A person of Caucasian nationality is Yuri Kuchiev. Kuchiev Yuriy Sergeevich Kuchiev Sergey Yurievich pilot
Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev(Ossetian Kuchity Sergei firt Yuri; August 26, 1919, Tib village, now Alagirsky district of North Ossetia - December 14, 2005, St. Petersburg) - Arctic captain who was the first to reach the North Pole. Hero of Socialist Labor (1977).
Biography
In 1938 he graduated with honors from secondary school No. 27 in Ordzhonikidze, and in 1941 he was enrolled as a sailor on the tugboat “Vasily Molokov” in the port of Dikson. During the Great Patriotic War it was part of the Northern Fleet convoys. He graduated from navigator courses (1944), in absentia from the Leningrad Higher Marine Engineering School named after Admiral S. O. Makarov (1963). From 1944 to 1962 - assistant captain of the icebreakers Ermak, Malygin, Sibiryakov, Ilya Muromets, Krasin.
From 1962 to 1971 - captain of the icebreakers "Murmansk", "Kyiv", backup captain of the nuclear icebreaker "Lenin", since 1964 - captain of this icebreaker.
Since 1971, captain of the nuclear icebreaker Arktika. The title of Hero was awarded for the trip to the North Pole. On August 17, 1977, the nuclear-powered icebreaker Arktika was the first in the world to reach this point on the planet in surface navigation.
He retired in 1997 and lived in St. Petersburg. Died December 14, 2005. After the funeral, according to Yuri Sergeevich’s will, he was cremated; his ashes and the ashes of his wife, who died in 1999, were solemnly buried in the sea near the North Pole by the crew of the nuclear icebreaker Yamal on August 19, 2006.
Awards and Titles
- Hero of Socialist Labor (1977).
- Recipient of the medals “For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic” and “For the Victory over Nazi Germany.”
- Honorary captain of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika".
- Order of Lenin and Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
- Medals “For Labor Distinction”, “For Defense of the Soviet Arctic”, “For Victory over Germany”, “300 Years of the Russian Fleet”.
- He was awarded a number of industry awards and titles: “Honorary Worker of the Marine Fleet”, “Honorary Polar Explorer”, “Honorary Member of the Geographical Society”, “Honorary Citizen of the City of Ordzhonikidze”.
Memory
The name of Yuri Kuchiev is:
- school No. 27 in Vladikavkaz.
- street in the Prigorodny district of Vladikavkaz
- island in the Franz Josef Land archipelago (since November 26, 2008).
This man is our famous fellow countryman Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev, Polar Captain, Hero of Socialist Labor, who devoted 56 years of his life to service in the navy and 40 of them to active navigation in the ice of the Northern Sea Route. An Ossetian mountaineer, a native of the small village of Tib, whose name thundered throughout the world on August 17, 1977 - the day when the Soviet nuclear icebreaker Arktika, which he commanded, reached the North Pole. This was the first time in the history of navigation when a surface vessel, having broken the ice shell of the Central Arctic Basin, rose to the point on the “top” of the planet where the meridian lines converge...
Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev is a legend who made into reality the long-standing dream of many generations of sailors who strove along the path of pioneers into the mysterious and menacing world of icy silence. From his father, he adopted deep respect for elders and honesty and frankness. His fate is typical for a young man of the 30s. His father, Sergei Kuchiev, was the People's Commissar of Agriculture of North Ossetia, an old communist. Repressed in the late thirties, later rehabilitated. The stigma of being the son of an enemy of the people destroyed Yuri’s cherished dream of becoming a military pilot.
On June 5, 1941, Yu. Kuchiev was enlisted as a sailor on the tugboat “Vasily Molokhov”, then served as a junior officer on ships of the Arctic Fleet, during the war he sailed in convoys, sailed on the icebreaking ships “Taimyr”, “Malygin”, “Sibiryakov”. He was a navigator, an understudy for the captain, and in 1964 he stood on the captain's bridge of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin". It was on it that he “reconnoitred” the approaches to the northern point of the planet when he escorted the icebreaker “Vladivostok” to the eastern sector of the Arctic. And the idea that on such ships it is possible to get to the Pole finally matured in Kuchiev...
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And now the most powerful icebreaker in the world, Arktika, has left the slipways of the Baltic Shipyard. The length of the ship is 150 meters. Hidden in its steel belly is a 75 thousand horsepower nuclear reactor... Standing on its captain's bridge, Yu.S. Kuchiev firmly decided: the hour to storm the top of the earth had come. On August 17, 1977, at 4 a.m., the icebreaker Arktika reached the North Pole, breaking through ice fields and a cover of powerful multi-year ice. “I experienced a completely extraordinary excitement,” says the legendary Yu.S. Kuchiev, “when I brought to the North Pole the staff of the flag that the famous polar explorer Georgy Sedov, who died on Rudolf Island, did not bring to the Pole; this staff was found at his grave.” .
Yu.S. Kuchiev’s wife died three years ago
Yu.S. Kuchiev has three children. A senior theoretical physicist by education, he worked at the Physics and Technology Institute named after. Ioffe. During the difficult years, when much in science collapsed, he went to Australia on a contract, and now works at the University of Sydney and is a major specialist in nuclear energy. His wife and son are programmers. Grandson Stanislav has two children, so Yuri Sergeevich is already twice a great-grandfather.
His youngest son and daughter, Tanya and Seryozha, are twins. Seryozha became the commander of the Tu-154, flies to Europe and the Middle East. Tanya is a seamstress and fashion designer. Her son Dima has not chosen any romantic profession, he is a cook, works at Baltika, for our fellow countryman Boloev.
Recipient of the Order of Lenin, the Red Banner of Labor and the Patriotic War, 2nd degree, the medals “For the Defense of the Soviet Arctic” and “For the Victory over Nazi Germany,” Hero of Socialist Labor Yu.S. Kuchiev is still in service today. He is also, as always, principled and fair in his approach to many problems of today. A letter recently published in “Soviet Russia” confirms this.
From materials of the newspaper “North Ossetia”
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Yuri Sergeevich himself picked up the phone. I was surprised, delighted and, it seems (you could feel it in your voice), even moved. He warmly thanked the newspaper for its attention and, in turn, asked to convey a “heartfelt bow” to the entire SO editorial office.
Yuri Sergeevich, 85 years old, is a whole journey of life left behind him. A road that a person with a biography like yours, a person who has done as much for the good of the country and people as you have done, can rightfully be proud... And with what feelings do you, through the years, look back on this path today - you, about whom books have been written , films were made, and in their homeland, in Ossetia, a song was even composed? – our first question to the legendary captain of the nuclear-powered icebreaker “Arktika” was exactly this.
– Thank you for your kind words, but I cannot attribute everything that you said to myself personally and take credit only for myself. And this is not modesty at all - this is conviction,” our interlocutor immediately corrects. – How do I evaluate my life? Like the normal life of an honest person. The son of his homeland - big and small. Who tried to fulfill his human duties to them - with “pros” and “cons”, anything happened. But he didn’t lose his honor... This is probably the main thing.
– How are you going to celebrate the anniversary?
– To be honest, I’m not in a jubilee mood. Of course, there will be congratulations: I am a person not without enemies, but I also have many friends. But I still want to be quiet on this day.
– From representatives of the older generation today you can often hear a bitter confession: “We are afraid for the future in which our children and grandchildren will live...”. The time when the words “power,” “prestige of the state,” and “patriotism” were shrouded in the light of romance, and when we, storming the Arctic and space, were truly “ahead of the rest,” has become history. In its place came a sweeping reassessment of ideological attitudes and values, the collapse of old ideals and a tired disbelief in new ones, socio-economic instability... What does Captain Yuri Sergeevich think about the course that the ship called “Russia” is heading? How much longer will we have to maneuver between reefs and icebergs? And when do you think we will finally emerge into clean, free waters, and the wind in the sails of our ship will be fair?
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In the photo: Yu.S. Kuchiev at a meeting with Alagir schoolchildren.
– When you look at what has been happening in the country over the last 10–15 years, you often experience a disgusting state of helplessness. Still, there is no need to be afraid. The best that the socialist ideology brought with it, to which I remain an adherent, is invincible. It will be reborn. The feeling of the Motherland, the sense of honor, the self-esteem of the country - all this, of course, will definitely triumph again. So that they don’t say about Russia that this is the patrimony of the Chubais and Abramovichs, in which they reign supreme...
I believe the head of our state, Vladimir Putin, and the policies he pursues. Because I see in him not an “NKVD gendarme”, but a well-educated security officer-intellectual. It’s too early to criticize him: he hasn’t said his main word yet... I also deeply believe in the good undertakings of Minister Mikhail Zurabov. By the way, the son of a sailor, whose father proved himself to be a very decent person. The son, I think, cannot fail to inherit this quality.
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The fact that the country’s president is now pursuing a policy of supporting the army and increasing defense funding is a natural move by the leader of such a great state. Putin inherited a difficult legacy and a difficult task - to revive the power of our Fatherland. But it cannot be solved immediately, and this must be understood.
Let's take the Russian Arctic. What's going on there today? The same thing as everywhere else – the country was almost brought to its knees. But we must rise. And the sailors - at least my fellow icebreakers - are doing everything to revive the importance of the Arctic and the Northern Sea Route. And the fleet lives. Of course, he was bled dry, but he lives.
So I think we'll push through. It is only necessary that the small peoples of Russia today do not forget to whom and what they owe. And these are the “three pillars” - the socialist revolution, Soviet power and the generosity of the Russian people. And this is not servility at all. This is true. It was not without reason that this was the deep conviction of such, for example, an illustrious son of Ossetia as the equestrian hero Issa Pliev. And this is my deep conviction.
– What would you like to wish for your native Ossetia and its people in the days when the Caucasus is again restless and when the attention of not only the whole country, but also the world is focused on the situation in this region? – My wishes will be the same as always. Endurance and courage to you, fellow countrymen. Courage and dignity. And, of course, good health...”
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On December 15, 2005, in St. Petersburg, at the age of 86, our legendary fellow countryman Yuri Kuchiev, captain of the world’s largest nuclear icebreaker “Arktika”, which conquered the North Pole in 1978, died.
Arctic captain Kuchiev will rest in the ice
Avnust 2006
The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Yamal" departed from Murmansk to the North Pole. The crew has a special mission - to deliver the ashes of Yuri Kuchiev, the captain of the icebreaker who was the first to conquer the Arctic, to the northern ice. To find peace in a place with which all life was connected - such was the will of Kuchiev himself.
In the summer of 1977, Yuri Kuchiev packed up and flew to Murmansk to lead the first ever trip on a nuclear icebreaker to the North Pole. After 29 years, the daughter of captain Yuri Kuchiev came to Murmansk to fulfill her father’s last wish - to bury him in the ice of the Arctic.
“He decided this a long time ago. I didn’t see the will itself, only after his death, but he talked about it and bequeathed to do everything like this. And we will do it,” says Captain Kuchiev’s daughter Tatyana Tikhomirova.
He loved the Arctic; his best years were spent here. And an old dream came true - to reach the North Pole by ship. On August 17, 1977, he forever inscribed his name in the history of the conquest of the Arctic. The new generation nuclear icebreaker he led reached the Earth's North Pole for the first time.
“We did not rule out that the icebreaker would get stuck in the ice and drift for some time. And the most interesting thing is that at that time no one could come to their aid - there was no second icebreaker yet,” notes the organizer of the burial ceremony, Yuri Blinov.
A young radio operator, Anatoly Fishkin, was leaving on that historic voyage on the nuclear-powered ship. He remembers that they were preparing for it as if it were a military campaign. On the way, they were forbidden to go on the radio so as not to reveal themselves. The destination was kept secret until the very end.
“We didn’t know what tasks were set. And when we passed the Vilkitsky Strait, we were told that we were going to the North Pole,” says Anatoly Fishkin.
The country greeted the sailors as heroes. Kuchiev was then compared to his namesake Yuri Gagarin. This voyage showed the limitless capabilities of the nuclear icebreaker fleet.
“The trip to the Pole is a small part of Kuchiev’s experience, which he passed on to everyone. After all, our main job is not to go to the pole, but to guide convoys of ships,” says Alexander Lembrik, captain of the Yamal nuclear icebreaker.
Only 15 years later the first foreign ship reached the pole. Most of the Arctic records belong to our country, and the most significant of them - the conquest of the North Pole - took place largely thanks to Yuri Kuchiev.
The Arctic captain’s path to the main achievement of his life was difficult and thorny. Two and a half weeks before the start of the Great Patriotic War, Kuchiev was enlisted as a sailor on the tugboat "Vasily Molokov" in the port of Dikson, and from that time on he worked on ships of the Arctic fleet for 40 years. Throughout his life, he was devoted to the sea, the Arctic and his companion, his wife Ninel Konstantinovna, who died on February 18, 1999. After the death of his wife Yu.S. Kuchiev drew up a will in which he asked his friends and associates in the nuclear icebreaker fleet to fulfill his last will after his death - to betray his ashes and the ashes of his wife to the waters of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole.
“You know well that I have always been and remain a romantic to the end and I don’t regret it at all. And Dixon, the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole are directly related to our common destiny with Ninel Konstantinovna,” Kuchiev wrote in his will.
The management and staff of the Murmansk Shipping Company, the sailors of the nuclear icebreaker fleet consider it their sacred duty to fulfill the last will of the captain, a widely respected pioneer of the Arctic latitudes, whose name should rightfully be included in the golden fund of outstanding people of Russia.
It was decided that the urns with the ashes of Y.S. Kuchieva and N.K. Kuchieva will be delivered to the North Pole by sailors of the Murmansk Shipping Company on board the nuclear icebreaker Yamal and solemnly delivered to the sea according to the will. The nuclear-powered icebreaker "Yamal" starts its voyage on August 13, 2006. And it is symbolic that this date almost coincides with the 29th anniversary of the arrival of the nuclear-powered icebreaker “Arktika” at the Pole, which occurred on August 17, 1977.
An unusual burial ceremony was planned with the participation of current Arctic captains. Only after consultation with them, it was decided that in the area of the North Pole a helicopter would take off from the nuclear icebreaker “Yamal”, landing on the ice floe, relatives and friends of Yuri Kuchiev would hold a funeral meeting, after which the urn with the captain’s ashes would be lowered into the wormwood.
Yuri Kuchiev's star will always burn
Among the iconic figures of large scale that little Ossetia gave to world civilization is the name of Yuri Sergeevich KUCHIEV. The feat he accomplished is inscribed in golden letters in Russian history as one of the outstanding achievements of mankind of the 20th century. And in terms of its significance for world science, Yuri Kuchiev’s discovery is comparable only to the flight of the first man into space - the feat of Yuri Gagarin. And the multinational people of Ossetia should be deeply grateful to the glorious family of Kuchievs, from which many worthy people emerged. The legendary captain of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika", Hero of Socialist Labor Yuri Kuchiev especially glorified his name, and with it the Motherland.
Mentally looking back at the journey of life, I remember, not without pride, the close friendly relationship that I had with Yuri Sergeevich over a quarter of a century.
In the early 70s of the last century, Yu. S. Kuchiev and the then secretary of the South Ossetian Regional Committee F. S. Sanakoev became closely acquainted. At the invitation of Felix Sergeevich, Yuri Kuchiev visited South Ossetia.
After his first visit and vacation, he liked South Ossetia so much that subsequently he constantly spent his holidays in Java every year. It is very noteworthy that he started his historic voyage from the same Java where he spent his vacation in August 1977. This is what he wrote later in a letter to me about this memorable episode of his life: “Please tell my faithful friends in the South that I often remember the wonderful days spent with them. Is it possible to forget the unique Java, where my start to the top of the planet began!”
In those same years, my great friend, a well-known neurosurgeon in the country, Soltan Astemirovich Kesaev, often came to visit me in South Ossetia. Before his next visit to the South in the summer of 1988, he called me on the phone and joyfully said: “Do you know who I’m coming with? With Yuri Sergeevich! This is how my close acquaintance with Yu. S. Kuchiev took place, which over the years grew into a close friendship.
Yu. S. Kuchiev's visits to South Ossetia turned into real holidays for many residents of the republic. As a rule, he did not stay long in Java, but met with schoolchildren, creative workers, and teams of factories.
The stay of the Arctic hero in South Ossetia left a good memory. One of the best masters of the brush, People's Artist of South Ossetia, laureate of the.
K. Khetagurova Grigory Kotaev captured the image of the polar conqueror on a large canvas against the backdrop of the famous “Arctic”. Another Tskhinvali resident, Alexei Margiev, who is passionate about collecting materials about famous people of Ossetia, collected and compiled in three voluminous volumes everything that the Soviet and world press wrote about the feat of Yuri Kuchiev. By the way, Alexey Georgievich recently donated these materials to the North Ossetian Institute of Humanitarian and Social Research named after. V.I. Abaev, and those wishing to receive more detailed information about Kuchiev’s feat have the opportunity to get acquainted with these materials.
I remember the next episode with great pleasure. Talking with Yuri Sergeevich during his last visit to South Ossetia in 1987, I casually told him that V.I. Abaev was also on vacation in Tskhinvali. He was delighted by this message, and he expressed great regret that he had not yet been able to personally meet Vasily Ivanovich. Taking this into account, on the second day I organized a meeting with Yuri Sergeevich at V. I. Abaev’s country house.
The intimate conversation between the two outstanding sons of Ossetia continued for more than two hours. They shared with each other everything that worried them and had experienced over many years, about the successes achieved and unfulfilled plans.
Journalist B.N. Bagaev, who was present at the meeting, spoke about it on the pages of the South Ossetia newspaper. Here are some fragments of the conversation that took place.
– I never aspired to fame, to a big name, I never even thought about it. And I will say this: this is unworthy vanity. I had only one cherished dream - to become a student. It was she who called for a long journey. And nothing could stop me: neither distance, nor the most difficult, hungry time, the time of the Civil War. It took me a whole week to get to St. Petersburg, it was hard to get there, but I achieved my goal - I became a student
Petersburg University,” said Vasily Ivanovich.
“Dedication is the key to success in achieving a goal,” Yuri Sergeevich agreed with the scientist. – But at the same time, something else intervenes in life, luck or fate, I don’t know how to say. After all, I had a goal - I really wanted to become a pilot. I didn’t become a pilot, but my son flies, and I... I did what had to be done. And the glory... - Yuri Sergeevich waved his hand.
“And yet,” said Vasily Ivanovich, “I still admire the fact that a guy from an Ossetian mountain village, where there is not only a sea, but no real river, and... led a nuclear-powered ship through the centuries-old ice of the Arctic Ocean to the North Pole ...
– If a person has powerful equipment in his hands, full provision with everything necessary, and, most importantly, reliable people next to him who are confident of success, then it is not so difficult to reach the pole. It was just a good and professional job. But only.
- Well, that's good to hear. Modesty and restraint have always been signs of true courage among Ossetians. But, and this is true, fame is never the companion of the unworthy.
This meeting, naturally, brought great joy to both of them.
After meeting Yuri Sergeevich, a close relationship was established between us. In my personal archive I have preserved many holiday greeting cards and letters from Yu. S. Kuchiev.
In those years, two of my monographs came out of print (“The People’s Agricultural Calendar” and “The Ancient Layers of the Spiritual Culture of the Ossetians”), the next books in the series “Periodic Press of the Caucasus about Ossetia and the Ossetians”, etc., which, naturally, I gave to Yuri Sergeevich .
Frankly, we don’t always read every book we donate. However, judging by the response letters, my books helped Yuri Sergeevich expand his knowledge about the history of his native land. Here are some excerpts from his letters: “Completely unexpectedly I received your message with books. The gift couldn't be more expensive! I am infinitely grateful for your kind memory and attention.” “I am heartily touched by your attention. You generously took upon yourself the noble task of thoroughly replenishing my very meager knowledge of history, endowing with huge layers of the historical formation of the spiritual world of the Ossetian people. Thank you very much! I also feel special pleasure from the fact that, having carefully taken your gift in my hands, I internally came into contact with the warmth of my native land...”
A great love for his native land runs through Yuri Sergeevich’s letters as a red thread. “I must admit,” he writes in another letter, “that I take advantage of any excuse to visit the land of my ancestors, because there is no better way in the world to replenish mental strength given to the hellish struggle with the Arctic elements.”
Looking back on his life path, Yuri Sergeevich writes in one of his letters in 1984: “Lately, I have been thinking more and more often about the fact that, probably, I should have fulfilled my duty to the people of my small homeland not sporadically, but systematically and steadily. And this is by no means nostalgia, but a consequence of the real need for the full return of the accumulated moral and political potential, not through ceremonial, but methodical communication with people in the name of strengthening internationalist positions in our region, as well as the demands of justice, honesty and law and order. And some events, to our shame, that happened not so long ago, directly call for this! The reader probably guesses that Yuri Sergeevich is referring to the infamous events in Vladikavkaz in 1981. This is how the heart of each of us should ache for our native land, and this is impossible without sincere love for it...
Unfortunately, from now on we have to talk about Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev in the past tense. Our great compatriot left behind such a rich legacy that the time has come to perpetuate his memory. In this direction, the first of a series of events was the naming of Vladikavkaz secondary school No. 27, where he once studied, after him. On October 8, 2006, the grand opening of the hero’s bas-relief on the façade wall of the school took place. One can only welcome the initiative of the AMS of Vladikavkaz, which announced a competition for the best monument to Yu. S. Kuchiev. One of the Russian nuclear icebreakers under construction will bear his name. And here in Ossetia, events to perpetuate the name of our great national pride will, in all likelihood, continue. Yuri Kuchiev glorified himself and his native land for centuries. The Ossetian land has the right to be proud that it gave the world such an outstanding son.
Ludwig CHIBIROV, professor.
The centuries-old dream of mankind has come true - the North Pole was reached on a surface vessel. And it was carried out for the first time by Soviet people on August 17, 1977 at 4 o’clock Moscow time...
Now it is difficult to single out anyone from the team. And yet we cannot help but say something about the captain - the experienced, highly erudite ice helmsman Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev. He absorbed the knowledge of many famous polar captains while attending long Arctic universities.
On August 9, 1977, at eight o’clock in the evening, residents of Murmansk solemnly saw off the Arktika on a special voyage...
The goal was expected to be reached on August 25. From the very first days the schedule began to tighten. The ship showed excellent sailing performance. In some areas, crushing one and a half kilometers of ice, the nuclear-powered icebreaker moved at a speed of fourteen knots per hour. Of course, there were also difficulties. The ship was jammed. Getting out of captivity, the hero strained all his power, vibrating his steel body...
“We must do everything to return from this voyage with victory,” said the captain of the “Arktika” Yu. S. Kuchiev laconically. And the polar explorers brilliantly completed the task assigned to them. The North Pole was under the keel of the Arktika eight days ahead of schedule: at four o'clock Moscow time on August 17, 1977. The long-standing dream of many generations of sailors, striving along the path of pioneers into the mysterious and menacing world of icy silence, has come true.
Kuchiev is an exceptionally gifted person from birth, but his fate is typical for a young man of the thirties. Why did he dream of aviation? Let us remember: the fifth ocean became a kind of symbol of the young country of the Soviets, striving for the heights of social, economic, and technical development... In 1964, Yu. S. Kuchiev stood on the captain's bridge of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin". One of the honorary guests of the ship's crew was the first cosmonaut of the planet, Yuri Gagarin. Both in the destinies and in the appearance of the two famous captains - simple, modest, charming - there was much in common: Sons of the working people, they led their ships along the path of pioneers. One paved the space route, the other was destined to guide the ship over the surface to the tops of the Earth.
This idea finally matured in Kuchiev when he stood on the captain’s bridge of the nuclear-powered icebreaker “Lenin.” “On such ships you can get to the Pole,” he said then. It was on it that he “reconnoitred” the approaches to the northern point of the planet when he escorted the icebreaker “Vladivostok” to the eastern sector of the Arctic...
And now the most powerful icebreaker in the world, Arktika, has left the slipways of the Baltic Shipyard. The length of the ship is one hundred and fifty meters. Hidden in its steel belly is a 75 thousand horsepower nuclear reactor...
Standing on his captain's bridge, Yu. S. Kuchiev firmly decided: the hour to storm the top of the Earth has come...
He walked along the Moscow streets, but his thoughts were far from them, perhaps because at the table all the conversations revolved around the latest event: the “Arktika”, controlled by him, Captain Kuchiev, reached the North Pole. An atomic hero, a first-class icebreaker... This is both on lips and in newspapers.
Walking through the night capital, Kuchiev thought about his comrades, with whom he shared the hardships of the last transition. No matter how heroic the technology may be, it is nothing if not for these strong-willed, selfless, people devoted to their dreams.
But let's leave Moscow on August 26 and fast forward a few days ago...
The gangplank had already been raised on the Arktika when the command was heard: “Remove the watermelon rinds from the pole!”
This order contains all of Kuchiev. If it were possible, he would wipe the sky so that the stars would attract people more strongly. The captain mentally saw those who ate boots and dog meat on the way here. The Pole, although not a temple, but under its gloomy arches everything should remain sublime - the impulse of the soul, and the memory, and the attitude towards the vanquished. The Arctic was defeated.
I remember thirteen years ago, when Yuri Sergeevich became a captain on the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin", he confessed to me: “I want to go to the Pole, you know, you can get through on such ships...” The dream grew stronger, and the ray of hope became brighter with the advent of the “Arktika” . As soon as he saw her at the factory wall on the Neva water, everything in him from that moment was aimed at going to the Pole. Experienced and endowed with the talent of a sailor, Kuchiev had by that time absorbed into himself, having attended Arctic universities, the knowledge of many famous polar captains. They prepared him and brought him to this step, because they also always lived with the dream of making their way to the North Pole...
And on August 17, 1977, at four o’clock Moscow time, Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev, for the first time in the history of navigation, took a surface vessel to the North Pole. But he “felt” the approaches to it six years ago, when the icebreaker “Vladivostok” was escorted to the eastern sector of the Arctic on the nuclear-powered icebreaker “Lenin”... And a few days later, Yuri Sergeevich was assigned to a new nuclear-powered icebreaker. We met him shortly after that. He was still as energetic as the day we met, still with the same impeccable mustache brush and clean-shaven head. Asked him:
"How is your mom?" - for he well remembered the navigation of the year sixty-four, when Kuchiev often turned his thoughts to his mother... The little singer reminded Yuri Sergeevich of home, family, with whom he did not see for more than two hundred days a year. So, one might say, without a father, the sons and daughter grew up. The eldest, Mikhail, is a graduate student at the Institute of Physics and Technology. Sergei and Tanya are twins: he is an aviator, she is studying to become a fashion designer. From their father, the children imbibed deep respect for their elders. Directness, honesty, inability to play around, frankness are qualities that were brought up in them not by Yuri Sergeevich himself, but rather simply by his example...
Has it ever been easy for him, and can it be easy for a person who is almost always in the ice, who sees the same faces day after day, year after year, and yet, as you know, even a resort environment becomes boring for a person? . Everything was not easy for him... He once talked about his father, a Red partisan, the head of one of the first MTS in North Ossetia. He talked about the mountains that raised him, about the celestial village of Tib. The harsh signs of the Arctic Ocean did not take the place in his heart that was given to the sugar tops of the Caucasus...
A nega, accustomed to the northern cold and the hardships of a southerner, has a character tempered by high latitudes. And yet, he often misses the mountains - a horseman, a masterly driver of an icebreaker, who climbed on a nuclear-powered ship to the peak of the Earth...
They talk about Kuchiev in different ways. Some say that he is smart, others emphasize his will, and others - his intuition for people. Yes, he is kind and firm, incomprehensible and open to the end, soft and demanding, simple and complex, wise and childishly naive. Is it not possible for all this to coexist in one person? Nonsense! Happens! It is beautiful and attractive precisely because of its versatility.
One exhibit lay in the museum for dozens of years, and in 1977 it went... to the North Pole. This is an old pole of the Russian flag, cracked from time to time. Senior Lieutenant Georgy Yakovlevich Sedov dreamed of hoisting the Russian flag at the pole. But this dream was never destined to come true. Sedov died on the way to the Pole in 1914. In the thirties, the flagpole was found at his grave in Franz Josef Land and transferred to the museum. Now you will see the old flag staff not among the exhibits telling about the expedition on the “Holy Martyr Phocas”, but next to the State Flag of the USSR, delivered to the Pole by the nuclear-powered icebreaker “Arktika”, next to a capsule with water taken where all the earth’s meridians converge, with hydroazimuth, which was used to determine the course to the top of our planet on the nuclear-powered ship. These exhibits were handed over to the museum by the captain of the Arctic, Hero of Socialist Labor, Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev. The exhibition dedicated to this voyage of the Arctic is one of the largest in the museum. Here are many photographs taken at the pole on August 17, 1977... In one of the photographs, Captain Kuchiev stands at the pole and holds the flagpole of Sedov in his hands. One day we came to the museum together with Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev. Looking at this photograph, the captain said:
- It was one of the happiest days of my life...
In the Arctic they said about Captain Kuchiev that he was one of the riskiest captains. Someone even drew a caricature. Kuchiev prances among the ice on an icebreaker, as if on an Ossetian horse... Just before the war, a thin boy came to the head of the Polar Aviation Directorate, Hero of the Soviet Union, Mark Ivanovich Shevelev. He came as a deputy - Mark Ivanovich was a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR from an electoral district that included North Ossetia. The guy dreamed of aviation and turned to a man who had flown a lot - he would certainly understand. He will understand that something bad happened - he was not accepted into the aviation school. How can you continue to live if your dream is unattainable? Mark Ivanovich listened to him and said:
- You know, my advice to you is to go to Dixon as a sailor, cook among real people... And your mother will also be helped.
On June 5, 1941, Yuri Kuchiev was enlisted as a sailor on the tugboat “Vasily Molokhov” with a capacity of 400 horsepower.
After 36 years, he came to the pole on a ship with a capacity of 75 thousand horsepower - the world's most powerful nuclear icebreaker...
Kuchiev looked at the old photograph from 1964 - he always took it on sailing trips.
Gagarin was a guest of the world's first nuclear icebreaker "Lenin". Kuchiev served as a backup captain on the icebreaker. They spent several hours with Gagarin. They were wonderful hours: the first cosmonaut told various funny stories and asked about the Arctic. When Gagarin and Kuchiev, engrossed in conversation, were sitting on the sofa, someone took a photograph of them. Then Kuchiev admitted that since childhood he dreamed of becoming a pilot. “Comrade commander,” Gagarin was surprised, “why do you need to be a pilot?” Such a ship! Yes, you can do miracles with it!
...The Hero of Socialist Labor, Captain Yuri Sergeevich Kuchiev, can often be found at the Baltic Shipyard... Kuchiev works with designers and shipbuilders: he looks at drawings, gives advice, and offers his solutions. The sailor, who has stood on the captain's bridge all his life, is now getting used to the land. This is a difficult matter, especially for a person with such a character. And with a purely Ossetian temperament he shoots out the words:
- Everything on the shore annoys me. I feel very bad on the shore. Very bad! Everywhere is full of people, some kind of confusion. I can't get used to it. I even walk to the factory - I don’t take the bus. I walk for about forty minutes... And at sea there is order, exemplary order. Everything there is clear and measured. A person should not break out of the rhythm to which he has become accustomed for decades. It is forbidden!
Kuchiev Yuri Sergeevich
(26.08.1919-14.12.2005)
Outstanding Soviet ice captain,
Born in the village of Aib, now Alagirsky district of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. During the Civil War, his father was a Red partisan, then the director of the Ardon machine and tractor station, and rose to the post of People's Commissar of Agriculture of the republic. In 1938 he was arrested and executed. The stigma of being the son of an enemy of the people prevented Kuchiev from enrolling in flight school.
Shortly before the war, Kuchiev, having secured a letter of recommendation from Mark Ivanovich Shevelev himself, left for Dikson. He began working in the Arctic as a sailor on the tugboat "Vasily Molokov", sailed as a junior officer on various ships in 1943/1944. wintered on Dikson.
After completing the short-sea navigator course in 1944, Kuchiev became the 3rd assistant captain of the icebreaking steamship Taimyr, participated in convoys, and after the war, until 1962, he worked as an assistant captain of the icebreakers Ermak, Malygin, Sibiryakov, Ilya Muromets", "Krasin".
In 1963, Kuchiev graduated in absentia from LVIMU named after S.O. Makarov, after which he held captain positions: 1964-1971. - backup captain and captain of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Lenin", 1966-1968. - captain of the icebreaker "Krasin". The pinnacle of Kuchiev's production career was the position of captain of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika", which he took in 1971, when the ship was still under construction. Until the moment he entered service, the captain formed a well-trained and well-coordinated team. He carried out the entire range of tests of the nuclear-powered ship and achieved its acceptance by the commission with an “excellent” rating. In 1976, "Arktika", led by Kuchiev, rescued the icebreaker "Ermak" with the bulk carrier "Captain Chizhevsky" and the icebreaker "Leningrad" with the transport "Chelyuskin" from ice captivity.
On August 17, 1977, an event occurred that forever inscribed the name of the nuclear-powered icebreaker "Arktika" and its captain in the history of Arctic exploration. For the first time, a surface vessel in active navigation managed to reach the North Pole. The course was set from Murmansk. Skillful pilotage, maximum use of the vessel's capacity, and constant aerial ice reconnaissance made it possible to complete this voyage in thirteen days instead of the planned twenty-eight. Almost fifteen years passed before a foreign ship reached the Pole. The success of the Arktika contributed to the accelerated development of the Soviet nuclear icebreaker fleet. For this historic flight, Kuchiev was awarded the title of Hero of Socialist Labor with the presentation of the Hammer and Sickle gold medal. In addition, Kuchiev’s merits were awarded with orders andand several medals, including "
Died in St. Petersburg. Back in 1999, after the death of his wife Ninel Konstantinovna Kuchiev drew up a will in which he asked his friends and associates in the nuclear icebreaker fleet to fulfill his last will after his death - to betray his ashes and the ashes of his wife to the waters of the Arctic Ocean near the North Pole. “You know well that I have always been and remain a romantic to the end and I don’t regret it at all. And Dixon, the Arctic Ocean and the North Pole are directly related to our common destiny with Ninel Konstantinovna,” Kuchiev wrote in his will.
Kuchiev's will was carried out. On August 13, 2006, almost exactly 29 years from the date of reaching the pole, the Yamal nuclear-powered icebreaker delivered the urns to the point 89° 59.38′ N. and 65° 37.03′E, where after the funeral meeting they were lowered into the crossing.
archipelago of Franz Josef Land, formed as a result of the separation of the southwestern part of Northbrook Island. It was discovered in early 2008 during the expedition of the nuclear icebreaker Yamal. Named p by the decision of the Arkhangelsk Regional Assembly.
Kuchiev Yuri Sergeevich
Kuchiev Yu. S.(b. 1919), sea captain, polar explorer.
1977, August 17. The first Russian nuclear icebreaker "Arktika" in the annals of the world, having broken heavy ice, reaches the North Pole, overcoming the thick ice cover of the Central Polar Basin. In 29 days, 3,852 miles (7,600 km) were covered, 1,300 of which were in heavy ice. The high scientific and technical level of Russian shipbuilding has been proven. A metal plaque with the image of the state emblem of our country is lowered at the North Pole.
The icebreaker "Arktika" has a displacement of 23,400 tons, the power of the turbines of the power plant is 75,000 liters. s., draft -11 m, speed - 21 knots.
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