October 3, 1986...The Eastern Seaboard of the U.S. comes within an eyelash of annihilation.Now the true story comes out from behind the Iron Curtain and the inner sanctum of the U.S. Navy.

As seen in the HBO world premier movie

HOSTILE WATERS

Peter Huchthausen, Igor Kurdin, R. Alan White

Introduction by Tom Clancy

Story by St. Martin's Press

On October 3, 1986, a week away from the Reagan-Gorbachev Reykjavik Summit on nuclear arms, a Soviet K-219 nuclear submarine cruises 500 miles away from the east coast of the U.S. Constantly on war alert during one of the most dangerous periods of the Cold War, the K-219 is carrying 15 thermo-nuclear warheads- strategically aimed at Washington DC, New York, and Boston At the same time, the USS Augusta, a Los Angeles killer nuclear sub quietly has the K-219 in its sights. The dangerous real-life cat-and-mouse game that ensues between the two submarines puts millions of unsuspecting American lives at risk of a nuclear disaster which is chillingly retold in the book, HOSTILE WATERS, by Peter Huchthausen, Igor Kurdin, and R. Alan White, which was also broadcast as an HBO world premier movie, at 8pm ET, Saturday, July 26, 1997.

Shortly after departing the Soviet Northern Fleet base at Gadzhievo in September, 1986, the K-219 begins taking on water through a small leak in missile si1o 6. The mixture of seawater and nuclear fuel is a letha1 combination resulting in nitric acid. But onward the K-219 presses believing they have the situation under control. They do not. And the Augusta knows there is trouble on board the Soviet vessel. As the situation on the K-219 worsens, with fire breaking out near the nuclear reactors onboard, Captain Igor Britanov makes a move that is strictly forbidden this close to the U.S. – he surfaces the sub in an effort to save his crew. The Augusta sees this maneuver, and believes the Soviets may be preparing to launch their missiles, so they proceed with plans to sink the K-219. When it becomes clear that the Soviets are desperately trying to save their lives only then does Augusta Capt. James Von Suskil back off – somewhat.

As tensions mount in the Western Atlantic, emergency meetings are called in Washington D.C. and Moscow, with every U.S. military base in the east placed on DEFCON2, the final military alert before a11-out war. Even with Russian support vessels in place to try and tow the hapless K-219, the fires rage out of control while four crew members lose their lives. The Kremlin orders one final attempt to save the sub, but in a shocking and unprecedented move, Capt. Britanov, in order to save the lives of his crew, openly defies Moscow's order to send crew members inside the reactor room one more time without proper safety equipment.

Peter Huchthausen was Naval attache to Moscow from 1987-1990; Igor Kurdin is a former senior executive officer in the Russian Navy; and, R. Alan White is one of the most esteemed writers of espionage today. Together they have chronicled for every reader one of the most intense, frightening real-life dramas the American populace is likely to experience.




Japanese, French, UK Version

Israeli (Hebrew)

Slovenian, Finnish & Swedeish




Yankee-1 Class SSBN K-219 After Explosian 3 October, 1986



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