Ex-cold war adversaries to go head-to-head again in world record swim attempt
Former UK and Soviet submariners in Loch Ness challenge

Press & Journal By Nichola Rutherford

Published: 20/04/2011

Former Cold War adversaries will go head-to- head again this summer – in an effort to claim the world record for the fastest swim across Loch Ness.

The former submariners from the UK and the Soviet bloc will take on the challenge in July to mark the 50th anniversary of the K-19 nuclear accident, in which eight Russian crew members died.

Captain Oleg Adamov, the last captain of the Soviet submarine before she was decommissioned in 2003, will lead the Russian team of swimmers in the chilly crossing of the loch at Urquhart Castle, near Drumnadrochit.

Martin Douglas, a crew member of HMS Resolution between 1981 and 1987, is also hoping to take part in the challenge with serving submariners from Faslane.

He said: “It is very likely that K19 would have been in the same area as us during the height of the Cold War.

“It’s certainly the case that former Cold War adversaries are connecting up.”

The Soviet crewmen died in 1961 after the submarine’s nuclear reactor’s cooling system sprung a leak, threatening an explosion.

The blast could have sparked a nuclear war with the US, but the eight submariners undertook a suicidal mission to repair the breakdown, exposing themselves to deadly levels of radiation. They all died within days.

In 2002 their story was made into a Hollywood blockbuster, K19: The Widowmaker, starring Harrison Ford.

Mr Douglas, 46, a member of the Loch Ness RNLI team, said: “I have got a deep respect for those men who knew they were going to die when they went in to fix the reactor.

“There’s a submariners’ brotherhood that links you to adversaries.”

The handyman, who lives at Drumnadrochit, admits he may be at a disadvantage in the swim across the 1.19- mile width of the loch – Captain Adamov is the head of his local winter swimming club, where they break up ice before competing outside.

They will meet on May 13 to discuss their plans for the Loch Ness swim on July 10.

Read more: http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/2231836#ixzz1K2tppxaz

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