Chapter 1

The Plan

It was November 8th, 1975, Port Rig, Latvia Soviet Socialst Republic. The time was 02:50. Valery Mikhaylovich Sablin and his crew were on the run in the Baltic Sea. Behind them was half of the Soviet Baltic Fleet, and 60 airplanes roared overhead. Sablin was just less than an hour away from freedom. He could practically see the invisible border between international waters and Swedish territory. Valery Sablin had just led a mutiny aboard Storozhevoy, and was running for his life.  

Prior to the mutiny on the Storozhevoy, Valery Mikhaylovich  Sablin lived a life as a Captain of the Third Rank and as a political officer. Born in 1939 to the son of a navy officer in Leningrad (Modern Day St. Petersburg), he entered service into the Soviet Navy in 1956 at the age of 17, and graduated from the Frunze Naval Institute in 1960. From there, he enrolled in the Russian Navy and served in the Soviet Northern Fleet. After some time, he was transferred to the Black Sea, but Sablin did not take well to it at all. He hated every second of it. He had to command a dysfunctional crew on an older Soviet ship. He put in a request to return back to the Northern Fleet, which was granted in 1965.

 Prior to the mutiny in 1975, , Valery Sablin began to orchestrate a plan to protest against the Soviet Government. He was tired of how “bureaucratic: the country had begun. He believed that the USSR had strayed far away from the ideals of Vladimir Lenin. Sablin was third-in-command on the Soviet destroyer Storozhevoy. And the thing is, he wasn’t the only one. 

Sablin was very popular among the crew. He held the rank of an officer on the Storozhevoy, but he stood out from the other officers. Sablin was someone the crew would often find themselves talking to, whether it be about their deployment, their horrible time on the cramped ship, or their difficulties with the higher ups. Sablin was a father-figure to many of the crew members, and that would make it even easier for him to achieve his mutiny.

  On the evening before the celebration of the Russian Revolution, the Storozhevoy set sail to Port Riga. It was going to be a part of the Russian Revolution celebration. This was the most crucial element of Sablin’s plan. In Port Riga, the crew would be granted shore leave, the higher ups would be meeting with officials, and everything would be relatively relaxed. Sablin had requested to stay on the ship, making him the second-in-command (aside from Captain Potulny). He had formulated a perfect plan: Once the Storozhevoy was docked, he and his followers would lock the commander of the ship in the lower decks and sail towards Gotland, Sweden, where they would seek political refuge. From there, they would broadcast radio signals to inspire others to rebel against the current Soviet regime. 

Chapter 2

The Mutiny

It was November 8th, 1975, 0200 hours. In the back of the ship, Sablin and his 100 followers went over the plan one final time.  “Remember, the first thing we do is to capture the commander and lock him in the lower decks. It is important that one of you carry a weapon of some sort. This way the captain will feel a lot more threatened. We don’t have to worry about the rest of the crew because they’re drunk on the mainland. They’re unloyal, dysfunctional, and corrupt pieces of this new Soviet regieme’s garbage. We’re going to take this boat to Gotland, they’re going to give us refuge there, I promise. Remember, we’re doing this because our current leaders' ideals have strayed far from those of Comrade Lenin’s. This will show them the Soviet people will fight for what’s right. Comrades, we can do this.” The crew quickly assembled into their respective groups and started executing the plan. 

One group snuck towards the commander’s quarters where Captain Anatoly Potulny was sleeping. One sailor said, “Alright, you put the bag around him, I’ll tie him down.” “Davi, let’s do this!” whispered another sailor. The crew rushed in to find a sleeping Potulny. They quickly tied him down, duct taped his mouth, and put a bag over his head. On the way out, they broke the lock so that the door would only be opened by a great force. The other members of the crew took to their positions. Some went to the lower decks and operated the M-8k Gas turbine engines. Some took guard looking out for other ships or aircraft that might be tailing them. The rest were scattered throughout the ship operating essential parts for keeping the Storozhevoy going. Things looked good for Sablin and his mutiny on the Storozhevoy. He and his crew were headed towards open waters. Hopes were very high as the crew managed to make it out of the port undetected and without anyone abandoning ship. Or at least they thought they had… 

At 0300 hours, Comrade Senior Lieutenant Firsov approached the railings of the Storozhevoy on the upper deck. He whispered to himself, “Damn you Sablin!” and dove off the boat. Firsov met the fierce freezing cold water of the Dauga River feet first. He quickly swam towards shore and tried flagging down drivers. He needed to get to Boldera Naval Base to alert them about the mutiny. His attempts to flag down drivers were fruitless as most of the drivers thought that Firsov was just another drunk sailor who needed a ride back to town. Firsov was forced to walk, buying more time for Sablin and the Storozhevoy.

After walking for a while, Sablin came across a phone booth. He immediately ran to it and quickly dialed for Boldera Naval Base. 

*Ring ring* 

“This is Boldera Naval Base”

“Hello!? Yes! I need to talk to the duty officer immediately. I have very important information he needs to know.”

“One moment please”

…

“Duty officer Legasov speaking, who is this?”

“Hello! I’m Comrade Senior Lt. Firsov aboard the Storozhevoy. Listen, I need you to send me a car to pick me up. I have very important information that cannot be said over the phone.”

“Listen, I’ve filed complaints to your superiors in the past regarding drunk sailors prank calling the naval base, I don’t want to have to do it again.”

“NO! Listen to me! Something serious is going on, I need you to send me a car to pick me up!”

“Comrade Firsov, it’s best you go back to your ship and get some rest.”

*End dial tone*

Firsov, although infuriated with the duty officer, still was determined to relay the information to him about the mutiny aboard the Storozhevoy. And so he walked from the telephone booth to Boldera Naval Base. 

After about an hour of walking, Firsov reached the naval base. He immediately ran towards the duty officer’s office and explained to him the situation. Firsov slammed the door open and Duty Officer Legasov exclaimed,“Comrade soldier! What is the meaning of this!? Guards!!!” Firsov, while catching his breath, exclaimed, “Apologies Comrade Legasov! Please, listen! I have come to inform you of the situation aboard the Storozhevoy.” Firsov was met with a confused, angered look from the duty officer. “Please Comrade Legasov, this is important!” he said. Duty Officer Legasov sat down and with a sarcastic tone asked, “Alright then, what is soooo important?” Firsov sighed with relief before relaying the information; “There has been a mutiny aboard the Storozhevoy Comrade Legasov! You need to intercept it before it reaches NATO territory!” Legasov now appeared less angry and more intrigued. “What do you mean there has been a mutiny?” asked Legasov. “I mean there has been a mutiny. I don’t know all the details, all I know is that the captain has been locked up and the ship is sailing out of Port Riga. For all I know, it is headed into NATO territory.” said Firsov. Legasov rang the radio operators and asked, “Have you all received any messages from the Storozhevoy? Are you communicating with them? Have you sent any messages or received any messages from them?” The radio operators replied, “No Comrade Legasov, we haven’t sent or received any messages. Would you like us to?” Legasov told them to try and report back to him, then hung up the phone. Up until this point, Duty Officer Legasov had not noticed that Firsov was wet and shivering. Legasov lifted his eyebrow before leaning over his desk to call the base’s commanding officer. “Hello, is Rear Admiral Verenking awake? No? Well wake him up, there is a possible situation going on. Yes I know he will be mad but wake him anyway!. Okay, okay, thank you.” Legasov put down the phone and gestured to Firsov to take a seat. 

Meanwhile, Valery Sablin had already sailed for 2 hours and was running the ship at a steady 30 knots. The crew’s spirits were high aboard the Storozhevoy, it was looking as if they might actually make it. 

Chapter 3

Red Alert

The leaders of Boldera Naval Base were rushing around trying to figure out what exactly was going on. Rear Admiral I.I Verenkin was in disbelief about the situation. The base continued to try and reach the Storozhevoy, but was continuously met with silence. At first they figured their radio communications were broken because the ship was actually scheduled to leave for repairs, but something still seemed off. Why didn’t they send any morse code? Why didn’t they send any type of communication to alert the base that they were leaving? The base commanders tried to figure out what to do. They weren’t sure what was going on and didn’t have the proper justification to send reconnaissance aircraft to the Storzohevoy’s location. That was until the base received a message from the ship on an emergency frequency. It read, “Mutiny onboard the Storozhevoy: we are heading for open sea.”

 The base commanders went on full alert. Rear Admiral I.I Verenkin immediately notified Moscow, which awoke Fleet Admiral Gorshkov (Commander-in-Chief of Soviet Navy), the Soviet Defense Counsel, and Naval High Command. Almost immediately, reconnaissance aircraft were scrambled to intercept the Storozhevoy. 

The M-8K gas turbine engines on the Storozhevoy produced about 40,000hp each, making the ship travel at 30 knots, which corresponds to about 34mph. The ship was about 3 hours away from Port Riga, and still had a long way to go until it reached Gotlan. 

Just past 3AM, the 668th Bomber Aviation Regiment, located at Tukums Airfield (35 miles away from Port Riga) were alerted about the situation. Crews scrammed to their Yak-28L frontline bombers. The Yak-28 was a soviet frontline bomber from 1958. It first entered service on March 5th, 1960. It was an older plane, definitely outdated and poorly maintained, but it is all they had. The two Tumansky R-11 jet engines roared to life, each engine producing 14,000lbs of thrust, powering the aircraft to reach speeds of over 1,100mph.  The Yak-28s taxied to the runway and took off. One of the planes was loaded with 500Kg bombs, and it’s intentions were to sink the Storozhevoy. 

Chapter 4

Cold Waters

On board the Storozhevoy, hopes were high. It had been four hours since the ship left Port Riga, and they were nearing the end of Soviet territorial waters. One of the conscripts was looking out over the railing for anything that might cause an issue when one of the Yak-28 bombers roared over head. The conscript grabbed his hat and sprinted towards the bridge. He slammed the door open and yelled, “COMRADE SABLIN! They’ve found us! They’ve found us! A bomber just flew overhead!” For the first time since they left port, Sablin appeared very nervous. He ordered, “Okay, okay, alert the crew and continue to keep an eye out. We’re almost in international waters.” The conscript, after catching his breath, ran back to his station. Sablin made an announcement over the PA, saying, “Attention, Attention! We have been spotted. Soviet aircraft just flew overhead, but do not fret. We are in international waters now, it is only 50 more nautical miles to Gotland. We will make it!” Sablin’s hopes were still high despite the Storozhevoy being spotted. He believed that the ship was too far away from Soviet territory to be intercepted. Sablin was set on not stopping his ship no matter what. He believed that the Soviets would not be willing to sacrifice their precious Krivak-Class Frigate, one of the most modern ships. In fact, the Storozhevoy had only been commissioned less than 2 years prior to the mutiny taking place, and it wasn’t a cheap ship by any means. 

The Soviets were very fearful of U.S. and NATO submarines attacking them with nuclear missiles, so they focused their naval frigates to defend against enemy submarines.   It was armed with 4 SS-N-14 ‘Silex’ anti-submarine missiles, 2xSA-N-4 ‘Gecko’ SAM missiles (a total of 40 surface-to-air missiles), 4x76mm guns (in a 2x2 configuration), 2xRBU-6000 anti-submarine rockets (for close quarter combat), and 2x4 533mm torpedo tubes. Although the crew had access to these weapons, they did not use them to defend themselves against any Soviet aircraft or vessel that was near them. Historians continue to debate whether or not the equipment was broken, whether or not there wasn’t enough crew to operate them, and whether or not the crew decided not to use them. 

At around 0400 hours, the Yak-28 bombers had reached their target: The Storozhevoy. They had received new instructions to make the ship become dead in the water. The Yak-28 bombers circled around for a few times, waiting for the conditions to improve. After a few minutes, one of the bombers lined up with the Storozhevoy from behind. It approached the ship until the rear of it came into the bombadier’s sight. The bombardier screamed, “Bomb’s away!” and released one 500Kg bomb. BOOM! 

The ship had just been hit with a 500Kg (1000lbs) bomb. Damage control rushed towards the rear of the ship and discovered that the rudder had been disabled. Without the rudder, the Storozhevoy could not steer, essentially making it dead in the water. Almost immediately, the ships that were trailing the Storozhevoy sailed right next to it. 

Soviet marine commandos gathered their gear and lined up along the side of their MPK-25 border-patrol ship. The marines got ready to board the ship. They approached the ladder on the Storozhevoy and began to climb it. To their surprise, they were not met with any resistance from the crew, it was quite the contrary. The conscripts were standing in line saluting the commandos! They still screamed at them to get on the floor and placed them under arrest. The marines then stormed the bridge and were met with a bleeding Valery Sablin on the floor and Anatoly Potulny standing over him. “Comrade Potulny! We’re surprised to see you here,” said one marine. “Yes comrade soldier. Right after one of the planes dropped a bomb on us, most of the conscripts rebelled against Sablin and unlocked me from my quarters. They let me out and I came up here, then shot Sablin in the foot. Then, you all came aboard and here we are” said Captain Potulny. Sablin was picked up by the marines and loaded on board a ship to be sent to Moscow. The mutiny was over. The Storozhevoy was once again in loyal Soviet hands. 

Chapter 5

Sentencing

“Valery Sablin! Please stand!” said judge Abakumov. Sablin stood up and straightened his tie. “Comrade Sablin, you are hereby charged with treason for the mutiny aboard the Storozhevoy. How do you please?” “Not guilty, your honor,” said Sablin with pride. Sablin knew that he was not going to win the trial. Even if he didn’t do anything wrong, he would still lose. At the end of the day, the Soviets had already decided the fate of those in trial before it even started. If anyone had said anything negative about the Soviet Union, they were guilty. If anyone had been a part of anything that was against the Soviet Union, they were guilty. If someone didn’t commit any crime, but they needed to blame someone, they were guilty. Everyone was guilty in the Soviet Union.

After a few hours in court, judge Abakumov stood and said, “Valery Sablin! You have been found guilty of treason. Thereby you are sentenced to death by firing squad. Your date is on August 3rd, 1976. Until then, you will be held in prison without parole.” 

Valery Sablin stared down the barrel of the Ak-47 that was aimed at his head. He thought about what he had done one last time. He had no regrets, he knew the consequences even before committing the mutiny. But, to him, that didn’t matter, for his cause was one that he deemed more important than life itself. He wanted to show the world what the USSR was really like, how corrupt it had become. “Take aim!” the commander yelled. Valery continued to think about what would have happened had the Storozhevoy reached Gotland. Would he have been granted political asylum? Would the West trade him in? Or would the Soviet Union have been embarrassed in front of the entire world? “Ready!” yelled the commander. Valery smiled one last time and uttered out  “да пошёл ты!” before the bullet met his skull. Valery Sablin, and his dream of exposing the USSR, was dead. Or so it would seem…

Although Valery Sablin never lived to see the world discover the Mutiny Aboard the Storozhevoy, the event played a crucial role in understanding the history of the Cold War. It provides a perfect example of how “weak” the USSR really was. One person led a crew of 100 towards NATO territory. The crew, even though sworn to be loyal to the Soviet Union, followed Valery. Why? It has to do with the fact that everyone viewed Sablin as more than just an officer-They looked up to him. He was one of the few officers of the Soviet Navy that wasn’t constantly drunk. He listened to what the crew had to say about their lives in the navy, and he wouldn’t report them. He offered them a place similar to home, but in the middle of the sea in a tightly-packed frigate. The story of the Storozhevoy is more than that of a mutiny, it is that of a kind, charismatic man who wanted the best for his country. Valery Sablin represented the silent majority of the Soviet Union, those that wanted less oppression and to return to Vladimir Lenin’s ideals.