Dmitry Romanovich Kolesnikov (1973-2000) - submarine officer, lieutenant commander of the Navy, commander of the turbine group of the movement division (7th compartment of the APRK) K-141 "Kursk"; cargo as part of the Kursk crew, author of the note by Dmitry Kolesnikov.
Lieutenant Commander Dmitry Kolesnikov was one of the last to die steadfastly in the sunken hull of the nuclear submarine Kursk a few hours after the accident. For this alone Dmitry Kolesnikov deserves deep respect and the glory of a hero. He was among those who still survived on the doomed boat, who fought resolutely for survival of the wrecked ship and who still had a hope to survive.
Two days before the "Kursk" wreckage he was 27 years old. In 1995, he graduated from F. E. Dzerzhinsky Higher Naval Engineering School. Dmitry Kolesnikov is a hereditary seaman. His father, a captain of the 1st rank, served in the Naval Academy in 2000. His younger brother also became a submarine officer. The naval dynasty of Kolesnikovs.
Just four months before the death of the submarine, Dmitry got married. "Olga, I love you. Don't worry too much. It looks like there's no chance. Let's hope that someone reads," these were the lines read by Kolesnikov's wife in his letter, which he wrote in the last minutes of his life from the sunken submarine.
Dmitry by nature was a romantic. He wrote poetry. He often referred to the creative work of Lieutenant-submariner, navigator and poet Alexey Lebedev, who also died on a submarine in 1941. Alexei Lebedev has pre-death lines, which he providentially, as if foreseeing the tragedy of the "Kursk", literally addressed to Dmitry Kolesnikov:
"And if the foamy embrace will overwhelm us in the hour of the lesson,
And if you receive word from us in a stamped envelope,
Don't weep, we have lived a brave life, We have died bravely.
- You will be able to read about it on white staff paper".
And then Lebedev had as if Kolesnikov's appeal to his wife, his widow
- Olga: "Get over the sudden cold. Don't rush to get married for six months.
And I will stay forever young There, in the secrets of your soul.
And, if a son is born soon, He has one path and purpose,
"He has only one road, the sea, my grave and my font" ...
Surprisingly, just a few days before his death, Dmitry wrote to his wife Olga a symbolic quatrain:
And when the hour comes to die,
I will have to whisper,
I'll have to whisper:
"My darling, I love you!"
Dmitry Kolesnikov performed another unheard-of feat, fulfilling his officer's and man's duty. The dead do not speak. But Lieutenant Commander Kolesnikov spoke two months after his death. On October 25, 2000, his body was extracted by divers from the hull of the sunken "Kursk" and lifted up. In the inside pocket of his uniform jacket a note was found that Kolesnikov had written, knowing full well that no one would be saved.
Kolesnikov's note was found during operations to recover bodies from the wreck in mid-October 2000. It consisted of two torn sheets of A4 paper. One sheet had information about the 23 submariners who were with him in Bay 9. The other part of the note was personal and was addressed to his wife, Olga Kolesnikova.
The mere existence of this note excludes the version that the entire personnel perished immediately after the explosion in the torpedo compartment. The sailors continued to fight for their lives, and how hard it was for them can be traced by the handwriting of Dmitry Kolesnikov. The sailors in compartment 9 could have been saved. They spent about 2.5 days in that compartment hoping for help from the outside.
It is hard to imagine what willpower one has to have, how to hold oneself in control in those tragic minutes, what an incredible spirit to possess! Not only to avoid falling into panic or generally to withdraw, but calmly, with his calligraphic handwriting in semi-darkness of the flooded compartment, and then in pitch-darkness write the lines of report on the situation in the rear of the submarine, and then another lines of farewell letter to his wife. But Dmitry Kolesnikov did it, literally already looking death in the eyes. What was this incredible power of the human spirit in him!
And there was no one else, it was Kolesnikov's body that was found by divers in the 9th compartment of the boat! He could have been among those submariners who were never brought up. But, apparently, Kolesnikov had a special destiny which was given to him by fate.
In general Dmitriy's mother was against the idea of lifting the bodies of dead sailors. She thought that the sunken submarine should become their grave. But the operation to lift the bodies was nevertheless performed. Twelve of the 118 bodies were recovered. Lieutenant Commander Kolesnikov, the commander of the bilge group of the propulsion section and commander of the 7th compartment, was among these bodies.
Kolesnikov's note helped a lot to build the right tactics for rescue diving and shed some light on the situation in the aft area of the boat after the explosion of ammunition. For more than an hour after the explosion, the submariners fought in an organized manner to stay alive in the aft compartments. After doing all they could, the 23 sailors who survived moved to Bay 9. But, alas, the airlock they were counting on to rescue them was already filled with water. Hence the words in Kolesnikov's note: "none of us can go upstairs...". And all of them, by necessity
The submarine's demise is shrouded in darkness. When President Vladimir Putin was asked what happened to the submarine. He said: "It sank."
It should also be noted that a song about Captain Kolesnikov was written by the famous Russian band DDT. It later became the unofficial mourning anthem of the submarine Kursk.
The submarine's demise is shrouded in darkness. When President Vladimir Putin was asked what happened to the submarine. He said: "It sank."
It should also be noted that a song about Captain Kolesnikov was written by the famous Russian band DDT. It later became the unofficial mourning anthem of the submarine Kursk.
