The Cold War US / Soviet Nuclear Submarine Crash | Scotland - 1974

In early 2017, The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) released a de-classified document between US NSA Advisor Brent Scowcroft and US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, issued in 1974, alerting him of a collision between the USS James Madison (A Poseidon SLBM Nuclear Missile Submarine) and a Soviet Victor Class Attack Submarine just outside the US Navy Submarine base (Refit Site 1 / Subron14) at Holy Loch, Scotland on 3rd November 1974.

**Disclaimer** This video is put together from various international media reports, online open source documents, and published personal vlog accounts both by US and Soviet veterans, and remember, accounts will vary!
The British Government has never commented on this incident officially!

The 2017 CIA release provoked a short media frenzy in the UK, with the UK Mainstream Media sensationalizing the story and claiming the incident was a Nuclear Weapons accident which nearly started World War 3, which was the reason for the cover up.
However Russian TV (NTV) poured scorn on these over inflated claims, in an evening news report tracking down former Soviet Submarine sailors to tell their story. Naming the Soviet submarine as the Victor 1 Class K306 attack submarine. and that the collision was actually a rather minor shunt with no nuclear reactor or weapons damaged.

What is apparent from the present day Russian TV news feature and from the wording of the CIA report, is that the collision took place deep inside British sovereign territory, on the Firth of Clyde, opposite the town of Greenock and just 20 miles from Scotland's largest city Glasgow.
It therefore represented the most egregious breach of UK territory by the Soviet Armed Forces during the entire Cold War. Which was only disclosed due to the accidental underwater collision.

This video visits the scene 50 years later, and seeks to piece together the full story of the 1974 Clyde Soviet Victor Crash from all the media noise, and hypothetically examines the possible covert activity and espionage that may have compromised the USS James Madison's departure date.

Also I look at the political tensions in 1974 between the US and UK that affected the decisions afterwards, And why neither the US or British Governments will discuss the incident even today.

Chapters:

00:20 Introduction
01:32 The Secret Telegram to Henry Kissinger
06:05 The US Holy Loch Submarine Base, Scotland
12:41 Soviet Espionage activity in Scotland
15:10 The K306 Submarine enters The Clyde
18:48 The Collision 03/11/1974
22:49 The Aftermath

#submarine #coldwar #soviet #nuclear

[tmcmurdo]

I was a crew member onboard the U.S.S. James Madison in the mid eighties and it was common knowledge that the boat had collided with a Russian sub. The event was prior to my time on the boat and no one onboard was part of the crew during the incident. Thank you for filling in my missing knowledge on the subject.

[unbearifiedbear]

I've walked and hiked many of the Lochs of Scotland over the years, the absolute peace and beauty is almost overwhelming.. I think of sitting on the shore basking in the utter tranquility, feet lazily dangling in the clear loch as I laugh and joke with the family... a hundred feet away, two immense, advanced weapons and hundreds of sailors sit silently playing at total war, completely unseen, just beneath the surface of the cool, dark water

Submarines are *fkn terrifying*

[curtsmall]

Paint samples is no just a joke, it is data that could influence the ability to detect a submarine. Certain coatings of a submarine hull can influence sonar performance. It can also give clues about maintenance or where a sub has spent time. It might yield nuclear secrets as well. - Dr Curt Small, formerly LCDR, Naval Medical Corps 1978

[DeAlpineBro]

I was on patrol onboard the SSBN 628 Tecumseh when this happened. The Gold crew was going to take over our boat in a couple of weeks. We were informed that we were not to comment on anything concerning the collision. I had friends on the Madison. Fellow NUCs. Whenever a nuclear sub surfaced the ELTs would be the first up to take swipes to be checked for radiation. The Madison's ELT said that upon surfacing, the Russian sub was also close by. He said the captain of the soviet boat and the captain of the Madison sort of shrugged. They closed hatches and parted ways. Love that story.

[jackking]

I remember those times. What is particularly fixed in my memory are the sheer amount of fishing trawlers that 'caught' submarines and were sunk. Those submarines could have been form any side - it showed us just how active the submarine fleets were.

[reggierico]

In the 1970's, my father was the Commanding officer Squadron 2 in New London, Connecticut. The squadron had three divisions of 7 nuclear boats each and one of those boats was the USS Tullibee, SSN 597. Tullibee was a nuclear attack submarine but had been retrofitted for an ASW role, with additional sonar arrays mounted on her upper deck. One day, I was driving onto base with my Dad when he was notified of Tullibee's return to the base after patrol. We went down to the docks and witnessed Tullibee approaching down the Thames river. I immediately noticed extensive damage to the forward sonar array on the upper hull, forward of the sail. I asked my Dad about it and he grinned and said they had hit 'something' while on patrol. I also asked him if the CO was in trouble and my father said, 'No, he's not in any trouble.'

[nightwtchman]

I'm willing to bet there's even more stories like this that either won't see the light of day or at least for decades.

[gooshy]

That was great! Thank you!
I left Charleston Christmas eve 1977 bound for Holy Loch for my first patrol, and what a grand adventure it was.
I can add one thing to this little mystery - the first thing that occurred to me was that Madison dived really early; perhaps procedures were changed after that.
Anyway, thanks - always loved everything from Dunoon to Sand Bank.

[Henry-gjmr]

Many years ago while in the sea cadets we got a trip onto the service ship. It was probably one of those good relations exercises for local cadets. We got some food on board and a small tour. We got ferried over on one of their "tenders", we got turns to look at the radar screen, where the screen had a cowling around it and viewed from the top, I could not get enough of that and tried to identify the blips on the screen with objects on the surface. I was too young to appreciate everything about the trip and sights at the time. Big thanks to the sailors and all those that made the trip possible.

[Dunbardoddy]

I grew up on the coast of North Ayrshire in the 1960s and early '70s returning nuclear submarines used to surface opposite our beach and continued on the surface to base - as young boys we knew the difference in silhouette between British nuclear hunter killer and poseidon submarines and US nuclear submarines. I also remember the daily passing of US Navy vehicles by our house on their way between Prestwick airport and Holy Loch Navy base.

[danielmarshall]

"Suggesting the UK media are emotional and geee ya gotta hand it to those Russians. Another smashing video thank you.

[marzipan]

SOSUS was added to the general Clyde area possibly due to this incident, and it was not uncommon for Soviet vessels and Trawlers to come in close to the Clyde and North Channel dropping their own listening devices, which went on right until the end of the Cold War. RN divers often tried to recover these devices, but they were often booby trapped and the electronics flooded with Acid if disturbed making recovery risky. I know a few stories!

[samiamgreeneggsandham]

I had read about this, but it was really cool to see how small the waters of the collision site really were.

[Stargazerable]

The soviets sent their subs inside all european waters for mapping and other intelligence. After the fall of the soviet union, some tourists came over and bought soviet military maps of our coast, it was more detailed than any maps our military or civillian maritime institutions could produce. The russian subs have from time to time the last 25 years been caught deep in sovereign waters, left visual trails on the bottom of the seabed, meaning they sent out remote operated vehicles from the subs.

[garypoulton]

Your videos are great, factual, no bollox, and very well presented, thanks for the effort you put into them, I at least appreciate it.

[hardwaresecuritymodule]

Nice video thanks, I live in the area and great to see the old Holy Loch footage, which most older adults here can remember vividly! Just to correct that the ferry to Dunoon isn't from Greenock, it's from Gourock, in case anyone wants to retread your footsteps!

[burtlangoustine]

"One of our Submarines is missing tonight, exchanging whiskey for vodka in a reported billion pound Loch-in" 🤣

[Alba]

Never thought the Soviets could sail so easily into our most protected nuclear area - right past my house. Embarrassing to say the least. Navy heads should have rolled.

[daffyduk]

Another of Andy's brilliant informative videos, narrated as ever in his inimitable style! Thanks !

[rndrd]

I'm so glad the algorithm recommended this video. Subscribed. Your investigation is so thorough and your presentation is great.