Edinburgh ship. Secret mission of the cruiser Edinburgh

HMS Edinburgh (C16) was a British light cruiser of the Town class (Belfast subclass), one of 9 cruisers of this class in service with the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Named (March 31, 1938) in honor of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.

On the last voyage he accompanied convoy QP-11 (04/28/1942 Murmansk - 05/07/1942 Reykjavik).
Had about 5.5 tons of gold on board - partly payment for Soviet purchases in Great Britain and the USA, made in excess of the Lend-Lease program (Lend-Lease deliveries were not subject to payment until the end of the war), partly - “reverse Lend-Lease”: raw materials were supplied for the production of communications equipment for the USSR, which was used for gilding the contacts of all telephone, radio and navigation equipment produced for the Soviet army, aviation and navy. On May 2, 1942, she was sunk in the Barents Sea by the submarine U-456 (captain Max-Martin Teichert).

Main characteristics:

Length 190.17 m greatest, 187.88 m along the waterline, 179.65 m between perpendiculars.
Width 19.32 m.
Engines: 4 Parsons turbo-gear units, 4 three-manifold Admiralty type boilers.
Power 82,500 l. With. (60 MW) - design.
Speed ​​32.5 knots with standard displacement, 31 knots with full displacement.
Cruising range 10,100 nautical miles at 12 knots.
Crew 730 people.

Weapons:

Artillery 4 × 3 - 152 mm/50 Mk-XXIII guns in MK-XXIII turrets.
Anti-aircraft artillery 6 × 2 - 102 mm/45 Mk-XIX, 2 × 8 - 40 mm "pom-pom".
Mine and torpedo armament: 2 three-tube 533-mm torpedo tubes TR-4.

Edinburgh's last trip

At the end of April 1942, Edinburgh, at the head of a convoy of ships, left Murmansk for England. According to surviving documents, 93 wooden boxes containing 465 gold bars weighing 5,534,603.9 grams (195,548 ounces) were loaded aboard the cruiser in Murmansk.
On April 30 (according to other sources, May 1), 187 miles north of Murmansk, the Edinburgh was torpedoed by the German submarine U-456 (commander Teichert). The cruiser received two torpedoes: one hit the left side, the second hit the stern. "Edinburgh" lost speed, but remained afloat. Two British destroyers came to the rescue and, under their guard, the cruiser tried to return to Murmansk, however, soon three German destroyers approached under the command of frigate captain Schulze-Hinrichs. They opened artillery fire on the Edinburgh and fired torpedoes. One of the torpedoes hit the stern of the cruiser, after which it tilted even more to the left side.
During the battle, the German destroyer Hermann Schoeman was sunk. The remaining two German destroyers removed its crew and retreated. Rear Admiral Carter, who led the operation, gave the order to the British destroyers to remove the crew from the Edinburgh and finish off the cruiser with torpedoes. The British destroyer torpedoed the cruiser Edinburgh with two torpedoes on the port side. The ship sank with the gold at a depth of approximately 900 feet (about 260 m). All crew members - 750 people - were transported to Murmansk.

The gold on board the Edinburgh was insured by the USSR State Insurance Agency. 1/3 of the gold was reinsured by the English War Risk Insurance Committee.

Raising gold from the cruiser Edinburgh

The idea of ​​recovering gold from a sunken cruiser arose as soon as the technical possibilities for carrying out this operation became available.

Attempts to raise gold were made repeatedly.

The Norwegian company Stolt-Nielsen Rederi contacted the Soviet embassy in 1979 with a notification about the search for ships that disappeared during World War II in the Barents Sea.

Negotiations with this company ended in vain, despite the fact that it spent about a million dollars preparing the gold lifting operation.

Later in 1981, an agreement was reached and a tripartite contract was signed to search for and recover the sunken gold. The parties to the contract were the British Ministry of Trade, the USSR Ministry of Finance and the British company Jesson Marine Recovery, which was supposed to carry out the operation to search for and lift gold.
Preparations for the gold recovery operation were also carried out on board the cruiser Belfast, similar to the Edinburgh, stationed on the Thames in London, opposite the Tower.

Work began on May 9, 1981. On May 14, 1981, the rescue ship Dammator discovered the ship at a depth of 250 m, lying on the bottom on the port side.
The second stage of work began in September 1981 using the second, more suitable for such an operation, vessel Stefaniturm.

Work to lift gold was carried out around the clock. The boxes fell apart after being in the water for a long time, everything was covered with a thick layer of silt and fuel oil. Divers using a soil pump, with difficulty, at times by touch, found gold bars and loaded them into a net, with the help of which the gold was lifted onto the side of the ship.
INGOSSTRAKH representatives were constantly on duty on board the vessel, recording the number of ingots being lifted. A total of 431 gold bars weighing 5129.3 kg were lifted. Due to the fatigue of the divers and deteriorating weather, on October 5 it was decided to interrupt the work on lifting the cargo. On October 9, 1981, the ship Stefaniturm arrived at the port of Murmansk with recovered gold.

The distribution of gold was carried out in accordance with the agreement reached and ownership of the cargo in accordance with current rules as follows: 1/3 - Great Britain, 2/3 - USSR. The rescuers received 45% of the rescued gold as payment for the rescue.

The rest of the gold was raised five years later, in September 1986. The contract for salvaging the cargo was signed with the same company, Jesson Marine Recovery. The Deepwater-2 vessel was used to lift the gold. 29 ingots weighing 345.3 kg were lifted. Five gold bars weighing 60 kg remained lying on the bottom of the Barents Sea.

In 2007, treasure hunters found an ancient galleon loaded with gold and silver coins, the largest underwater treasure in human history. The coordinates and even the name of the ship are kept secret. The mystery that shrouds this find has already given rise to a lot of speculation. Perhaps it will take years to unravel, as it did with one of the amazing mysteries of the 20th century - Stalin's gold, part of the gold reserves of the Soviet Union, which disappeared without a trace on the way to England.

The key to solving the disappearance was securely hidden at an unattainable depth at the beginning of the war, but the hunt for the legendary golden ship had only just begun.

On April 26, 1942, an alarm woke the crew of the British cruiser " HMS Edinburgh", standing in the Murmansk port 15 minutes before midnight. The sailors who jumped out onto the deck saw that the pier was blocked by soldiers in NKVD uniforms. Until they set sail, the crew was no longer allowed to go ashore. He arrived in Murmansk, accompanying another convoy with Lend-Lease cargo, but on the way back he had to carry out a special mission, which no one knew about, not even his crew members. The English sailors, alerted, began to lift small but very heavy boxes on board. But the veil of secrecy was lifted by an accident - one of the boxes fell onto the deck, and gold bars fell out.

The secrecy of sending gold was Stalin's main condition. In the eyes of the world community, military supplies from the USA and Great Britain should have looked like disinterested help from the allies. There is no need to advertise that the USSR pays for tanks and aircraft with gold of the highest standard. However, the regime of extreme secrecy was also important for the British, because they had to lead one of the largest gold caravans in the history of navigation through hostile waters. On board the cruiser " Edinburgh“There were 465 gold bars with a total weight of 5 tons. Such a quantity can only be compared with the legendary Spanish galleons that transported looted loot from America. But information about Stalin's gold was so hidden in the archives that even the most famous treasure hunter, Mel Fisher, considered it a myth. The cruiser's cargo was worth more than $100 million.

cruiser HMS Edinburgh

Under the watchful gaze of NKVD officers, the gold bars from the broken box were quickly collected. According to the rules, the loading should have been stopped, but sending the gold on another ship was tantamount to involving even more people in a secret operation.

But they decided to stick to the original plan. Gold is lucky cruiser « Edinburgh" Perhaps this decision was the first in that fateful chain of events that would subsequently lead to a dramatic ending.

For an unknown reason, the ship stood at the pier for another day and only then began moving behind the caravan of transport ships. However, suddenly something strange happens - having overtaken a securely guarded slow-moving caravan, cruiser with gold was almost 50 miles ahead of the convoy. As the ship's commander later stated, this was done for safety reasons. According to the British, the calculation was based on the fact that a single warship would not be of interest to the hunters who were guarding the transports. But the calculation did not come true. A German submarine was patrolling in this area. Having noticed it, the commander classified it as a convoy ship and torpedoed it. The very first torpedo disabled the engine room, communications center, generators and main battery systems. The second, exploding in the stern, deprived the cruiser of its rudder and two propellers. Cruiser full of gold " HMS Edinburgh"became a helpless target. Incredibly, the Soviet warship was the first to come to the aid of the cruiser with the gold, despite the proximity of the British squadron. He took the sinking cruiser in tow, and three days later an encrypted message was sent to Moscow saying that British cruiser could not be saved. Why? I will answer this question a little later, but for now I will say that in the secret encryption it was written: “The cruiser Edinburgh sank 100 kilometers north of Murmansk, and the special cargo on board could not be saved.” From that moment on, everything related to the cruiser was strictly classified. In the Soviet Union and England it was believed that Stalin’s gold had disappeared forever, but where exactly at the bottom of the sea or earlier, when cruiser was still afloat.

The valuable cargo was 2/3 insured by INGOSSTRAKH and 1/3 by Her Majesty's War Risk Insurance Bureau. The insurance was paid, and 2/3 of the missing gold now belonged to INGOSSTRAKH. If the cargo was at the bottom, then the search and recovery required permission from the new owners. Of course, everyone understood that we were talking about the consent of the Kremlin. And after Stalin’s death, the British unexpectedly proposed to jointly search for gold bars. Moscow was surprised by this appeal. The Soviet intelligence services assumed, and not without reason, that the British saved the gold and secretly transported it to England, but the obvious answer was obvious: gold could only be bait, with which the British intelligence services were catching the USSR, because the key to solving the mystery of the cruiser “ Edinburgh» lies at a depth of 250 m.

In the mid-50s, it was believed that such depths were inaccessible for divers, at least in the West there was no such equipment, and in the Soviet Union, developments in deep-sea diving were initially carried out by the military. It was in 1956, when the British suddenly became interested in the fate of Stalin's gold, that three Soviet divers descended 300 meters for the first time in the world. Information about this was hidden under the heading “secret” for many years. Perhaps British intelligence knew something about the success of the alliance's deep-sea diving.

Five tons of gold allegedly remained on board British cruiser was good bait for British special operations. A little-known British company that approached with a proposal to find gold " Edinburgh“Technically, it was not possible to lower the divers to such a depth and Moscow decided that the treasure hunters were being used in the dark. For the sake of such a “catch” as Stalin’s gold, treasure hunters are ready to do anything, but what was especially alarming was that none of the famous treasure hunters even thought about Stalin’s gold. Even the great Mel Fisher. When the British first started talking about the golden cruiser, Fisher chose to invest all his fabulous loot in the hunt for another myth, the Spanish galleon "". But if Stalin’s gold still remained on board the cruiser, then its value could be measured in hundreds of millions of dollars. The treasure hunters had something to fight for.

The history of the caravan with which the cruiser was traveling " HMS Edinburgh“in general, was known from memoirs and reports from the world press, but where and how exactly the ship sank remained a mystery. The gold hunters began by reconstructing this naval battle. Everything down to the smallest detail. It turned out that for almost two days the Soviets were towing a damaged cruiser with gold. But early in the morning they unexpectedly abandoned the ship and went to the naval base. The true motives for the return of Soviet warships to Murmansk still remain a mystery. All documents contain only the official version of refueling.

Some British sources even made counter-accusations; the Russians deliberately threw down the " Edinburgh"to be torn to pieces by the Germans, having previously taken all the gold.

All sailors of the cruiser were interrogated in London. HMS Edinburgh“After all, at the time of towing, the crew was still on board. Everyone confirmed that the Russians are cruiser they did not land and did not reload gold. Now no one can answer the question of where the gold is with reliable accuracy. If suspicions were lifted from the Russian sailors, then the story with the British looked much darker. In Moscow they reasoned like this: if there was time to transfer the team to others, then why not take the gold at the same time. And the situation was quite possible, but if there is no gold at the bottom, then what should the British look for there? Most likely, they were interested in whether Soviet military divers could work at such depths. As soon as one understood that one could not count on the technical participation of the Russians, the operation lost its meaning for the British. Finding and collecting gold scattered at great depths was considered technically impossible if the gold was still at the bottom, which the Soviet government very much doubted. But two decades have passed and a very interesting document arrives at Lubyanka. An unemployed diver from Scotland named Keith Jesob asked the Soviet government to allow him to work in the Soviet military archives. He was interested in the history of the death of the cruiser " Edinburgh" At Lubyanka, no one doubted that the British intelligence services had launched a new operation with an old bait.

Deep-sea diving technology was no longer a secret. Perhaps this time the very place where the cruiser was killed aroused interest, because this is the area where the USSR strategic submarine fleet is based. But first we decided to find out who Keith Jessob is. And meeting this man made the Soviet services think twice. The Brit was either a super spy, or the guy was being used in the dark. Jesob began by going to the archives to study the ship's logs and coordinates of the dead ships of the Royal Navy. The unemployed diver gained access to the special archive of the British Admiralty with suspicious ease. In Moscow, this was taken as evidence of the participation of British intelligence services, and almost no one doubted that there was no gold on the sunken cruiser.

It soon became clear that the project was being supervised by the military department. And Moscow decided to join the proposed game. The British were made to understand that the Soviet Union was ready to support the idea of ​​searching, but doubted its feasibility because of the high cost, but the response from London came immediately, and it only confirmed the suspicions that the unemployed diver was not as simple as he wanted to seem. Jessob said that he completely accidentally found a sponsor who is ready to give 10 million dollars and a special ship to boot even tomorrow. Truly, no treasure hunter has been able to make his way so easily.

So, a delegation of Soviet employees went to London on a special mission to test out the British. The British prepared conscientiously. The provided archival documents on the cruiser and even the draft agreements on the division of production looked convincing. Which, however, is quite expected for a well-prepared operation. The fact that the British intelligence services were directly involved in all this became clear immediately. External surveillance of Soviet representatives was carried out almost openly. In hotel rooms, someone was constantly rummaging through personal belongings. The greatest interest among Soviet employees, of course, aroused the unemployed diver. Was he who he said he was? It was decided to focus on this. However, getting close to him was not easy. He never appeared alone; there was always someone nearby, whose tenacious eyes and special dexterity betrayed the secret services. At Lubyanka they decided that the Moscow guests should arrange a festive banquet for the British and invite everyone to it, including Jesob. The operation was played out like clockwork. For a moment, the British let their guard down, and Keith Jessob immediately found himself in the next room with a glass of vodka in one hand and a large wooden spoon, from which black caviar was sliding, in the other.

Having loaded himself with calves, he told everything he knew about the death of the cruiser, and most importantly, he laid out the coordinates of its sinking. It was clear that he truly dreamed of finding Stalin's gold. However, something else became clear from this conversation. The British intelligence services also have their own interest in this matter that is not related to the cruiser Edinburgh. When everything was reported to Moscow, it was decided to continue the game. The logic of making such a decision is simple, gold is gold, but if the British are preparing some kind of reconnaissance operation, then it would be better if it were carried out under our control. In the entire history of its existence, the Soviet Union decided to get involved in a treasure hunt for the second time. The first time the hunt was for the gold of the sunken steamship, which received the mysterious name "", on which the salary of the treasury of the British crown was located.

To penetrate the sunken " Edinburgh", which had lain on the seabed for many years, the position of the interior had to be carefully studied. After all, at a depth of 250 meters, divers will have to navigate almost by touch. It was obvious that drawings alone could not be done; the risk was too great. One by one, the divers began to refuse to participate in the expedition. But here again mysterious people from the military department played their role. As if by obeying a magic wand, they organized exercises for Jesob divers on the same type ship "Belfast", which is permanently moored on the Thames River. The problem was solved, and this fact further convinced the Soviet government that a serious intelligence operation was being prepared. The divers trained blindfolded, but one thing was impossible to work out during training - the warship lay for half a century at great depths with shells stuffed in the hold, so that the slightest accident could result in a powerful explosion.

special research vessel "Stephaniturm"

So, in the fall of 1981, a special ship " Stephanitur"set off for the Russian shores of the Barents Sea, with a motley Soviet-British crew on board. Before the departure, the Soviet representatives received instructions in case gold was found, however, the main concern was about why, according to the KGB, the British started this whole operation. At Lubyanka they were sure that the search for gold was just a cover for carrying out an espionage, and possibly sabotage operation. Before departing from Moscow, Soviet intelligence officers were invited to the Central Committee, where they were reminded that the main task was to monitor the situation and regularly report on the progress of work, and also to remember that there was a submarine base near the area of ​​​​operation, so to suppress any activity not related to goals of the expedition.

The ship was slowly approaching the point where the sunken ship could be located. Echo sounders probed the bottom, but nothing resembling the hull of a British cruiser was found. The agonizing hours of waiting passed. The ship changed course, carefully combing the deserted expanses of the seabed. Only a day later the long-awaited picture appeared on the screen. After a detailed study of the data, it became clear that this cruiser « Edinburgh" The expedition was at its goal, but if there is gold there. The first dive was disappointing. It was impossible to get on board the ship due to numerous debris blocks. Therefore, the expedition unanimously decided to cut through the side in the area where the gold was supposed to be located and get inside. For several days, a group of divers lived in tiny pressure chambers, and descended to the sunken ship in a special bell. The water temperature reached +3 degrees Celsius. I had to move in narrow corridors between mechanisms that had fallen from their places, in pitch darkness, trying to find boxes of gold. From the ship, using monitors, another part of the treasure hunters watched. Sometimes the agents even forgot about spy games; the situation was too tense at the bottom of the sunken ship. The divers were literally working on a powder keg. Time was quickly running out. The autumn weather in the Barents Sea left less and less chance for luck. Frequent storms began. During the entire search, we managed to lift only one box, and it turned out to be full of shells. Not the slightest hint of gold. Hope was gone. And suddenly, on the 11th day of the expedition, one of the divers found an ingot. He almost lost consciousness from shock. The whole team came running to the monitors. The delight was indescribable. The whole team took turns holding the first ingot in their hands, but it rightfully belonged to Keith Jessob.

Soon, £4 million worth of gold bars were brought to the surface during the first shift. The gold was laid out directly on the deck, washed and counted. Then a special room was allocated for the treasures, which soon became golden from floor to ceiling. Work stopped only when the sea level reached 6-7 points. Everyone forgot about fatigue.

After 432 gold bars were lifted, work was suspended due to bad weather. Subsequent descents were fraught with risk. According to estimates, no more than fifty pieces remained on the sunken ship.

Stalin's gold returned to Murmansk accompanied by a convoy. The treasure hunters' expenses paid off in full. Glory and well-deserved rest awaited the divers and crew, but the Soviet representatives had no time for rest these days. They understood well that this expedition, despite the gold found, was too good a cover for carrying out a reconnaissance or sabotage operation, because for some reason the British government added agents to the team of treasure hunters who were hiding in their cabins all the time. The Soviet agents sensed that something was about to happen, and they were right. At night, on the approach to Murmansk, the ship suddenly slowed down. The quiet noise of the engine alarmed one of the Soviet agents. He suspected something was wrong and quickly rushed to the navigation bridge. Only an emergency could stop the ship, but in addition to the helmsman, the captain himself was in the wheelhouse. As it turned out, the captain complied with the request of one of the British representatives. At this time, the Briton was preparing some kind of device for launching, consisting of a floating deck and a box with wires. The Briton hesitated, making a decision. He had only one way out, in order not to make a fuss, he had to get rid of witnesses. The Soviet agent Melodinsky also understood this. He rushed into the control room to tell his colleagues about this and prevent the experiment from being completed. The main difficulty was that the Soviet people were on a British ship, and Melodinsky had one hope that the British would be afraid of publicity.

The specialists understood what the night experiment with explosives was about. It was at this moment that the ship was passing through the USSR anti-submarine defense zone, one of the most fortified borders of the Soviet Union. The Northern Submarine Base served as a Cold War strategic shield, and an underwater explosion in the control zone could trigger the system. If you precisely coordinate the place and time of the British experimenter’s action with the operation of the surveillance system, you can record the entire defensive scheme at the moment of the explosion. On the scale of the global confrontation between the USSR and the West, 2.5 million pounds sterling spent on the expedition is a small price to pay for such invaluable information.

After the noise was made, the mysterious equipment was locked together by the experimenter in the cabin. Access there was closed even while docked in the port of Murmansk - the ship remained British territory. Information about the night incident is still classified. The secret agent was met at the port by several people in civilian clothes. He came down from the ship along with his containers, and none of the expedition members had ever heard of him.

First stop of the research vessel Stephanitur» made the port of Murmansk. Each ingot was carefully weighed, checking its consistency with the entries in the underwater work log. Everything came together. The Soviet share, which is 1/3 of the cargo, was sealed in a special container. Almost without expenses, not counting travel expenses for two people, the Soviet Union received about 40 million dollars in gold. The expedition itself cost the organizer 2.5 million, and the rest of the spoils was divided between them. The UK's share was 2/3 of the gold bars raised, with Keith Jessob receiving 1/10 of the $10 million.

And only a few ingots still lie in the holds of the cruiser " Edinburgh"under a layer of silt and frozen fuel oil among unexploded shells and torpedoes of the Second World War.

In Valentin Pikul’s book, “Requiem for the PQ-17 Caravan,” a cult book for several generations of Soviet boys, there is an episode of the death of the British cruiser Edinburgh, carrying 10 tons of Soviet gold to pay for deliveries under Lend-Lease. According to Pikul, Soviet sailors tried to save the ship and valuable cargo torpedoed by the Germans, but the British refused to cooperate, removed the crew from the damaged cruiser and, instead of fighting for the ship, finished it off themselves. This version became almost canonical for many years, but what actually happened on April 30 – May 2, 1942 in the Barents Sea? What kind of cargo was the British cruiser in a hurry to deliver to the metropolis and for whom?

In the history of World War II, it is difficult to find a ship that can compare with the British cruiser Edinburgh in the number of legends associated with its death. The reason for their birth is the unusual cargo of the ship - gold, which it was supposed to deliver from the USSR to Great Britain.

You can find various conspiracy theories about the death of Edinburgh, each more beautiful than the other. For example, they write that the Germans, who knew about the cruiser’s mission, sent their best underwater sniper ace to destroy it, who torpedoed the Edinburgh, or that the British deliberately abandoned a ship that could have been saved by them, etc. In addition, the very fact that there were five and a half tons of Soviet gold on board the Edinburgh is often presented as irrefutable evidence that the Soviet Union used it to pay for deliveries under Lend-Lease. But was it really so?

The death of Edinburgh

On April 28, 1942, convoy QP-11, consisting of 13 merchant ships, left Murmansk. It was guarded by 12 warships, including the light cruiser HMS Edinburgh. The ship flew the flag of the commander of the 18th Cruiser Squadron, Rear Admiral Stuart Sumner Bonham Carter. At the same time, an oncoming convoy PQ-15 was at sea, heading to Murmansk.

Commander of the 18th Cruiser Squadron, Rear Admiral Stuart Bonham-Carter, on the bridge of the Edinburgh. After the sinking of the cruiser, Bonham-Carter transferred his flag to the cruiser Trinidad, and soon it was also sunk. This point was immediately noticed by superstitious sailors, who, with black humor, began to call life jackets “bonhams.” It is interesting to note that the famous English actress Helen Bonham-Carter is a distant relative of the admiral

The Germans, thanks to aviation intelligence data, knew about the movement of these caravans, so they tried to prepare a “warm welcome” for them in the icy waters of the Barents Sea. For this purpose, Admiral Nordmeer Hubert Schmundt, who was in charge of submarines in the Arctic, allocated seven submarines, bringing them into the Strauchritter group. Among others, the group included U 456 (type VIIC) of Captain-Lieutenant Max-Martin Teichert, which operated in the Arctic theater for three months.

On April 30, two days after going to sea, QP-11 was discovered by German boats - shortly after midnight, the U 88 seven of Lieutenant Commander Heino Bohmann made visual contact with it. At 01:20 Boman notified headquarters and his colleagues with the message: “ I see an enemy convoy. Square AC5924. The enemy is heading northeast." Having received the radiogram, Admiral Schmundt ordered the boats of the Strauchritter group to follow the signals of U 88 and attack the convoy.

After receiving Boman's message, Teichert assumed that by keeping his course to the north-west he would discover the convoy early in the morning. However, after receiving a new message at 09:24 from U 88 that the convoy was in square AC5921 and heading west, Teichert realized that his boat was north of the convoy's new location. U 456 changed course and began to move towards the enemy.

The light cruiser Edinburgh was a modern ship, commissioned into the British Navy only in June 1939

At this time, some changes occurred in the QP-11 escort. Bonham-Carter decided to leave the convoy, as he believed that Edinburgh was in great danger from enemy submarines, escorting slow-moving ships. According to the admiral, high speed and anti-submarine zigzag were the best defense against the threat from under water.

Early on the morning of 30 April, U 88 was the first to attack the convoy, firing three torpedoes at 06:03, but missed. The incident caused great concern to Bonham-Carter and prompted him to order the Edinburgh commander to leave the convoy and maintain a speed of 18–19 knots. The cruiser's commander, Captain Hugh Webb Faulkner, had a different opinion, but was forced to obey. As subsequent events showed, he was right.

At 10:12, the commander of U 456 was called to the bridge: the first officer of the watch, Oberleutnant zur See Rudolf Zorn, reported the discovery of a thin column of smoke on the left side. Teichert decided to begin a rapprochement with his source. At 11:20 U 456 established visual contact with the British cruiser, which she reported to Schmundt’s headquarters: “ "Belfast" class cruiser in the AC5582 square, heading west, fast speed in an anti-submarine zigzag."

The Edinburgh commander, Captain Hugh Faulkner, and the commander of the 18th cruiser squadron, Rear Admiral Stuart Bonham-Carter, on the bridge of the cruiser, April 1942

The boat began pursuing the enemy ship, but the boat's top watch periodically lost sight of the cruiser. At 14:22, Teichert sent another radiogram to headquarters, in which he reported an attempt to maintain contact with the cruiser and the absence of an opportunity to attack. At 15:10 U 456 again established visual contact with the Edinburgh, and this time Teichert was extremely lucky - the enemy ship, maneuvering, was heading straight for him!

The boat submerged to begin pre-salvo maneuvering. At 15:48, while at periscope depth, Teichert noticed that the cruiser had changed course, but after 10 minutes it returned to its original course. Then there was a change of course again. At this time, the commander’s periscope on the boat completely inappropriately failed, and Teichert maneuvered under water, guided by the acoustic data.

At 16:10, the commander of U 456 once again raised the periscope and saw the cruiser moving in a zigzag in his direction. Due to fogging of the periscope lens, the ship was visible very blurry and indistinct, which prevented Teichert from accurately determining the parameters of the target's movement. Then Teichert began to identify them by eye, simultaneously giving the command to prepare bow torpedo tubes I, II and IV for firing.

For another eight minutes, Teichert watched the cruiser, dictating new data to the boatswain to enter into the computer: distance 1000 meters, target speed 15 knots, torpedo speed 30 knots, running depth 4 meters. At 16:18 he gave the command to fire torpedoes, and the deadly eels rushed towards Edinburgh. After 80 seconds, which approximately corresponded to a distance of 1200 meters, two explosions were heard one after another on U 456.

The photo was taken from the stern of the Edinburgh, which was damaged by a torpedo. The extent of the damage is visible

Although Teichert made a mistake in the cruiser's speed, determining it to be 3–4 knots less than the real one, the short distance to the target made it possible to hit it. The torpedoes hit the cruiser, causing it severe damage. The first left a large hole in the starboard side directly under the bridge, the second hit the stern, causing serious damage to it. Although the torpedo explosions did not damage the cruiser's vehicles, it lost control: the second torpedo destroyed two starboard propellers and tore the rudder.

However, things were not going well on U 456 either. Immediately after the salvo, the boat briefly showed its bow on the surface. To avoid detection, Teichert ordered the mechanical engineer to take control of the situation and return the submarine to periscope depth. The order was carried out, but nothing was still visible through the foggy periscope. Teichert decided to surface.

U 456 surfaced at 16:32, and Teichert saw the result of his attack: Edinburgh, listing to starboard, was circling at a speed of 5–6 knots. The ship was shrouded in yellow smoke. The submarine dived in order to finish off the enemy, but at this time the periscope completely failed. At 16:50, the acoustician reported the approaching noise of the propellers of several destroyers. Teichert stopped trying to attack the cruiser and began to retreat to a safe distance to avoid an enemy counterattack. The boat spent several hours underwater and surfaced only at 19:45 to begin searching for the damaged cruiser again.

The minesweeper HMS Harrier removes the crew from the cruiser. The Edinburgh's roll to port is noticeable - the photo was probably taken after being hit by a torpedo from German destroyers

At 2020, U 456 again made visual contact with Edinburgh, which had several destroyers nearby. Teichert sent a report to headquarters about his success:

« 16:18. Two hits on the Belfast-class cruiser, square AC5519, distance 1000 meters, depth 4. There was a strong fire on the ship. During a short ascent, we noticed he was leaning. It travels under its own power at 6 knots. A repeated attack is impossible due to rough seas and the failure of the commander's periscope. 30 minutes after the attack, three destroyers appeared.”

Unable to finish off the Edinburgh, Teichert stayed close, transmitting messages to headquarters about his location until the boat was spotted and driven under water by destroyers. But U 456 was not going to just leave the scene.

Having received a message from U 456, Admiral Schmundt realized that the destroyers that had gone to help Edinburgh had weakened the convoy's escort, and therefore the time had come for an attack. He ordered three German destroyers to go out in search of the convoy: Z 7 Hermann Schoemann, Z 24 and Z 25. This unit was commanded by the commander of the 6th Destroyer Flotilla, Captain Alfred Schulze-Hinrichs. discovered QP-11 the next afternoon. The destroyers achieved fairly modest success, managing to sink only one ship - the Soviet steamer Tsiolkovsky. The British escort, which put up fierce resistance, prevented anyone from achieving more. Then Schmundt redirected his “hunters” to another target - they received orders to search for “Edinburgh”.

The German destroyer Hermann Schoeman, which received fatal damage on May 2 in a battle with Edinburgh and its escort

Schulze-Hinrichs discovered the cruiser and its escort on the morning of May 2. At 06:17, a battle began between the British and German ships, during which both sides suffered losses. The British seriously damaged the Hermann Schoeman, while the Germans managed to inflict heavy damage on the British destroyers HMS Forester and HMS Foresight. Also, one of the torpedoes they fired hit the Edinburgh, which, however, still remained afloat. Despite the fact that the situation was in favor of the Germans, Schulze-Hinrichs ordered the Z 24 and Z 25 to disengage from the battle and begin rescuing the crew of the Schoeman, which was finished off after most of its crew had been removed. The other part was picked up by U 88, also involved in the hunt for the damaged cruiser. Having finished with the Schoeman, the German destroyers went to the base.

For the British, this outcome of events was very favorable, but Edinburgh had no chance of salvation. After the crew was removed by British minesweepers and the Soviet patrol ship SKR-28 Rubin, at 08:52 Forsyth fired a torpedo at Edinburgh, and the cruiser sank. Teichert, who was located near the battle site, described the events as follows:

“6:29 a.m. An artillery battle began on the surface. Artillery salvos are constantly heard - a hellish concert that continues until 8:25 o'clock. At 8:52 o'clock very loud noises are suddenly heard. Ominous! The cruiser sank."

Admiral Schmundt gave the laurels of the Edinburgh winner to the boat U 456, considering its contribution to the death of the cruiser more significant than the actions of the Schulze-Hinrichs destroyers. However, the reward for “Edinburgh” for Teichert was only the mention of his name in the German press, and nothing more. A year later, on May 12, 1943, Teichert died along with his boat and the entire crew in the Azores region, and six months later, on December 19, he was posthumously awarded the Knight's Cross. Perhaps, if the German command had known about the Edinburgh’s cargo, Teichert could have received the award during his lifetime.

The British destroyer Forsyth is a “reluctant killer.” It was his torpedo that sent the Edinburgh to the bottom, whose position was considered hopeless

This is the story of the sinking of the cruiser Edinburgh. Now it’s worth dispelling a number of legends that over time have become inextricably linked with the ship and its golden cargo.

"Edinburgh" was sunk by a German submarine ace sniper?

Max-Martin Teichert joined the submarine from the destroyers in June 1940. His combat experience as a submariner consisted of four months serving as a watch officer on Captain-Lieutenant Herbert Kuppisch's U 94 in the Atlantic, on which he completed three cruises, and three months commanding U 456 in the Arctic.

Before meeting the Edinburgh, Teichert made three trips on U 456, during which he fired five torpedo salvoes, firing a total of nine torpedoes. Only one of them hit the target - on March 30, 1942, it damaged the American transport Effingham from convoy PQ-13. Based on this, it is difficult to consider Teichert an ace and master of torpedo shooting.

Did the British deliberately abandon Edinburgh, which could have been saved?

After the cruiser was torpedoed, Admiral Bonham-Carter was faced with a difficult question: how to save the ship? Summarizing the damage reports received, he described the cruiser’s condition as a “sad situation.” The stern was destroyed, control of the ship was impossible, the radar installation and in-ship communications did not work. The only chance of salvation was to escort the cruiser at low speed to Murmansk, which was 200 miles away. But this meant a weakening of the QP-11 escort.

The Edinburgh deck literally reared up after being hit by a torpedo from U 456

After leaving the convoy, the destroyers Forsythe, Forester, Thundering and Crushing came to the aid of Edinburgh, but soon the Soviet ships left for refueling in Murmansk, leaving the British alone. The Forsyth took the anchor from the cruiser to its stern and tried to help it steer, while the Forester was engaged in security. As a result, by the evening of May 1, only 50 miles had been covered.

Hope for rescue dawned when a tugboat, four British minesweepers and the Rubin TFR came to the rescue from Murmansk. As Petty Officer 2nd Article Evgeniy Radugin, commander of the signalman squad of the patrol ship Rubin, recalled:

“The minesweepers and tugboat, which left four hours earlier than us, appeared at about 23:00 on May 1, and not from the south, like us, but from the northwest. From that moment on, the towing of the Edinburgh began. However, not everything went well, since the tug was underpowered. Then on the morning of May 2, two minesweepers stood on their sides, and a tug in front, and with such a team, things immediately went smoothly - the speed increased noticeably.”

The rescue of the damaged cruiser was thwarted by the ships of Schulze-Hinrichs, who discovered the Soviet-British formation of ships on the morning of May 2. During the ensuing battle, Edinburgh was torpedoed a second time. A torpedo fired by one of the German destroyers also hit the bridge, but on the port side. After the end of the battle with the Germans, Bonham-Carter assessed the situation and realized that continuing to tow the cruiser to Murmansk with the damage received was out of the question. Water entered it from both sides, and there was a threat of the ship breaking into two parts. It was no longer safe for the crew to be on it, so the admiral ordered the crew to be removed from the Edinburgh and finished off.

Soviet patrol ship SKR-28 "Rubin"

Based on the measures taken by the British to save the cruiser, we can conclude that they fought for their ship to the last opportunity and left Edinburgh only when its situation turned out to be truly hopeless.

Edinburgh gold - payment for Lend-Lease?

As you know, in the first year of the Great Patriotic War, the USSR was not part of the American Lend-Lease program, and was included in it on June 11, 1942, when it signed the Basic Agreement on this military supply program. This year is considered to be the time of “pre-Lend-Lease,” when supplies from the United States were secured by loans provided to the Soviet side for the purchase of weapons. During this period, the United States twice (in October 1941 and February 1942) provided loans to the USSR of one billion dollars each. American historian Robert Jones, in his book dedicated to the history of Lend-Lease deliveries to the USSR, writes:

“Eventually, the United States came to a complete and stunning understanding of what was needed to defeat Hitler, and at the same time it became clear to the Soviets, without any deception, how meager US military supplies were. Uncle Sam did not charge Uncle Joe any interest on the first $1 billion Lend-Lease loan. America agreed to defer loan payments in raw materials or other goods for five years after the end of the war.”

However, from June to November 1941, the USSR also placed orders in the USA and paid for them upon delivery. As Lend-Lease program administrator Edward Stettinius wrote, “...until the end of October, the Russians continued to pay cash for everything they purchased from us.” However, at the beginning of the war, the USSR did not have any currency to buy from the United States using the “pay and take” formula. Where did the Soviet side get the dollars to make the purchases that Stettinius writes about?

This is what the Edinburgh gold looked like when it was brought to the surface 40 years after the ship sank.

As it turned out, Roosevelt saved the USSR. The American president at that time was unable to provide a loan for the purchase of weapons without Congressional approval, so he came up with a workaround. The US government entered into two trade deals with the USSR: for the purchase of strategic materials for $100 million and gold for $40 million. US Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau agreed to buy Russian gold at $35 per ounce and on August 15, 1941, paid the Soviet side an advance of $10 million for future deliveries.

As a result, by the end of October 1941, the USSR received $90 million from the United States as an advance on the above-mentioned transactions. As the aforementioned Robert Jones wrote:

“By this time, with the help of the Morgenthau and Jones organizations, an advance of $90 million had been paid to the Soviet side, including 40 million from the Treasury Department for the gold deal, and the rest from the War Supply Administration for future supplies of raw materials. And yet this was not enough even to pay for orders from the Soviet side until the end of this year, despite all Roosevelt’s hopes.”

Thus, Roosevelt managed to “kill two birds with one stone.” He made the USSR solvent for a short time and convinced the American public that Stalin was independently financing his arms purchase program from the United States. It is worth noting that the Soviet side observed the above-mentioned agreement on the supply of strategic materials and gold to the United States with all scrupulousness. This may serve as one explanation for the shipment from Murmansk on the Edinburgh of about 5.5 tons of gold worth about 6.2 million dollars - this cargo could be part of those 30-40 tons of Russian gold paid for by the Americans back in 1941.

In addition, there is another reasonable explanation for sending a cargo of gold on board a British cruiser - it could have been intended directly for the British. On August 16, 1941, the first agreement on British supplies to the Soviet side was concluded between the USSR and Great Britain. Anastas Mikoyan wrote in his memoirs:

“By the agreement of August 16, 1941, the loan amount was set at 10 million pounds. In June 1942 it was increased by 25 million pounds, and in February 1944 by another 25 million pounds. In total, by the end of the war in Europe, the loan amounted to 60 million pounds. On April 16, 1946, in the English House of Commons, Prime Minister Attlee announced data on British supplies to the Soviet Union for the period from October 1, 1941 to March 31, 1946. The cost of military supplies amounted to 308 million pounds, civilian supplies - 120 million pounds. Attlee explained that the figures given relate to what was actually delivered, without taking into account losses in transit. Regarding civilian supplies, the Prime Minister indicated that they were made on the basis of an agreement of August 16, 1941, under which “the Soviet government paid 40% of the cost in gold or dollars and the remaining 60% through a loan provided by His Majesty’s Government.”

Based on the above, we can conclude that the Edinburgh gold was not payment for Lend-Lease. If its recipients were Americans, then they officially purchased it in 1941 on conditions favorable to the USSR. If they were the British, then gold could be part of the payment for those 40% under the Soviet-British agreement of August 16, 1941, which had nothing to do with the American Lend-Lease program. The latter version is also supported by the distribution of gold recovered from the cruiser in 1981 and 1986: 1/3 - Great Britain, 2/3 - USSR, taking into account the payment of remuneration to the company that carried out the recovery of gold bars.

Members of the Edinburgh Treasure Expedition pose with gold bars after the successful completion of the work.

And Edinburgh still lies at the bottom of the Barents Sea. I would like to hope that the ship will be remembered more often in connection with the courage of the English sailors who conducted polar convoys to Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, rather than with various insinuations about the “selfishness” of the allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

Sources and literature:

1. NARA T1022 (captured documents of the German Navy)
2. Adrian K. Kapitänleutnant Max-Martin Teichert. Mit U 456 im Nordmeer und Atlantik – Kreuzer “Edinburgh” torpediert – Flechsig Verlag, 2008
3. Bush R., Roll H.-J. Der U-boot-Krieg 1939–1945. Deutsche Uboot-Erfolge von September 1939 bis Mai 1945. Band 3 – Verlag E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Hamburg-Berlin-Bonn, 2001
4. Morgan D., Taylor B. U-boat attack logs. A Complete Record of Warship Sinkings from Original Sources 1939–1945 – Seaforth Publishing, 2011
5. Ritschel H. Kurzfassung Kriegstagesbuecher Deutscher U-Boote 1939–1945 Band 9. Norderstedt
6. Wynn K. U-Boat Operations of the Second World War. Vol.1–2 – Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1998
7. Jones R. Lend-Lease. Roads to Russia. US military supplies to the USSR in World War II - M.: Tsentrpoligraf, 2015
8. Sergeev A. German submarines in the Arctic 1941–1942 - M.: Russian Publishing House CJSC, 2003
9. Mikoyan A.I. So it was - M.: Vagrius, 1999
10. Stettinius E. Lend-Lease - a weapon of victory - M.: Veche, 2000
11. Soviet-British relations during the Great Patriotic War, 1941–1945: Documents and materials. In 2 volumes. T.1. 1941–1943 – M.: Politizdat, 1983
12. Mertsalov V. Edinburgh’s Golden Cargo – “Around the World” magazine, No. 4/1987 (http://www.vokrugsveta.ru)
13. http://uboat.net

(Addition to "Wolves of the Atlantic")

In 1936, the Spanish Civil War was not going in favor of the Republicans, despite the fact that Stalin, secretly from the world community, helped Caballero's Republican government. Soviet pilots and tank crews, dressed in Spanish military uniforms, gained experience in combat in the air and on the ground. In the fall, the Francoists were advancing and the Republicans were seriously concerned about the fate of Spain's gold reserves, the fourth largest in the world after the United States, France and Britain. They hid eight thousand boxes of gold bars, weighing a total of 635 tons, in the mountains near the seaport of Cartagena.
Stalin suggested that the Republicans temporarily hide the gold in Russia. And they trusted. In mid-October, valuable cargo was loaded into the holds of four Soviet ships and delivered to the Black Sea, to Odessa, from where it was sent by special train to Moscow. Having received the gold, Stalin ordered the Treasury to melt down the bullion and put a Soviet stamp on it. Which is what was done. The leader of the proletarians did not plan to return the gold to the owners.

At the beginning of 1942, Stalin paid for military supplies to the Allies. 93 boxes of gold bars weighing four and a half tons, worth $2 million 320 thousand 620 at the then exchange rate, were loaded into the bomb cellar of the cruiser Edinburgh. Convoy QP-11, which included the cruiser, left Murmansk on April 29, returning to England. Edinburgh was the pride of the Royal Navy. Almost 200 meters long, it reached a speed of 32 knots, which in those days was close to the speed of fast torpedo boats. Stuffed with weapons, the cruiser was capable of repelling enemy attacks from the air and sea.

Few people know the fact that...Hitler helped the British create such a cruiser. His personal orderly, SS Major Heinz Linge, mentions this in his memoirs. The bodyguard orderly was obliged to follow the Fuhrer everywhere, and he was also present at military meetings.
In his youth, Hitler was fond of drawing and painted in oils, and his watercolor landscape sketches are still hidden in private collections. Having become chancellor, he also proved himself as a designer. He worked with the architect Speer on the architecture of the cities of the Third Reich (similarly, buildings of Stalinist architecture are still preserved in the cities of the former USSR), and also worked with military designers. The heavy Tiger tank was his joint project with Ferdinand Porsche, and the well-known Volkswagen Beetle was personally drawn by Hitler and prototypes of this car are still running on the roads of all countries of the world. Hitler also designed the autobahns, requiring the designers to have a surface that could withstand airplane landings.

The Fuhrer was well aware of the design features of naval ships and, as Linge writes, “at technical conferences, with his questions he often baffled experts in the construction of the naval fleet, demanding an immediate answer.” Hitler once proposed sketches of a ship with a catapult system for small aircraft that would hide under the upper deck during a sea voyage. The designers critically greeted the idea, pointing out that there are no analogues to such a project in the world, therefore it is “not a classic.”
Soon, one day, during lunch with military leaders, Hitler was delivered a dispatch in which it was reported that the British had begun building a ship with a catapult for taking off aircraft. With a triumphant smile, the Fuhrer handed over a dispatch to his naval adjutant, Admiral von Puttkamer: “The British are building such a ship and from now on it can be considered a classic.” The embarrassed admiral did not know what to answer to this. This ship was the cruiser Edinburgh. The plane, which took off from its deck with the help of a catapult, performed its task in the air and splashed down next to the cruiser. It was lifted on board with a special crane, which is clearly visible in the photo. The gold cargo was in a casemate located below the deck in that part of the hull.

At the exit from Murmansk, the convoy was spotted by German aerial reconnaissance. Admiral Dönitz's sea wolves were already waiting for their prey. The next day, April 30, in the Barents Sea, the admiral’s submarines and surface ships attacked and shot the cruiser. The British sank the helpless Edinburgh so that the gold would not go to the Germans, marking the location of the sinking on the map. The cruiser's sea grave is located approximately at point 72.00N 35.00E, at a depth of 245 meters.

In 1954, the British government invited the Risdon Beazley company to carry out rescue work and pull out the gold, but in the post-war years, diving services of all the Baltic countries, including the Soviet Epron, were busy clearing fairways and channels, lifting thousands of tons of various goods from the bottom. The Edinburgh project was postponed until later.

Another quarter of a century passed, and by the end of the seventies, the latest technologies already allowed divers to work at great depths. The British began to worry about the idea that one day the Russians would take the initiative into their own hands and raise gold themselves. Several salvage companies offered options that boiled down to breaking the cruiser's hull with underwater explosions and pulling out any gold that could be found. The contract was won by the salvage company Jessop Marine, which proposed a different method of recovering the treasure, namely, using special cutters to cut a hole in the hull, penetrate inside and pull out all the gold, without loss.

In April 1981, the company's search vessel, already on the tenth day of searching, discovered the cruiser and the cameras of the controlled bathyscaphe took pictures of the ship. At the end of August, a ship arrived at the site with the necessary equipment and a carefully selected team of divers capable of withstanding critical overloads. The rescue team began work on a “no cure no pay” basis, meaning that if the gold was not recovered, they would receive nothing. None of the divers had worked at such depths before, especially in Arctic waters, so after their first dives they suffered from an infection that penetrated through their collapsed eardrums. They suffered from the pain of bruised or scalded limbs from the hot water circulating in their suits to protect their bodies from hypothermia and death in the icy water. After diving, in order not to die from decompression, the divers lived in a special pressure chamber, breathing a mixture of helium and oxygen, working in shifts.

The first ingot was pulled out on September 15. Over the next three weeks, they lifted 431 gold bars, but in early October the start of the winter storm season forced them to curtail the work. According to the terms of the contract, the rescuers received 45%, the rest was divided between the two countries, where Britain received one third and the USSR received two thirds. The rescuers earned $142 million, and if you subtract half of the amount for expedition expenses, the remaining $70 million probably paid for their suffering and risks.

There were 34 ingots left in the cruiser's hold. More than thirty years have passed since those days, technology has stepped far forward and who knows, maybe pirate treasure hunters have already visited the Barents Sea. After all, the price of an ounce of gold has skyrocketed a hundredfold in three decades! There's still fifty million worth of gold left in the cruiser's hold, that's for sure!

In September 1986, the British diving vessel Deepwater 2 entered the Barents Sea and stood at a point above the British cruiser Edinburgh, which sank at a depth of 260 meters. After a five-year break, the deep-sea operation to rescue the gold cargo was continued. The 1981 expedition, due to the onset of autumn storms, was unable to complete the rescue work: of the estimated 465 gold bars weighing 11-13 kilograms each, 431 were lifted from the cruiser.

At the end of April 1942, Edinburgh, at the head of a convoy of ships, left Murmansk for England. The cruiser was built shortly before the war. Its displacement is 10 thousand tons, length is 174 meters, the thickness of the side armor is up to 8 centimeters; it was armed with three-, four- and six-inch guns and torpedo tubes. On board the cruiser, according to available information, there were about five and a half tons of gold - for greater safety, the precious cargo was placed in an artillery cellar. The gold was intended to pay for military supplies to our allies in the anti-Hitler coalition.

On April 30, the cruiser Edinburgh, which broke away from the anti-submarine defense ships, was torpedoed by a fascist submarine. According to eyewitnesses, the first blow was struck on the side, the second on the stern, the rudder complex was damaged, as a result of which the Edinburgh lost speed, but still remained afloat.

From guarding the convoy, two English and two Soviet destroyers, “Gremyashchiy” and “Krosrushitelny,” as well as a tugboat and a messenger ship, hurried to the aid of the cruiser. A favorable situation has been created for towing to the Kola Bay. But on May 2, three enemy destroyers and torpedo bombers appeared near the uncontrollable cruiser and opened heavy fire on it. By this time, our warships, having used up their fuel reserves, went to bunker at the base, and British destroyers entered the battle, continuously firing at enemy ships, skillfully maneuvering, setting up smoke screens, preventing torpedo strikes on the Edinburgh. The tug and messenger ship, having fired several shots, left the battle so as not to interfere with the maneuvers of the destroyers.

By the end of the battle, the enemy managed to send a third torpedo into the stern of the cruiser, after which the Edinburgh tilted even more. The Nazis also suffered losses. One destroyer was destroyed, the second was badly damaged and, under the cover of the third, it left the battle area.

Additional details of these events were recently reported by Evgeniy Aleksandrovich Radugin, the commander of the signalmen squad of the patrol ship "Rubin", sent by the fleet headquarters to the combat area (by this time the crew of the "Rubin" had shot down aircraft and a sunk enemy submarine to their combat account). During the naval battle, the situation was constantly changing, visibility was poor, so Radugin reports only a few details of the battle - how he remembered them.

“On April 30, 1942,” writes Radugin, “a patrol ship left Polyarny and headed north with the task: to find and join the guard of the English cruiser Edinburgh, torpedoed by a German submarine at a point lying 250 miles north of Kola bay. The headquarters reported: there are two English destroyers near the cruiser (apparently, just at this time our destroyers left for bunkering. - V.M.), the cruiser is badly damaged, but still has a speed of about six knots and is moving towards our shores; Five English minesweepers and one Soviet tugboat came to his aid from the Kola Bay; According to intelligence data, several destroyers and submarines set out to sea from fascist bases on the Norwegian coast.

The Barents Sea was relatively calm (4-5 points), but continuous snow charges sometimes limited visibility to zero. It was not easy to get exactly on the cruiser in these conditions (in the absence of a radar). But the Rubin came out - on May 1 at 17:30 we exchanged identification signals with the cruiser and began guarding it from submarines. The cruiser requested our coordinates. We reported them immediately.

What did Edinburgh look like? Shortened. The explosion of torpedoes tore off its stern along with the lower three-gun turret of the main caliber. The sheets of deck flooring were bent upward and almost covered the upper tower... It stood on an even keel. The minesweepers and tugboat, which left four hours earlier than us, appeared at about 23:00 on May 1, and not from the south, like us, but from the northwest. From that moment on, the towing of the Edinburgh began. However, not everything went well, since the tug was underpowered. Then on the morning of May 2, two minesweepers stood on the sides, and the tug was in front, and with such a team, things immediately went smoothly - the speed increased noticeably. But at the beginning of the ninth, German destroyers appeared, as announced by a gunshot on the left side of the cruiser. The tug immediately moved to the southwest, and all the minesweepers and both destroyers moved to the port side. We found ourselves on the starboard side, remembering that enemy submarines also came out to search for the Edinburgh. The battle flared up, but snow charges hid from us not only the Germans, but also the British. How many German destroyers there were and how they were positioned could only be guessed from the shots.

Knowing that seven warships were participating in the battle on the British side, we paid all our attention to the surface of the sea, waiting for the appearance of a periscope or a submarine's wheelhouse. And when suddenly a destroyer appeared from the snow cover, we could only guess - whose is it? - since the silhouettes of English and German ships are similar. Then events developed very quickly. The destroyer, turning 90° to the left, raised fascist flags on the masts, fired a salvo at our ship and rushed towards the cruiser at full speed. Having rounded it from the stern, he laid down on a parallel course and fired torpedoes. An English destroyer was hurrying towards him. But it was too late: at that moment, when both destroyers, almost ramming each other, turned away from the cruiser - one to the left, the other to the right - there was a powerful explosion - a torpedo hit the side of the cruiser, and it began to list. The destroyers were moving away, but the distance between them did not exceed 50 meters. The English destroyer was the first to fire a salvo from her guns - and missed. The Germans' return salvo reached its target - the shell hit the engine room, a column of steam rose, and the English destroyer stopped. And the cruiser fired a salvo from the bow turret at the departing Nazi destroyer. But we couldn’t see anything further - the snow covered the ships again...”

The crew of the Edinburgh and the sailors returning to England from ships killed in previous convoys - a total of 750 people - moved onto escort ships that soon arrived and were sent to the Soviet port of Polyarny on the Kola Peninsula, from where they eventually returned home.

To prevent the Edinburgh, still afloat, and its gold cargo from falling to the enemy, the cruiser, on the orders of the convoy commander, English Rear Admiral Bonham-Carter, was sunk by three torpedo shots. And along with it, a cargo of gold went into the depths of the sea.

The Edinburgh lay at the bottom of the Barents Sea for about forty years. During this time, deep-sea technology, radio navigation equipment and diving equipment appeared, which made it possible to begin the search and rescue of the gold cargo. Experience has also accumulated regarding a person's prolonged stay under water and subsequent decompression.

On the initiative of our country, in 1981, a Soviet-British agreement was concluded and a contract was signed with the company Jessop Marine Recovery Limited on the terms “without rescue there is no reward.” All expenses for search and rescue operations until the gold was safely unloaded at the agreed ports were borne by the company. According to the contract, the recovered precious cargo was divided between Great Britain and the Soviet Union in the proportion of one third to two thirds.

The choice of a partner to carry out this operation was determined primarily by the fact that the Edinburgh, which sank along with part of the crew, is considered an English war grave, and our country fully recognizes this status - the inviolability of a mass grave - and the corresponding rights of Great Britain arising from it. The company was the main coordinating company, with which three companies cooperated, having the appropriate vessels, radio navigation and deep-sea equipment and having experience working on drilling rigs in the depths of the North Sea.

Searches for sunken treasures have been undertaken around the world before. During the First and Second World Wars alone, thousands of warships, transport and passenger ships were sunk. Cargoes of gold, silver, bronze went to the bottom with them... This has already been written about, and one of the books was called “600 billion under water.” This figure is, of course, a figment of the imagination of the author, Harry Risberg, but the value of the treasures buried on the seabed is indeed very high.

The following operations, for example, were successful. The ship "Egypt" was wrecked and sank on May 20, 1922 near the island of Ouessant at a depth of 120 meters. On board were five tons of gold and ten tons of silver in bars and coins. Found by the Italian company Sorima in 1930, which recovered 95 percent of the precious metal within four years.

The cargo ship Empire Manor sank in January 1944 near the island of Newfoundland at a depth of 90 meters. On the ship, which split in half, there was a box with seventy gold bars weighing a little more than a ton. Sixty-two of them were raised in 1973 by the English company Risdon-Beasley.

For a long time, until 1981, attempts to discover the site of the Edinburgh sinking remained fruitless.

On May 1, 1981, the English search vessel Dammtor set out on a voyage. Radio navigation transmitters were installed on the coast of Norway to determine the location of the expedition vessel with an accuracy of up to 30 meters, which ensured its precise entry into sounding tacks. A special maneuverable device (the so-called “eye”) was lowered to the bottom, which, upon command from on board, could smoothly walk around sunken objects and, using television cameras, perform a remote view of them. The color image was transmitted upstairs to the monitor, and at the same time a videotape recording was made. The search was successful. In mid-May, an entry appeared in the ship's log: "Edinburgh" discovered."

It was found that the cruiser lies at a depth of 260 meters with a list of 90 degrees in the most favorable position for rescue operations - upward with a hole in the starboard side. It would seem that through this hole, five by five meters in size, it would be easy to get inside to the nearby golden cargo. By the way, options for the rescue operation were tested on the same type cruiser Belfast, turned into a floating museum, which now stands on the Thames in central London. But the gold, as is known, was in the artillery cellar, next to the ammunition. Although, according to experts, they could not explode, they still retained their combat qualities. Therefore, the operation naturally seemed dangerous. To carry it out, a group of the most experienced deep-sea divers from different countries, led by Michael Stewart, was selected.

Then, already in the fall, the search vessel was replaced at a point above the sunken cruiser by the rescue vessel Stefaniturm, which usually operates in the North Sea, servicing drilling rigs in offshore oil fields. On board there were pressure chambers, a bell for underwater descents and other special equipment for working at great depths.

The operation has begun.

The first time three divers went to the depths, but the bell turned out to be too small for three, and later they began to dive in twos. Subsequently, this circumstance was taken into account and in the second expedition they used a bell designed for diving by three people.

So, the original plan was to get to the gold through a hole in the side. But there they found a pile of twisted metal. Then, in order to get to the bulkhead of the artillery magazine, they cut a hole in the same starboard side. But the intermediate room - the fuel tank - also turned out to be cluttered with debris from the collapsed deck and other structures. And when they opened the bulkhead, they discovered entire rubble of sand, algae, fuel oil, and pipe fragments. I had to clear it, often working in complete darkness, by touch, in a cloud of silt, which was sucked out with a special device. But it was not possible to completely dispel this cloud, which was not penetrated even by the brightest light.

This continued until September 16. Only fifteen days after the start of work on clearing passages to the artillery cellar, John Rossier, a twenty-eight-year-old diver from Zimbabwe, found the first ingot under the number KR0620. Everyone on the ship held it in their hands...

At first, the ingots were lifted in a welded metal basket - forty pieces at a time, but the basket got stuck in the hold cluttered with debris, and then they decided to use a nylon bag for twenty ingots.

There were twenty-five submarine specialists on board the Stefaniturm (and a total of sixty crew members), fifteen of whom were directly involved in deep-sea descents - they worked in three shifts of two people. They were located on the ship in residential pressure chambers, and they were delivered to the cruiser in a kind of underwater elevator - a diving bell.

The time of autumn storms has come. Strong wind currents blew the ship away from the point, and the divers were tired: after all, no one had ever worked at such a great depth before.

On the day the deep-sea work was completed, a wreath was lowered into the water and a ceremony was held in memory of the dead sailors of the cruiser Edinburgh. Then, during a naval battle, sixty English sailors were killed. The miraculously preserved remains were lifted aboard the rescue ship and covered with the British national flag in order to pay respects to the dead...

When, during the first expedition, I arrived on board the Stefaniturm, 431 bars - worth more than forty million pounds sterling - were in the so-called gold room, but simply in an ordinary boatswain's storeroom, under three locks, three different keys to which were kept separately by the representatives UK Department of Trade, company, ship owner. By the way, one of the bars was bought by the English newspaper The Sunday Times and played in a lottery.

Through the window of the pressure chamber I saw six divers who were having dinner, watching TV, playing something, in general, they behaved quite normally, although the instruments on the control panel showed pressure corresponding to a depth of 120 meters - decompression began at 260 meters and continued already a few days. I saw their faces close-up and could not help but notice the expression of deep fatigue... In the utility room there hung suits, smeared with fuel oil, in which the divers worked.

Upon arrival in Murmansk, the participants of the rescue expedition laid flowers at the monument to the defenders of the Arctic and at the memorial in honor of the allies in the fight against fascism...

At the same time in Murmansk, the general director of Jessop Marine Recovery Limited, Keith Jessop, said that the expedition would continue next spring. But only five years later, the rescue ship Deepwater 2 stood at a point above the sunken cruiser Edinburgh. According to the new Soviet-English agreement, the right to conduct deep-sea work was transferred to the English company Wharton Williams, which participated as a partner company in the previous expedition.

Even before arriving at the point, the divers entered the pressure chambers, as if beginning a gradual descent to depth. The first dive, carried out on September 4, established that over the years following the first expedition, a lot of sediment had accumulated in the working compartments of the cruiser - they had to be removed using special equipment. On September 7, when five gold bars were raised, rescue efforts were suspended: even the most advanced technology did not allow deep-sea descents to continue during the storm.

The expedition participants, by the way, were concerned about the version based on archival and literary sources, according to which the amount of gold loaded on the Edinburgh in 1942 doubled. For example, Admiral A.G. Golovko - he commanded the Northern Fleet during the war - in the book of his memoirs “Together with the Fleet” writes: “The cruiser was finished off by English ships and sank to the bottom along with a cargo of gold amounting to about ten tons.”

Divers descending from Deepwater 2 opened and carefully examined the compartment adjacent to the artillery cellar, where, most likely, the supposed second batch of gold cargo could have been loaded. This entire room was filled with boxes of pyrotechnics, which took a day and a half to inspect and rearrange. But there was no gold there.

Twelve deep-sea divers made twenty-three dives from Deepwater-2. On the ship they were kept in three pressure chambers, followed by a decompression period of twelve days. They went to a depth of 215 meters in a diving bell, which is equipped with a special device - it compensates for the rocking of the bell during waves and ensures normal immersion. Further - to the cruiser - the divers dived independently, in twos, carrying with them an entire life support system of pipelines and cables; with their help, breathing mixture and water for heating were supplied, communications, television inspection, object lighting and other work were carried out. Wet-type elastic diving suits with water heating up to 75 degrees were used. The fact is that when a person breathes a helio-oxygen mixture under pressure corresponding to the depth - in this case 23.5 atmospheres - he begins to freeze even at 35 degrees. In addition, temperatures in the bottom layers are low. During the work, a third diver was in the bell for insurance.

As you know, a ship drifts at sea under the influence of wind, waves, and currents. To keep the ship without an anchor at the desired point, a dynamic positioning system was installed on board Deepwater-2, which, based on the signals of two sonar buoys lowered to depth, determined the deviation of the ship from the cruiser. Having processed this data, the computer gave commands to the thrusters that held Deepwater-2 in a given position. And yet, in a strong storm, when the wind speed reached 22 meters per second, it was impossible to dive.

According to documents, after the first operation, 34 gold bars remained on the cruiser, excluding the supposed second batch of gold, said Igor Nikolaevich Ilyin, a representative of the USSR Ministry of Marine Fleet who took part in the rescue expedition. “During the second operation, 29 were discovered and recovered.

The remaining five, located in the bow of the artillery magazine, blown apart by a shell during the battle, disappeared without a trace among the twisted metal. This was confirmed by a television inspection of the facility.

The ammunition located in the immediate vicinity of the gold cargo - shells of various calibers, mines, grenades, cartridges - fortunately did not interfere with the work.

The raised ingots were washed with kerosene to remove the fuel oil that leaked from the fuel tanks, returning them to their noble shine. The total weight of gold rescued in the second expedition is 345 kilograms. It is valued at approximately three million pounds.

During two expeditions, called the “operation of the century” in the foreign press, ninety-nine percent of approximately five and a half tons of precious metal were recovered from the cruiser Edinburgh. This is the most successful large-scale search and rescue operation for sunken treasure in recent times. Taking all the circumstances into account, it can be said that such complex deep-sea work was performed by free-floating divers for the first time.

After the successful completion of the operation, the salvaged gold cargo was divided on board Deepwater 2 between the Soviet Union and Great Britain in the agreed proportions; both parties must deduct 45 percent of their share in favor of the company that raised the precious cargo from the bottom of the sea.

Ten bars aboard Deepwater 2 were sent to England. Nineteen were transferred in the Barents Sea - using a telescopic boom in two batches (to reduce risk) - onto a Soviet ship.

It is unlikely that you will ever again be able to hold in your hands a gold bar weighing over 12 kilograms, which has lain on the bottom of the Barents Sea for almost forty-five years. The noble metal depicts a sickle and a hammer, and “USSR, Moscow” is stamped. And the sample is 999.9.

Barents Sea - Murmansk - Moscow