendly atmosphere...
And one more interesting fact: ALL participants in this event (hundreds of people) kept their mouths shut and kept quiet for more than thirty years. Not only were our people silent, which is understandable, but the Americans were also silent, including ordinary sailors! Knowing how in the West they love to make a newspaper story out of any nonsense, silence for so many years leads to reflection...
What I mean is that NASA defenders constantly use the thesis as an argument that the mass of people involved cannot help but spill the beans. But here you go - the fact is obvious, there are photos, other evidence, but people were silent! Although it seems like the fact is not very secret.
The most interesting thing is: where and when did the “loss” occur, and how did this specimen end up in Murmansk harbor?
The magazine Cosmonautics News in article (2) completely erroneously writes that this unit was lost “off the coast of Great Britain in the fog.” The editors of the magazine have already come up with this about the fog, but about the shores of Great Britain - this is nothing more than a stupid version of one of the readers, Mark Waid, who told him this option in his letter. A stupid version - because all the flight routes of the Apollo spacecraft did not lie north of 32° N latitude. and not south of 32° S. due to the characteristic inclination of the orbit. Therefore, all training and tests could be carried out only in the “south”.
So there was clearly nothing to catch in the cold North Sea. The Bay of Biscay is “warmer” here. But I have a suspicion that a Soviet “fishing” trawler also caught a “find” somewhere else. Not in the Bay of Biscay. And the mention of the Bay of Biscay is a subtle hint at one big thing.
It would be most correct to say that in fact the “find” was found in an unspecified area of ​​the World Ocean. Here it is reasonable to find out two things: when and where? I would also pose the question from this angle: if BOTH sides apparently knew WHEN, then did the Americans themselves know WHERE? I dare to assume that if the Americans knew WHERE, they probably wouldn’t have lost. That's the whole question. Ours won’t say (at the Main Lost and Found Bureau the secrecy deadlines have not yet passed), but the Americans themselves don’t know.
The second question is WHEN. Since the transmission took place in September 1970, it means they found it some time earlier. But apparently not years ago. When I mention the Bay of Biscay, for some reason I remember the unfortunate submarine nuclear submarine K-8, which suffered an accident on April 8, 1970 in the Bay of Biscay, and early in the morning of April 12, 1970, sank there. In source (4) a participant in the events talks about this.
What is characteristic is that on the evening of April 11, 1970, Apollo 13 was launched. And for some reason I think that there is a direct connection between the above-mentioned events and our “find.”
"Most likely, at the time of the removal of part (or all) of the US Navy escort vessels, a Soviet nuclear submarine secretly approached the area, and with the help of combat swimmers somehow hooked this BP-1227 tin can with a cable. Then, towing it to a safe distance, it secretly transferred to a "passing" ship to Murmansk."

" Photo 3. "Nakhodka" handed over - "Nakhodka" accepted!
Here's what Cosmonautics News magazine writes about this (2):
“It is known that several mock-ups were built under the Apollo program - from No. BP-1201 to -1233. The purpose and further fate of most of them are not known. I remember that BP-1204 in Rota (Spain), BP-1215 in Yokosuke (Japan), BP-1223 in the Azores. As for BP-1227 specifically, the circumstances of its loss are still not clear, the Americans took special measures to “ensure the safety of the capsules” from prying eyes. no less..."
I think we will not soon find out where and under what circumstances the “fishing” trawler caught this “luck”. But the Soviet version about the “Bay of Biscay” is simply a conveyed “hello” to someone about the tragic circumstances against which everything happened.
"Black September" for American space plans
Another quote from NK:
“As A.V. Blagov recalls (in those years - designer-designer of the VA ships LK and TKS), “TsKBM specialists went to Murmansk to look at this “gift of fate”... In general, it was metal, very well made from thick galvanized iron, without traces of corrosion, overall weight model of the Apollo command module. Apparently, the manufacturing technology was designed for a small series. Unfortunately, only a set of light search beacon with the original optical design of the canopy glazing has reached us. ... Even the thermal protection was not imitated in any way... We couldn’t afford this [building a special series of ships for sea trials]..."
Here I would like to clarify that TsKBM was a “Chelomeevskaya” company that made TKS, etc., in contrast to the “Mishinskaya” company TsKBEM, which made the N1-L3 lunar complex. Therefore, it dawned on them that the main company “doesn’t mind.” Apparently it's really minuscule.
It is clear that this specimen did not surface from the bottom of the sea, nor was it thrown from the deck of a ship. He fell from above, from the sky. The only debate can be about the initial height of the fall.
As for the traces of corrosion, it’s somehow hard to believe the comrade from TsKBM, because in Photo No. 3 it is visible to the naked eye and is simply glaring. As for the thermal protection, it was built on the principle of a drop-off bottom. Therefore, they shot her at a low altitude. The comrades from TsKBEM took away everything more or less valuable.
Another thing is surprising: neither General Kamanin in his diaries, nor even Chertok (Mishin’s deputy), even in our “democratic” times, remembered anything about this incident! Maybe he didn't know at all? Or weren't you interested!?
His memoirs are very reminiscent of Zhukov’s “Memories and Reflections.” Boris Evseevich remembered and reflected so much that he managed not to tell the most interesting thing!
By the way, Mark Waid himself, perplexed and questioning, poses questions and asks readers to send letters with explanations - when and where this “happiness” was lost and by whom; Was this capsule related to the Apollo 13 mission...
What is characteristic is that in January 1970. NASA cut short just one Apollo 20 expedition in favor of launching the Skylab station (which is generally understandable and predictable), then on September 2, 1970. NASA is already canceling the Apollo 18 and Apollo 19 flights just like that, without any technological motivation.
The explanation about budget cuts does not suit me for the simple reason that all carriers and ships were manufactured in advance. We were talking about the scanty (compared to the price of the rocket) costs for preparation for the launch and flight control - about $42 million for two flights!
We do not (and cannot) know everything. But probably, after the first and second lost matches of propaganda and demagoguery around the first flyby and first landing on the Moon, our Main Lost and Found Office was able to fight back and win this rematch against NASA.
In some inexplicable way, after 1970 the entire American space program began to shrink, cut back, and then completely, after the Soyuz-Apollo handshake, went to zero for six long years.”
The author, of course, jokes about towing the VR1227 nuclear submarine capsule with the help of combat swimmers, his irony is such. The author’s most interesting thought: There is some kind of connection between the Murmansk capsule and the Apollo 13 spacecraft. It immediately became clear to me what the connection was here. for I have long been looking for facts confirming the fact that American swindlers were caught red-handed by the Soviet (Russian) intelligence services. The connection is very simple: the Apollo 13 CM is this very Murmansk find.
Such a logical conclusion is not at all difficult to make, and it will be completely justified and consistent with reality.
First, the place where the training capsule was allegedly caught, the Bay of Biscay, there is no mention of any exercises taking place in this part of the ocean or adjacent areas such as the home port. We look at photographs from NASA, from the USA:
http://www.americanspacecraft.com/pages/apollo/BP-1227.html
Apollo, Boilerplate, BP-1227

This command module boilerplate is displayed outside the Public Museum of Grand Rapids in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The Museum is also the home of the Roger B. Chaffee Planetarium, named after the Apollo 1 astronaut who was a native of Grand Rapids.
This replica, a mock-up of the command module, was located outside the Grand Rapids Public Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The museum is also a Planetarium, named after Apollo 1 astronaut Roger B. Chaffee, who was originally from Grand Rapids.

Formerly on Lyon Street, moved ? The plaque on the side reads:
The Grand Rapids Time Capsule 1976-2076
Dedicated to the people of Grand Rapids
December 31, 1976
This Apollo Command Module (No. SN BP-1227) contains memorabilia, collected by area high school students. This memorabilia reflects life in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the time of the City's Sesquicentennial and the Nation's Bicentennial.
It was used in training for the recovery of astronauts returning from the moon. During an exercise off the coast of England, it was lost at sea, found by the USSR, and returned.
The module is on loan from the National Air and Space Museum to the people of Grand Rapids and is to be opened July 4, 2076 douring our country's Tricentennial.
Have you ever moved along Lyon Street before? The plaque on the side reads: Grand Rapids Time Capsule 1976-2076 This Apollo Command Module (No. CH VR-1227) contains memorabilia collected from around the area by high school students. This memorabilia reflects life in Grand Rapids, Michigan during the city's 1.5th century existence and the US Bicentennial. It was used in training to rescue astronauts when returning from the Moon. During exercises off the coast of England, he was lost at sea, found in the USSR, and returned back. The module is located at the National Air and Space Museum in Grand Rapids and will be opened on July 4, 2076 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the United States.
The Americans themselves ruled out the place where this wonderful capsule was lost: the “Bay of Biscay” and designated the shores of England.
And further: "This model was lost at sea, rescued by a Soviet fishing trawler. On September 8, 1970, she was returned to us via a US Coast Guard ship. Read the whole story on Encylcopedia Astronautica."
How I would like to look at this fishing trawler and the fishermen who made such an unusual catch in the bay, where, in principle, this capsule could not have been, if you believe the maps of currents and winds in this region.
The official NASA version, translated from this encyclopedia, looks something like this:
"LOST NASA CAPSULE FOUND IN MURMANSK
In early 1970, during sea tests off the coast of Great Britain, a full-size mock-up of the Apollo command module (tail number BP-1227) was lost in the fog. Such mock-ups were used to train crews of rescue ships to search for and board spaceships after splashdown.
In June-November of the same year, the US Coast Guard icebreaker Southwind made a summer cruise in the Arctic, carrying out oceanographic research in the Barents and Kara Seas and replenishing supplies at American Arctic research bases. After visiting Greenland and Iceland, the icebreaker anchored in the Kola Bay in the roadstead of Murmansk. As the sailors were explained, this was the first visit to the Soviet port by an American warship since the end of World War II.
Here, on September 8, 1970, the surprised crew was solemnly handed over... the Apollo command module, “caught by a Soviet fishing trawler in the Bay of Biscay”! This was the same BP-1227 that was lost at the beginning of the year. The capsule was loaded into the bow of the ship, and the “South Wind” went further - to Tromsø and Oslo (Norway) and Copenhagen (Denmark); in Portsmouth (UK) the module was removed from the ship.
After the completion of the Apollo program, BP-1227 was returned to NASA, where it was transferred to the National Air and Space Museum. From there, it was leased for 100 years and installed as a symbolic “time capsule” in front of the Detroit National Bank building in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is expected to be opened in 2076, during the celebration of the 300th anniversary of the United States."
Here is the mention of the home port: Portsmouth (UK)
We record this lie: “In Portsmouth (UK), the module was removed from the ship.” There was nothing like this and this will be demonstrated later.
Let's see what kind of city Portsmouth is and why the capsule ended up there, allegedly assigned and then lost:

(Great Soviet Encyclopedia)
"Portsmouth is a city and unitary unit in the British ceremonial county of Hampshire on the shores of the Solent Strait separating England from the Isle of Wight. The bulk of the urban population is concentrated on the island of Portsea. One of the main bases of the British Navy has long been located here. Population - approx. 200 thousand people (2008)."
There have never been any US naval bases here. The British Navy and Great Britain itself did not take any part in the Apollo program. The British themselves remain silent about their participation in the Apollo 13 show. It’s a long way from the Bay of Biscay, the currents and wind patterns go from southwest to northeast, of course the Gulf Stream. There is no chance for a training capsule to get lost off the coast of England in the strait and then end up in the Bay of Biscay, especially since the capsule has a light beacon, and probably a radio beacon with batteries, so everything is clear about the place, ours are lying or mocking, they are hinting to the United States where they are pierced, or proximity to this place.
Now the period of time, from the beginning of the year to September, the Americans could have lost only one Command Module “Apollo 13”; there were no other trainings, “flights” using the CM.
And never before have our intelligence officers given stolen parts of a US missile back to the Americans, except for this case. It was not secrecy that characterized this moment, but publicity, unprecedented for such an obviously delicate situation:

"Deseret News, Friday, September 4, 1970
The Russians must return the American space capsule
Moscow (UPI) -- The official TASS news agency reported today that the Soviets will return to the United States an experimental space capsule pulled from the sea by Russian fishermen, which will be transferred to a US icebreaker this Saturday.
“The experimental space capsule launched under the Apollo program and found in the Bay of Biscay by Soviet fishermen will be handed over to US representatives,” the agency said.

The report does not say when the fishermen found the capsule in a bay of the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the coasts of Spain and France, and there is no description of the capsule.
A representative of the American Embassy in Moscow earlier said that the 286-foot icebreaker Southwind, currently in the Northern and Arctic oceans, would call at Murmansk and stay there from Saturday to Monday for the crew to rest on shore. He didn't mention the capsule itself."

"The Milwaukee Journal, Tuesday, September 8, 1970
Soviets return Apollo model
Moscow, USSR -UPI- The Soviet Union loaded a wayward American space capsule aboard a U.S. Coast Guard ship on Sunday; and U.S. officials said it "appears to be a mock-up of an Apollo capsule," the same type that was lost by the Navy in 1968.
The Soviets recovered the capsule, which they say was picked up by Russian fishermen in the Atlantic Ocean (date unknown), by loading it aboard the icebreaker Southwind in Murmansk.
A representative of the American embassy confirmed the transfer and described the device as, apparently, a mock-up.
What exactly the Soviet Union found has been the subject of debate since the official TASS news agency unexpectedly announced last Friday that the government was in possession of an "experimental space capsule launched under the Apollo program" and was set to return it over the weekend."

Translation: "Kingsport News, Saturday, September 5, 1970
Russians return American lunar lander
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The Russians said Friday they are returning an "experimental American space capsule" they found; but the US Space Agency responded that it was probably an old model of the Apollo lunar lander that fell off a warship two years ago.
The official Soviet news agency TASS said the capsule, discovered by Russian fishermen in the Bay of Biscay off the coast of Spain and France, would be transferred to a US icebreaker on Saturday.
While the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it was glad to get its property back, a spokesman said that NASA understands the object is a mock-up of the Apollo capsule that the Navy lost two years ago during training for astronauts to return from the Moon.
"Crews of several ships later reported that she posed a danger to shipping off the coast of Spain, but we were never able to find her," the agency spokesman said.
He added that the Russians recently asked in a cable whether the United States wanted to take the capsule and sent information to the US Embassy in Moscow to positively identify it.
“We don’t have information from the embassy yet, but we are sure that this is it,” the agency representative said.
TASS reported that the capsule was launched into space and would be picked up by the icebreaker Southwind, but if, as the space agency believes, it was a mock-up of the capsule, then it was never launched anywhere.
“The experimental space capsule launched under the Apollo program and found in the Bay of Biscay by Soviet fishermen will be handed over to US representatives,” TASS reported. "The US icebreaker Southwind will call at Murmansk on Saturday to pick up the capsule."
The report did not say when the fishermen found the capsule in a bay of the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the coasts of Spain and France. And there is no description of the capsule.
TASS reports that US Embassy employee William Harben; Naval Attaché Franklin Babbitt and Deputy Military Attaché Richard M. Rodnia arrived in Murmansk on Friday.
A representative of the American Embassy in Moscow earlier said that the 268-foot icebreaker Southwind, currently in northern waters, would call at Murmansk and stay there from Saturday to Monday for the crew to rest on shore. He didn't mention the capsule itself.
“The purpose of the American icebreaker’s first call to Murmansk is to provide rest and entertainment for the crew,” the embassy said in a statement. Southwind's commander, Captain Edward D. Cassidy, will be accepted as deputy commander of the Soviet Northern Fleet.
For 23 ship officers, 172 sailors and 7 oceanographers, the Soviet tourism organization "Intourist" organized an excursion that included a visit to a floating fish factory and a reindeer herd,"
So everyone began to lie and in different ways, a version appeared two years ago! It was necessary to agree on the positions of the lie!
"The Stars and Stripes, Sunday, September 6, 1970
Russia says Apollo capsule has been found and will be returned
MOSCOW (UPI) -- The Soviets have pulled a U.S. space capsule they describe as a component of the Apollo moon mission program from the ocean, and they expect to return it to American officials this weekend, state news agency TASS said.
Verification of this information with American embassy officials revealed that the Soviets had at least two weeks to study this space equipment, and American officials knew this, but the decision to return it now was a surprise.
A U.S. Embassy official said officials inspected the site Friday and could not confirm whether it was a component of the Apollo program. But he added that "from their report, I get the impression that this is a complete piece of equipment" and not a fragment.
The Soviets explicitly stated that they intended to load the capsule aboard the US icebreaker Southwind, which called at the Bering Sea port of Murmansk for three days on Saturday. US officials subsequently said they had asked Washington for permission to transfer.
A three-paragraph TASS statement on Friday afternoon gave the first suspicions that the Russians have some kind of American spacecraft.
“The experimental space capsule launched under the Apollo program and found in the Bay of Biscay by Soviet fishermen will be handed over to US representatives,” it says.
"The US icebreaker Southwind will call at Murmansk on Saturday to pick up the capsule."
Before the TASS statement, the embassy announced that the Southwind would call at Murmansk and stay there from Saturday to Monday to give the crew an opportunity for “rest and entertainment.” It described the goodwill prospects of the visit and nothing more.
Asked about the TASS report, an embassy spokesman said the Soviets made the decision without notifying U.S. officials.
"Southwind is going to Murmansk for the reasons stated - recreation and entertainment, and I think we can be quite sure that the ship's commander knows nothing about it," he said.
"Fallen from Space"
"About two weeks ago, the Soviets actually reported that they had something that fell from space that belonged to us, and that it was in Murmansk, but they, apparently without telling us, decided to take advantage of Southwind's visit to return the device."
Another embassy official later added that American officials who traveled to Murmansk to greet Southwind saw the space equipment and wrote down the serial number, which was sent to Washington for identification.
“We informed Washington,” he said, “that we would like to load her onto this ship, which calls at Murmansk on other business, if it is what it seems and if the commander allows it.”
Actually they let it slip: “fallen from space”!
But all this is definitely an amazing thing for that time! There was no secrecy; on the contrary, the Soviet leadership and the American press were clearly trying to identify this fact and make it public, which is a sign of a conspiracy between the USSR and the USA!
Alexander Zheleznyakov, A FORGOTTEN EPISODE OF THE COLD WAR wrote:
“And although neither the Soviet nor the American side made a secret of the fact of the transfer of the capsule, the media did not “react” to the ceremony in Murmansk. The only witness, besides interested parties, who saw everything with his own eyes and even took several photographs was Hungarian journalist Tamas Feher. One of his photographs was subsequently placed in the encyclopedic dictionary of space research “Urhajozasi Lexikon”, which was published in Budapest in 1981. But, I repeat, there was no excitement in those years around the transfer of the capsule. "
Yes, the fact that Hungarians were allowed into Murmansk in those years was a stir in itself!

Quite by accident, I ended up with a video recording of footage from the previously secret film “Exercise Ocean” 1970. True, without sound... That is, the video was declassified, but there was no sound. This happens. I decided to make a short story about the exercises on these frames ( As soon as I do, I’ll post it on LiveJournal), but I looked on the Internet and found a great many “private” memories of participating in them, and not a single general reference. Can anyone suggest a link to the actions in the exercises of our Fleet?
Regarding the SF I found and bring to your attention:

The Ocean maneuvers, held from April 14 to May 8, 1970, became the Academy of Modern Combat for the North Sea men. These were the largest maneuvers in the history of the Navy. All Soviet naval forces took part in them simultaneously, and their operations took place over the vast expanses of the Atlantic, Arctic and Pacific oceans and the adjacent seas. The maneuvers, noted the Commander-in-Chief of the USSR Navy, Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union S.G. Gorshkov, were carried out

“for the purpose of checking and further improving the level of combat training of fleet forces and operational training of headquarters...”.
The situation during the maneuvers was as close as possible to real combat conditions: ships and aircraft operated at maximum distances from their bases, bilateral exercises were conducted, combat training exercises and attacks were carried out, search missions were solved, landings were carried out and troops were repelled. The ships had to go to sea during periods of severe storms.
By the beginning of the maneuvers, the Red Banner Northern Fleet deployed its ships in the Atlantic Ocean and the Barents Sea. His actions began with aerial reconnaissance. It was carried out over vast expanses of the ocean with the goal of promptly detecting the “enemy” and revealing his intentions. In the central regions of the Atlantic, reconnaissance was carried out by a group of aircraft under the command of Colonel I.F. Gladkov. He was one of the first in the fleet to master flights to the Atlantic. Two orders and the honorary title “Honored Military Pilot of the USSR” are evidence of his high flying skill, military skill and valor. Other pilots of the group also had higher flying qualifications. The scouts successfully completed their task, discovering the forces of the “southern” in time. At the same time, air reconnaissance masters V.N. Dovgokaz, V.A. Dudarenko, V.G. Petrushchenko, V.S. Sindyaev and other pilots especially distinguished themselves. This military team was one of the first in the fleet to be awarded the Pennant of the USSR Minister of Defense for courage and military valor.
With the discovery of the “enemy,” the missile-carrying aircraft of the “northerns” were put into operation. Missile-carrying aircraft of the North Sea Guards Regiment under the command of Colonel K. L. Timakov took off into the air. 85% of the crews in this regiment were excellent. In order to strike the “enemy,” the missile carriers had to overcome the strong opposition of its air defense and refuel in the air. Having coped with all the difficulties, they hit the targets with precise missile salvoes. At this time, the deployment of nuclear missile submarines was ending. The submarine under the command of Captain 1st Rank V.I. Gromov was practicing combat training tasks in the ocean when the order came to take part in the maneuvers. The crew completed preparations for the “battle” in a matter of seconds. Having received the task, the nuclear-powered submarine successfully launched missiles from under the water and accurately hit the “enemy.”
To counter the “southern” submarines, anti-submarine forces of the Red Banner Northern Fleet were deployed - airplanes, helicopters, surface ships, and submarines. Having received data that the ships had detected an “enemy” submarine, the planes headed by the group commander, Colonel V.P. Potapov, took off. The crews, acting clearly and confidently, successfully completed combat training tasks. Subsequently, this unit was also awarded the Pennant of the USSR Minister of Defense for courage and military valor.
The anti-submarine ships "Vice Admiral Drozd" and "Gremyashchiy" covered several thousand miles on maneuvers. They successfully searched for and pursued submarines and delivered powerful blows to the “enemy”; "Vice Admiral Drozd" had an excellent missile firing session.
In another area of ​​the ocean - on the coast of the legendary Rybachy Peninsula - an amphibious landing took place. Landing ships with marines on board made a long journey through stormy seas. Having successfully repelled the attacks of the defending aircraft, they began the “battle” for the landing. Airplanes and artillery ships took part in it. Under their cover, amphibious tanks and armored personnel carriers from landing ships rushed to the shore. The “battle” was stubborn - both sides brought into action heterogeneous forces, using various tactics.
Landing in polar conditions is one of the most difficult types of combat operations. But Soviet sailors, using the rich experience of the Great Patriotic War and having the latest military equipment, successfully solved this problem. In the post-war years, the Marine Corps was revived on a new basis. Marines are heading to the landing site on modern landing ships. They are moving towards the shore in a swift steel shaft on amphibious tanks and armored personnel carriers, hitting targets from the water. Soldiers in black berets, with quick and decisive actions, daring and swift attacks, are capable of inflicting a powerful, crushing blow on the enemy, in a short time capturing his strongholds and creating conditions for developing an offensive into the depths of the enemy’s defense.
The final episode of the maneuvers took place in the Barents Sea. It was a “battle” between a group of submarines and a detachment of surface ships. Aviation took part in it on both sides; The “northern” ones also put missile boats into operation.
During the preparation and conduct of the maneuvers, great efforts were required from the fleet's logistics workers. They promptly provided the ships and units with everything necessary for the successful completion of training missions. Auxiliary vessels replenished fuel and other supplies of surface ships and diesel submarines located at great distances from their bases. In this case, the Volkhov tanker especially distinguished itself, the courses of which ran in the Atlantic Ocean from the northern latitudes to the equator. The crew of this ship is included in the Book of Honor of the Red Banner Northern Fleet.
Air tankers also performed excellently - during maneuvers they refueled both single and large groups of aircraft.
The actions of the crews of the nuclear submarine Krasnogvardeets, the cruiser Murmansk, the anti-submarine ships Gremyashchiy and Vice Admiral Drozd, and other ships and units were highly praised.
The “Ocean” maneuvers were an excellent school of combat skills for Soviet sailors. They allowed the personnel to take a new significant step in increasing the combat readiness of the fleet.
The maneuvers “showed the whole world the growing power of the Soviet Union as a world naval power, as well as the readiness of our fleet to repel any aggression against our country from the sea and deliver decisive blows to the enemy.”