What does the expedition hide, which can shed light on one of the main military tragedies of the Black Sea?

The search for the place of the tragic accident of the ship "Armenia" with supposedly seven thousand people on board has been going on for more than 10 years. Why is the next expedition completely classified, what did scuba divers discover in 2005, announcing the discovery of "Armenia", and could the organizers of the expeditions, partially funded by the US Navy, pursue not only scientific goals?

Was the find hidden because of the gold?

The first expedition to search for the ship "Armenia" took place back in 2005. Then the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine received from various sources as many as three points of coordinates, including from the Central Naval Archive in Moscow, and also took the testimony of eyewitnesses of the tragedy and survivors as a basis. But the most important thing on which the search was based was a secret report submitted by a certain Crimean organization that had already discovered "Armenia" with the help of the Poisk geological complex.

“The identification of a vessel with dimensions similar in characteristics to the dimensions of the vessel “Armenia” was carried out. The results of remote holographic identification prove that in this place at a depth of 520 m there is a torpedoed bow the vessel “Armenia”... The medical vessel “Armenia” was identified by the following parameters: the location of the sunken vessel with its bow to the south-east (coincidence with the general course of the vessel after leaving the port of Yalta); coincidence of the length of the submerged ship (about 100 meters), a fragment of the severed nose (about 10 meters) is located at a distance of about 40 meters from the ship's hull; fixation of a large number of human remains (bones) throughout the vessel according to the characteristic resonant information-energy spectrum; fixation of characteristic resonant spectra from precious metals located in the following places: platinum and diamonds - under the upper deck in the area of ​​the central part of the ship (where special mail and luggage rooms are located); gold and silver - in many areas of the superstructure where the cabins are located superior comfort", etc.

The deep-sea submersible "Langust" was lowered to the place of death, the crew of which confirmed the find. The news immediately spread throughout the media with loud headlines like “The legendary Armenia has been found!” The archaeological season was already closed, but next summer promised to be rich in artifacts, photos and video footage from the ship...

However, the next year, the search for "Armenia" resumed in other areas. This was explained as follows: they say, the find was not confirmed, and what the Langust crew saw was a completely different ship, completely uninteresting. By the way, the report taken as a basis was made public after Ukrainian archaeologists examined the alleged place of the death of "Armenia" from American scientific courts in 2006-2007.

According to the most daring conspiracy theory, the cargo mentioned in the geological survey report, and which, according to legend, was loaded by the NKVD officers in Yalta, became the reason for withholding information about the discovery of the ship.

Although, perhaps, all this is nothing more than speculation ...

History and tragedy

The passenger-cargo ship "Armenia" was built at the Baltic Shipyard, in Leningrad, in 1928. Displacement 5770 tons, length 107.7 m, width 15.5 m, depth 7.84 m, crew - 96 people. The vessel belonged to the class of double-deck, six of the same type "Krymchaks", which worked on the Crimean-Caucasian cruise line in the pre-war period ("Armenia", "Adjaristan", "Crimea", "Abkhazia", ​​"Ukraine", "Georgia"). Shortly after the start of the war, all six motor ships were converted into sanitary transport ships and transferred to the medical service of the Black Sea Fleet.

The tragedy of "Armenia" occurred on November 7, 1941 and is one of the largest in world history in terms of the number of victims. The death toll was, according to various estimates, from 3 thousand to 10 thousand people.

The chronology of the disaster is briefly as follows. Around 17:00 on November 6, 1941, the ship under the sign of the Red Cross left Sevastopol. On board were several thousand wounded soldiers and evacuees. The personnel of the main hospital of the Black Sea Fleet and a number of other military and civilian hospitals (23 hospitals in total), as well as the leadership and employees of the Artek pioneer camp, their families and part of the Crimean party leadership were also loaded onto the ship. The loading of the evacuees was in a hurry, their exact number is unknown. AT last flight"Armenia" was led by Captain Vladimir Plaushevsky. The ship was escorted by two armed boats and two I-153 fighters. At 2:00, on November 7, the ship arrived in Yalta, where it took on board several hundred more people (the loading of the evacuees was also in a hurry, so their exact number is unknown) and some valuable cargo - it is possible that, in addition to documents, there were gold and valuables from the Crimean museums. At 8:00 a.m., the ship left the port, and at 11:25 a.m. it was attacked by the German Heinkel He-111 torpedo bomber belonging to the 1st squadron of the I / KG28 air group. The aircraft approached from the coast and dropped two torpedoes from a distance of 600 m. One of them hit the bow of the ship. Four minutes later, "Armenia" sank. Only eight people were saved, who were picked up by a patrol boat.

There is a version that the mistakes of the command of the Black Sea Fleet became the cause of the disaster. The crowded ship, instead of making the transition to the Caucasian coast at night in relative safety, was sent by the command to Yalta, although there were dozens of other ships in Sevastopol that could evacuate from this city. As a result, loading was delayed all night and the captain was forced to put to sea from Yalta in the morning. But what guided Captain Plaushevsky, taking the ship out to sea during daylight hours - in violation of the order of the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Philip Oktyabrsky? According to some, he saw no reason to stay in the port of Yalta for a day, since the stationary ship was an excellent target (Yalta did not have air defense means, in addition, at any moment it could be captured by the advancing German units, because the Germans had already broken into the neighboring Gurzuf). Others believe that the captain obeyed the NKVD officers on board, who sought to leave the Crimea as quickly as possible.

Secrecy and conspiracy theories

A few days ago, a new stage of the search for "Armenia" started. This time under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation. Among the participants of the expedition are specialists from the Main Directorate of Deep Sea Research of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, and Crimean professionals. Although the task of the expedition does not focus only on "Armenia": the search for submarines, ships and aircraft that sank during the First and Second World Wars. The task is performed by a detachment of ships of the Black Sea Fleet, which includes a fleet ship KIL-158, designed to lift objects from the bottom. For example, in Kacha it is planned to find submarines from the First World War, in Yevpatoria - transport "A. Serov", in the area of ​​Cape Aya - the destroyer "Imperfect", from Feodosia to Anapa - the search for the destroyer "Smyshlyony". Also, search activities are planned in the areas of Capes Khersones, Opuk, Lantern and in the Kerch Strait.

“The found ships and submarines will be declared military graves, the places of their death will be marked on all nautical charts, and from now on, all ships and vessels of the Russian Navy, passing in this area, will half-mast flags and give military honors to the fallen defenders of the Fatherland, ”said Dmitry Bulgakov, deputy head of the military department.

But official comments on the course of search work have so far been limited to reports that at the southern entrance to Kerch Strait a German torpedo boat S-102 was discovered (June 8, 1943, the boat hit a mine), from which a 40-mm Flak 28 anti-aircraft gun, fragments of the boat's hull and propellers were raised. And from the bottom they got the Il-2 attack aircraft (it was shot down on November 8, 1943, the plane was flown by the Hero of the Soviet Union Yusup Akaev).

About "Armenia" - not a word. Although the Crimean Telegraph knows from its own sources that the search for the ship is planned at least in two points of the Black Sea. Moreover, information about underwater work has abruptly ceased and, as it became known, even journalists working for the Russian Ministry of Defense are denied admission on board the ships participating in the work. But why? As a source of the Crimean Telegraph, connected with the expedition, explained: “No one wants to prematurely give even a reason for news. If "Armenia" is found, then yes - a sensation, but for now you need to be silent. Anyone associated with the expedition is prohibited from disclosing information. Everything is classified."

Along with this, another assumption of the true purpose of the expedition appeared. Allegedly, it is connected with the cleaning of the Black Sea from some tracking sensors or interception of information. The fact is that journalists noticed that the expedition requires very high costs, and it is unlikely that the military will invest a lot of money on the simple detection of sunken objects. And I remembered that in 2006, from Cape Khersones to Cape Meganom, an expedition of the American scientist Robert Ballard worked on the research vessel Endeavor, who was subsequently accused by the Crimean media of collaborating with US intelligence. Say, it is known that that work cost the American side $ 2.5 million, and in 2007 Ballard connected the Pathfinder oceanographic vessel, owned by the US Navy Sealift Center, to research, and the costs increased even more. And the secret goal of the Americans was to study the topography of the bottom and coast for military purposes, as well as to install special listening and special technical tracking equipment on the submarine cable communication lines of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation, which now need to get rid of. So they equipped the expedition from the Ministry of Defense ... However, commenting on this assumption, the representative of the Black Sea Fleet laughed sincerely.

Vyacheslav Trukhachev, Head of the Information Support Department of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation:

“I know about this version. She's so... unexpected. And not serious. To comment on it, it is best to turn to conspiracy theorists, this is their topic.

But another version of the true goal of the Americans does not sound so fantastic - this is the conduct of geological and hydrographic exploration near Crimean shores under the legend archaeological research. This was required to bring fresh data into the maps of the seabed, which, of course, is invaluable information for the owners of the oceanographic vessel kindly provided by Ballard.

Igor SHILOV
Maxim RUSINOV
The material was published in the newspaper "Crimean Telegraph" No. 391 dated August 12, 2016

November 7, 1941. There is a parade of Soviet troops on Red Square, to which the attention of the whole world is riveted. At the same time, German troops break through with battles to Moscow and Leningrad.

And nowhere on this day, in the world media, did the message that was found in the top secret in the Soviet years "Chronicle of the Great Patriotic War at the Black Sea Theatre. This document says that in the same minutes that there was a parade on Red Square in Moscow, not far from Yalta, as a result of a German air attack,

the civilian steamship "Armenia" sank.

About 7,000 people died on board.

Even today we know almost nothing about one of the largest and most tragic disasters at sea! This catastrophe claimed 4 times more human lives than the tragic death of the Titanic.

The Searchers conducted their own investigation to answer the questions: under what circumstances did this tragedy occur, and why did the Soviet government hide the very fact of the disaster and its scale throughout the years of its existence. To do this, we will go to the Crimea and study all the circumstances of the tragedy on the spot.

And remember... Those who have not forgotten.

The ship "Armenia" was one of the six best passenger ships in the Black Sea. These beautiful high-speed motor ships were popularly called "trotters". They served the line Odessa - Batumi - Odessa and regularly transported thousands of passengers until 1941.

Motor ship "Armenia"
Flag
Vessel class and type	passenger-cargo ship
Commissioned
Withdrawn from the Navy	(sunk)
Status	sunk
Main characteristics
	5770 tons
Length	107.7 m
Width	15.5 m
Board height	7.84 m
	5.95 m
	2 x 1472
mover	WFS
	96 people
Passenger capacity	950 people
Registered tonnage	4727 tons

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, "Armenia" was urgently converted into a medical transport ship. Luxurious salons and restaurants were turned into operating rooms and dressing rooms. Huge crosses were painted on the sides and deck in bright red paint, and the flag of the international Red Cross was raised on the mast.

The Red Army defended Odessa in stubborn and bloody battles, and the main front retreated to the east, to the Crimea. There were a lot of wounded. Day and night, in any weather, on board the "Armenia" there was a struggle for the life and health of our soldiers and officers. Captain Plaushevsky managed to make fifteen incredibly difficult and dangerous flights from Odessa to the ports of the Caucasian coast, evacuating about 16 thousand wounded and civilians.

The attack of Manstein's 2nd Army on the Crimea was swift. Under powerful blows from superior enemy forces, on October 26-27, Soviet troops began a disorderly retreat from Perekop. Only on the outskirts of Sevastopol, the units of the Red Army, which suffered heavy losses, were able to organize defenses and offer serious resistance to the enemy. Two days later, on October 29, a state of siege was introduced in the city.

On the morning of November 6, in Sevastopol, boarding of the ship "Armenia" began. It took place spontaneously, and no one even knew the number of people taken on board. As early as November 5, all naval medical organizations were ordered to evacuate, although there was still a heavy and bloody defense of the city ahead. Several naval hospitals, along with the wounded, medical staff and equipment, ended up on "Armenia".

Suddenly, a message came to the fleet headquarters that a large group of leading workers and party activists had gathered in Yalta, who had to be evacuated. There were enough small ships in Sevastopol that could well fulfill this task, but they decided to send the "Armenia", although there was no need to risk such a valuable ship. To accomplish this task, the ship was ordered to go to sea at 17:00, i.e. two hours before dark. The exit from Sevastopol during daylight hours already at that time was associated with a great risk, since the ship could well have been sunk on the way to Yalta.

Immediately after leaving Sevastopol, a new order followed - to go to Balaklava. There, several boats approached the "Armenia", and the NKVD officers loaded wooden boxes onto the ship. The day before, on November 6, Stalin signed an order for the urgent evacuation of the most valuable property from Crimea. In this regard, it is assumed that the boxes contained gold and valuables from the Crimean museums. After that, the ship again headed for Yalta and arrived there only at about 2 am. The loading of evacuees, the wounded and hospital personnel began again. Thus, on one ambulance it turned out 23 hospitals - almost the entire medical staff of the Black Sea Fleet.

The ship was escorted by two patrol boats and two I-153 Chaika fighters. The weather deteriorated, a storm began, the sky was covered with low ragged clouds. At 11:25 a.m., the ship was attacked by a single German torpedo bomber He-111. The aircraft approached from the shore and dropped two torpedoes from a distance of 600 m. One of them hit the bow of the ship. After 4 minutes, "Armenia" sank. About 5,000 people died, according to official figures. Eyewitnesses claim that there were one and a half or two times more passengers on the ship, since people stood in a solid mass from the lower rooms to the captain's bridge. The boats were saved by only 8 people. According to Ukrainian scientists, 3 more people swam to the shore.

The ship was escorted by two patrol boats and two I-153 Chaika fighters. The weather deteriorated, a storm began, the sky was covered with low ragged clouds. At 11:25 a.m., the ship was attacked by a single German torpedo bomber He-111. The aircraft approached from the shore and dropped two torpedoes from a distance of 600 m. One of them hit the bow of the ship. After 4 minutes, "Armenia" sank. About 5,000 people died, according to official figures. Eyewitnesses claim that there were one and a half or two times more passengers on the ship, since people stood in a solid mass from the lower rooms to the captain's bridge. The boats were saved by only 8 people. According to Ukrainian scientists, another 5 people swam to the shore.

It will probably be difficult to find a person who has not heard about the sinking of the Titanic ocean liner. Articles and books are devoted to this story that happened in 1912, documentaries and feature films were shot, expeditions were organized to the wreckage of the ship. Still - a grandiose maritime disaster, more than 1,500 dead. Everything is true, but in the maritime history of mankind there are much more terrible examples.

One of the scariest maritime disasters(according to some sources - the most terrible), did not occur somewhere in North Atlantic, and we have on the Black Sea, with our ship and not so long ago. How much do we know about her? But it was on these autumn days, on November 7, 1941, that the ambulance transport "Armenia" went to sea ...

Disproportionately little attention has been paid to this tragedy, there are no books, no films, no modest paragraph in the school textbook. Even in the official reference book “Ships of the Ministry of the Navy that died during the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945”, which can be found here, there are few lines dedicated to her:

"ARMENIA"
cargo-pass. m/v, 4727 brt, ChGMP (Black Sea Fleet). Captain - V. Ya. Plaushevsky (died).
Date and place of death - 11/07/41, south of Yalta, 44 ° 17 "N, 34 ° 10" E.
Went from Yalta to Tuapse with the wounded and cargo; sunk by enemy aircraft. The death toll is not known. 8 people were saved*
TsVMA, f. 10, d. 9096, l. 45; house 32780, l. eight; MF Museum.

Everyone remembers the global catastrophe with the Titanic? Certainly…. But why do we remember and know so many details about this shipwreck, and do not know about more horrific and global disasters that occurred on the waters of the oceans?

We are left with a memory.

Museum of Disasters on the Waters, Temple-Lighthouse of St. Nicholas, Archbishop of Myra

In memory of this tragedy, every year on May 9, Yalta port workers go to sea at the site of the sinking of the ship "Armenia" to honor the memory of those killed in the tragedy and lay wreaths.

which claimed the lives of our compatriots, among other victims of the monstrous scale of the Great Patriotic War.

Remember, Lord, the souls of the dead, forgive them all their sins, voluntary and involuntary, and grant them the Kingdom of Heaven.

Everyone remembers the global catastrophe with the Titanic? Certainly…. But why do we remember and know so many details about this shipwreck, and do not know about more horrific and global disasters that occurred on the waters of the oceans? And because films were not made about these troubles, many books were not written, and because some of them are still under the heading of secrecy.

Motor ship "Armenia"

Armenia…. This is not only a beautiful and friendly little country, not only a city in sunny Colombia, but also the name of one of the motor ships built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1928. Together with this ship, the ships Abkhazia, Adzharia and Ukraine also went to the open sea. All ships were designed to carry passengers, goods and mail on the Crimean-Caucasian line.

With the outbreak of World War II, the countries involved in the confrontation with Germany used all possible resources, including passenger and cargo ships. They were rebuilt into ambulances to transport the wounded. During the war, three ships of the Baltic Shipyard were sunk, but the biggest secret is hidden by the loss motor ship "Armenia".

In 1941, the experienced 39-year-old captain Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky commanded the ship. It was he who received the order from the command of the Black Sea Fleet to save the military hospital and the inhabitants of the city of Sevastopol. For a complete picture of the ship, it is worth writing about the facts that played an important role in the fate of the ship. The ship could take on board 950 people plus a crew of 96 people, but took on board 4.5-7 thousand people, which many times exceeded its capabilities. Eyewitnesses who were in the port of Sevastopol say that every resident of the city was eager to board the ship, everyone was afraid to stay, since the German troops were already nearby. Let us clarify that such an overload threatened the ship with very strong instability on the waves of the Black Sea, it could roll over even with a small storm. The deck and holds of the ship were filled with doctors and residents of the city. After loading people, the ship left the port of Sevastopol at about 17:00 on November 6, 1941 and headed towards the Caucasus, in Tuapse.

But the ship had two more stops along the way. On one of them, in the port of the city of Yalta, the ship was supposed to evacuate political workers and several hundred civilians. But on the second one, take on board the NKVD officers and unknown wooden boxes. The second stop was not far from the shore of Balaklava, where the ship waited for a boat with cargo and NKVD officers. We had to wait about three hours. What was in such valuable boxes, because of which thousands of people were exposed to danger every second, remained unknown, we can only guess about their contents.

There are several guesses about what was transported in wooden boxes. The first is the documents of the NKVD, which could not be left to the advancing enemy. The second, in favor of which many facts speak, are paintings by famous Russian artists. At a distance of one and a half hours by car from Balaklava, there was Alushta, in which in the summer of that year, there was an exhibition of paintings by prominent Russian artists such as Bryullov, Kramskoy, Repin, Levitan and many others.

Upon arrival in Yalta, the ship took on board several hundred more people. The ship, which arrived at the port at 2:00 on November 7, received an order to wait for darkness and go to sea only at 19:00. But, taking responsibility, Captain Plaushevsky put the ship out to sea at 8 am on November 7. For such a violation of the order, the entire crew of the ship could be shot, but this was prevented by a more tragic circumstance.

Motor ship "Armenia" had on the sides the distinctive signs of ambulance transport in the form of red crosses. But the ship was also additionally armed with four 45-mm cannons, which made it possible to consider the ship a military object and, accordingly, attack it.

November 7, 1941 at 8:00 "Armenia" left the port of Yalta and headed straight for Tuapse, having on board several thousand passengers, including a military hospital and NKVD officers with an unknown, but valuable cargo. And, presumably, at 11 hours 25 minutes, the ship was attacked by the German Heinkel He-111 aircraft. The ship was hit by dropped torpedoes. The sinking of the ship took a matter of minutes, from which historians conclude that the damage from the torpedo hit was devastating and the ship most likely tore apart.

Memorial plaque in memory of "Armenia"

The bottom of the Black Sea even on this moment, with modern technology very little has been surveyed. And the remains of the ship "Armenia" have not yet been found. And no one knows what was in these ill-fated boxes, which became one of the reasons for the death of 4.5-7 thousand people, the death of first-class Soviet doctors who could save hundreds of soldiers' lives. The sinking of the ship "Armenia" remains one of the most mysterious secrets beginning of the Second World War.

November 7, 1941, in the Yalta region, the Germans sank the ship "Armenia". “Armenia” is called differently: military transport, ambulance transport and ambulance ship, cargo-passenger ship. The cargo-passenger motor ship with this name was built at the Baltic Shipyard in Leningrad in 1930. The vessel had a length of 107.72 meters, a width of 15.5, a side height of 7.7 m, a minimum draft of 5.96 m, a gross register capacity of 4727 tons with a displacement of 5805 tons. Crew - 96 people. There were five such vessels in total. They cruised on the Crimean-Caucasian line and all died during the war.

The captain of the "Armenia" was Vladimir Yakovlevich Plaushevsky, who died during this disaster. In terms of the number of deaths, it was the largest disaster not only of the Second World War, but almost the entire history of navigation!
If on the Titanic (April 14, 1912) 1503 people died, then on the "Armenia" - about 6000 people. The fact is that there is no exact number of those who died on the “Armenia”.

These figures are not in the museum of the Black Sea Fleet, nor in the museum of the heroic defense and liberation of Sevastopol, where I applied. In the museum of the Black Sea Fleet, it says: “Ambulance transport of the Black Sea Fleet “Armenia”. Date and place of death - November 7, 1941, south of Yalta, 44° 17′ N. sh., 34° 10′ in. etc. (These data are also in the reference book “Ships of the Ministry of the Navy, who died during the Great Patriotic War in 1941 - 1945 Moscow). Went from Yalta to Tuapse with the wounded and cargo. Sunk by enemy aircraft. The death toll is unknown. 8 people were saved. (TsVMA, f. 10, d. 9096, l. 8)”.

On the ship were the wounded, the staff of the Sevastopol Naval Hospital, the sanitary and epidemiological laboratory of the Black Sea Fleet, the 5th medical detachment of the Black Sea Fleet, the 280th medical warehouse. property, the medical staff of the Nikolaev naval infirmary, a branch of the Sevastopol hospital in Yalta.

The researchers of this tragedy, including the Sevastopol historian, writer Yevgeny Venikeev, the scientific secretary of the military-scientific society of the Black Sea Fleet, captain of the II rank, retired Sergei Solovyov (unfortunately, both are deceased), give a figure of 5,000 to 7,000 people. S. Solovyov believes that in terms of the number of dead, “only the German liner Wilhelm Gustloff, sunk in January 1945 in the Baltic by the S-13 submarine under the command of A. I. Marinesko, is ahead. There were 6535 people on the liner. 988 people were saved. The death toll was 5547.

According to Sergei Solovyov, there could have been more dead on the "Armenia". Thus, this is one of the largest maritime tragedies. There are many insinuations associated with it. Solovyov debunks one of them, which wandered through the pages of newspapers, as if "Armenia" was bombed by 40 aircraft. Transport at 11 hours 25 minutes on November 7, 1941, which was guarding two patrol boats from Yalta to Tuapse with the wounded and passengers, was attacked by an enemy torpedo bomber. One of the dropped torpedoes hit the bow of the ship, and at 11:29 she sank.

There was no sign of the Red Cross on the “Armenia”, since, along with other transports, except for sea evacuation, it was engaged in the delivery of weapons, ammunition, and manpower from the rear areas to the battlefields. "Armenia" was painted in military color with ball paint and even had machine guns. All this deprived transport of the right of inviolability.
True, there is another point of view. One of the organizers of the defense of Sevastopol, Lieutenant General of Artillery P. A. Morgunov, who at that time was the commandant of the coastal defense of the Crimea and the main base of the Black Sea Fleet, wrote in the book “Heroic Sevastopol”:
“On November 6, an ambulance transport left Sevastopol - the ship “Armenia” with wounded soldiers, employees of the main hospital and evacuated citizens. He went to Yalta, where he also took away part of the evacuees from Simferopol, and on the morning of November 7 he headed for the Caucasus. At 11 o'clock. 25 min. not far from Yalta, the transport, although it had the distinctive signs of a medical ship, was torpedoed by a fascist aircraft and sank four minutes later. Many residents, doctors and wounded died.” “At this point in the text,” Yevgeny Venikeev wrote in his research “Death of Armenia: the number of dead is unknown,” there is a footnote: “Department of the Central Naval Archive (TsVMA), fund 10, file 19, sheet 221.”

There is a certain secret of the death of "Armenia", because the file No. 19, concerning this tragedy, was destroyed in 1949. This was announced by the head of the department of the Central Naval Archive L. Kirsanov. “Who did it interfere with, why was it destroyed?” - asked researcher E. Venikeev. There are a number of other mysterious moments associated with the death of "Armenia". According to one version, the ship was sunk not by a torpedo bomber, but by bombers that dropped bombs.
Much would be revealed if "Armenia" could be discovered. Almost 64 years have passed since that terrible tragedy, but only recently have they begun to seriously search for the lost ship. The initiative here belongs to the head of the expedition, the head of the underwater heritage department of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine Sergey Voronov. She was supported by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
The search is carried out directly by the specialists of the research center “State Oceanarium of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, whose team has been headed by Captain 1st Rank Valeriy Kulagin for many years now. By the way, Valery Vladimirovich personally took part in the expeditionary search for "Armenia" and, together with hydronauts, crew commander Igor Avrashov and Gennady Belnikov, dived on the universal multi-purpose manned underwater vehicle "Langust".

Captain 1st rank Igor Rodin, head of the department of the State Oceanarium National Research Center, Captain 1st rank Igor Rodin, head of the underwater technical operations department Captain 1st rank Vasily Kuts, other officers and specialists of the oceanarium took part in the development and conduct of the search operation.
- The impetus for this expedition was the anniversary date - the 60th anniversary of the Great Victory, - says Igor Rodin. - And the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and, in particular, Sergey Alexandrovich Voronov became the initiator. The government of the country set the task - to determine the exact coordinates of the death of "Armenia". The fact is that in various sources several places of the death of the ship are indicated. With the examination of one of them, the most probable, work began ...
- We made the first dive on the "Langoust" on May 26, 2006, - says Igor Avrashov, captain of the crew of the inhabited vehicle. - "Langoust" was towed to a given area, and there we went down under the water. We worked at depths from 465 to 540 meters, and examined a very complex terrain in the area of ​​the Yalta fault. The depth isobaths are close to each other and resemble a kind of five. The distance between the underwater canyons is from 20 to 40 meters wide, and the height of the steep walls reaches 35 meters. In such seamounts-ravines it is very difficult to search, even for a considerable object. Due to the difficult terrain, the hydroacoustic search was ineffective, and we did not find the ship.
How the expedition will end, only time will tell. We must fulfill our filial duty to the older generation - to perpetuate the memory of those who died on the "Armenia".

In 2011, 70 years have passed since one of the largest maritime disasters - the death of the ship "Armenia".
All possible points of coordinates of the place of death of the ambulance were examined. Alas, even with the most modern search equipment of the Americans, “Armenia” could not be found then. In 2006-2008, using the most advanced German and American equipment, we climbed up and down that square. This point was crossed 27 times! Even 20-centimeter shells from artillery shells were found.
There are only two squares left where we have not yet searched: the chances are growing. One of them is outside the territorial waters opposite Ai-Todor. The second one is on the beam of Ayudag. Search depths: from 470 to 1500 meters. Most of all I fear that in those places the ship slid down the slope to great depths. There will be an expedition! This is our duty to those who died 70 years ago,” Sergey Voronov summed up.

Olga Tonina The sinking of the ship "Armenia". Technical data of the passenger ship "Armenia":
Length - 112.1 m;
Width - 15.5 m;
Board height - 7.7 m;
Displacement - 5770 tons;
The power plant is two diesel engines with a capacity of 4000 liters. with.;
Speed ​​- 14.5 knots (about 27 km / h);
Number of passengers - up to 980 people;
Crew - 96 people; The official information about the death of the ship "Armenia" is as follows: "At 1125 hours (November 7, 1941) TR" Armenia ", which was guarding two patrol boats from Yalta to Tuapse with the wounded and passengers, was attacked by an enemy torpedo bomber. One of the two dropped torpedoes hit the bow ship and at 11:29 she sank inw = 44 gr. 15 min. 5 sec., d = 34 gr. 17 min. Eight people rescued, about 5,000 people died." There is also an approximate map-scheme in accordance with the indicated coordinates:
In 2006, at the request of the Ukrainian side, the US Institute of Oceanography and Oceanology under the leadership of Robert Ballard joined the work. The Americans found a lot of interesting objects in the supposed area of ​​the shipwreck, but "Armenia" was never found. Robert Ballard is a well-known personality in the world of marine archeology, director of the Massachusetts Institute of Oceanography, USA. The man who found the Titanic, the battleship Bismarck, the aircraft carrier Yorktown. Having received information about "Armenia", he suspended the search for Atlantis on the island of Santorini and went to the Black Sea on his research vessel "Endever", equipped with modern sonar and remote-controlled robots. The expedition cost the American side $2.5 million. So, "Armenia" was not found. Did you search there? What do we know? " Onlyat 08:00 on November 7, 1941 the medical ship was able to leave and head for Tuapse,..." " Onlyat 8 a.m the ship stopped loading and the commander of the "Armenia" captain of the 3rd rank V.Ya.Plaushevsky ordered to give the mooring lines." That is, the exit of "Armenia" into the sea occurred at 08-00 on November 7, 1941 from Yalta. What's next? What do eyewitnesses say? http://militera.lib.ru/research/nepomniaschy_nn/01.html " Let us turn to the testimony of a boat boat from a sea hunter MO-04 M.M. Yakovlev. " November 7 around 10 am , near Cape Sarych a German reconnaissance aircraft flew over us,and after a short time over the water, at low level, almost touching the crests of the waves (the weather was stormy, and we chatted thoroughly), two enemy torpedo bombers entered our area. One of them began to make a U-turn for a torpedo attack, and the second went towards Yalta. We could not open fire, as the roll of the boat reached 45 degrees. The torpedo bomber dropped two torpedoes, but missed, and they exploded in the coastal rocks of Cape Aya. We were struck by the force of the explosion - we had not seen a more powerful one before, and almost everyone said at once that if the second torpedo bomber got "Armenia", then she would be unhappy ...That's how it happened" . The Tsushima forum gives a slightly different quote from M.M. Yakovlev’s memoirs (or a retelling of it?): http://wap.tsushima4.borda.ru/?1-9-0-00000001-000-0-0 " Further memoirs of a boatman with MO-04 M. M. Yakovlev:" November 7 at 10 am on the way to Tuapse, the ship was attacked by two "Heinkel-111" near Cape Sarych . The MO could not fire, the sea was very fresh, the list reached 45 degrees. We went to" Armenia " from two sides: one He-111 from Yalta, and the other from the sea. The first torpedo bomber missed. Second - hit . In about four minutes, the ship went under water." Only 8 people survived." Cape Sarych appears in both versions. Cape Sarych is located about 40 kilometers from Yalta - if you measure the distance by land, and about 50-55 kilometers if you go by sea. In two hours at full speed (2 hours x 27 km / h = 54 km), "Armenia" could well have reached Cape Sarych. Only here Cape Sarych is located to the WEST from Yalta! And "Armenia was supposed to go EAST - to Tuapse or Novorossiysk. Or shouldn't it? Following Cape Sarych, M.M. Yakovlev mentions Cape Aya, which is located STILL WEST from Yalta! It was about his stones that the torpedoes of the first torpedo bomber exploded. On torpedo bombers type "Ne-111" used torpedoes of the type "F 5w" with a caliber of 450 mm. Their warhead included 170 kilograms of explosives. The range was 3000 meters. In order for such a torpedo to hit the stones at Cape Aya, "Armenia" must located between the torpedo drop point and Cape Aya, while the torpedo drop point should not be further than 3000 meters from the cape, otherwise the torpedo will sink before reaching it.
What's next? If you believe the quote from the Tsushima forum, then the second torpedo bomber attacked almost immediately after the first, or simultaneously with it. If so, then "Armenia" sank in the Laspi area. Approximately 2-3 kilometers from the coast.
And if not? Commander of the Black Sea Fleet Admiral F.S. Oktyabrsky: “When it became known to me that the transport was going to leave Yalta during the day, I personally gave the order to the commander, in no case should I leave Yalta until 19.00, that is, until dark. We did not have the means to provide good cover for transport from air and sea. Communication worked reliably, the commander received the order and, despite this, left Yalta at 08.00. At 1100, she was attacked by torpedo bombers and sunk. After being hit by a torpedo, "Armenia" was afloat for four minutes ". At 11-00, if we proceed from the fact that after 10-00 "Armenia" followed from Yalta at the same speed of 14 knots, it should have been in the area of ​​Cape Fiolent, or somewhat north-west. And finally, 11-25. At the same speed of 14 knots, we get the place of death of the "Armenia" approximately in the area of ​​\u200b\u200bCape Khersones (to the north, west or south). Thus, we have three possible places where "Armenia" died. All of them are located WESTERN YALTA AND CAPE SARYCH. That is, absolutely not where Robert Ballard was looking for. Why did "Armenia" end up on its way to Sevastopol and not to Tuapse? Most likely, her captain received an order from the series "smoke down the chimney, roll out dumplings" - to return the staff of the Sevastopol hospitals back. Most likely in pursuance of the following directive: " STATE DIRECTIVE N 004433 TO THE COMMANDER OF THE TROOPS OF THE CRIMEA, THE BLACK SEA FLEET ON MEASURES TO STRENGTHEN THE DEFENSE OF THE CRIMEA Copy: People's Commissar of the Navy. November 7, 1941 02:00 In order to pin down the enemy forces in the Crimea and prevent him from entering the Caucasus through Taman Peninsula The Headquarters of the Supreme High Command orders: 1. The main task of the Black Sea Fleet is to consider the active defense of Sevastopol and Kerch Peninsula by all means. 2. Do not surrender Sevastopol in any case and defend it with all your might. 3. Keep all three old cruisers and old destroyers in Sevastopol. From this composition, form a mobile detachment for operations in the Feodosiya Gulf in support of the troops occupying the Ak-Monai positions. 4. Detachment of the Azov flotilla to support the troops of the Ak-Monai position from the north. 5. Battleships, new cruisers based in Novorossiysk, using for operations against the coast occupied by the enemy, and strengthening the detachment of old ships. Destroyer basing at your discretion. 6. Part of the FOR from the abandoned areas to use to strengthen the air defense of Novorossiysk. 7. Organize and ensure the transportation to Sevastopol and Kerch of troops retreating to Yalta, Alushta and Sudak. 8. Fighters, attack aircraft and part of the ICBM aircraft should be left in Sevastopol and Kerch, the rest of the aircraft should be used from airfields of the North Caucasus Military District for night strikes on airfields, bases and enemy troops in the Crimea. 9. Evacuate everything valuable, but not necessary for defense, from Sevastopol and Kerch to the Caucasus. 10. Lead the defense of Sevastopol to the commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Comrade Oktyabrsky, with subordination to you. The deputy commander of the Black Sea Fleet should have a naval fleet in Tuapse. 11. You are in Kerch. 12. For the direct leadership of the defense of the Kerch Peninsula, appoint Lieutenant General Batov. I. STALIN B. SHAPOSHNIKOV N. KUZNETSOV" There are no other logical explanations for the return of "Armenia". All sorts of versions about "gold in bullion", "NKVD officers" - for orphans and the poor, who were not cured with haloperidol, or were released from "House-2" for exemplary idiotic behavior. Since "Armenia" did not reach Sevastopol, the order was "healed". Or maybe it wasn't in writing. Quite often verbal orders are given, and in the event of the death of the one who received the oral order, the one who gave the order may not admit that such an order was. Especially if there are people who start persistently asking questions. One way or another, but Laspi, and Fiolent, and Kazachka are three famous beach Crimea - can be, in fact, the outskirts of a mass grave for several thousand people. However, both Kazachka and Fiolent are already such - if you remember last days defense of Sevastopol in July 1942. In this regard, much more ethical, although less safe, in sanitary terms are city beaches located inside the Sevastopol Bay. But the topic of beaches is not the topic of this article, it just so happens that the place of death of "Armenia" is most likely located not far from the coast. How to explain the small number of those saved? Wind from the coast towards the sea and minefields, cold water (November 7) and great excitement at sea ("... the roll of the boat reached 45 degrees..."). How to explain the rapid time of the death of the ship - 4 minutes? Its design. A large number of passenger cabins along the entire side of the ship, provides for the presence of long corridors along the entire ship. Given the rough seas, as well as the fact that German torpedoes often did not hold depth and jumped to the surface, a torpedo hole could be at or above the waterline, which contributed not only to the flooding of the bow holds, but to the rapid spread of water throughout the ship. Passenger overload several times higher than the norm must have created difficulties for the crew in the fight for survivability. Should the search for "Armenia" continue, or should the exact location of her death remain unknown? This is more of a political issue than an ethical one. If we still want to turn into ruminant cattle, eating popcorn and contemplating the next "superman" in a tight blue tights, there is no point in looking for a lost ship. If our history is important to us and we value it, "Armenia" must be found. Materials used: