Word: subs
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Only an hour after Gushin had left the sub, the harsh Baltic elements took an unexpected hand in the plot. Gale winds of up to 85 m.p.h. slammed towering combers against the sides of the sub, cascading tons of water on deck. The 50-man Soviet crew quickly decided it could stand no more. Red flares signaling distress whooshed up from the conning tower, and the radio put out the call "Mayday, Mayday." Under the sea's battering, the submarine developed a 17° list to starboard. The vessel's large electrical storage batteries threatened to leak acid...
Harbor Master Uffe Jansson, who went aboard the sub, later said he found the atmosphere "panic-loaded." Said Jansson: "About ten of the men were running in circles around each other." But Gunnar Rasmusson, a Swedish submarine commander for eight years, was sympathetic to the Soviets. Said he: "It's torture to hear how the boat in hard weather slams on the rocks lying right under it. The sound rings through the whole boat. You can't stand still, you can't eat, you can't drink. To be idle locked in a submarine can break...
Finally, after two hours of maneuvering, four Swedish tugboats managed to shunt the sub into a nearby haven...
Hardly. After his first lengthy questioning, which left the Swedes "not satisfied," Gushin, on orders from his superiors, demanded that further interrogations take place aboard the sub. He continued to stick to his story of flawed navigational equipment. Swedish officials boarded the sub and found the navigational gear in order. They also discovered a surprise...
...grew louder with the Swedish announcement that their investigators had become certain that uranium 238 was aboard the sub, leading to the accusation that it probably carried nuclear weapons. To the Swedish charge, the Soviets replied only that the vessel carried the "necessary weapons and ammunition...