Ivan Kolyshkin

Submarines in Arctic Waters: The Memoirs of Rear-Admiral Ivan Kolyshkin

Soon after sinking a Nazi troop transport, a Soviet submarine hits a mine. Its engines are disabled and the current inexorably drives it towards an enemy-held shore. Incredible as it may sound, the crew make a sail from canvas hoods and fix it to the periscope. With a fair wind filling it, the makeshift sail takes the crippled submarine out of the range of the shore batteries, giving a sister-submarine time to save her crew. Rear-Admiral Ivan Kolyshkin recalls many other narrow escapes. During the war he was in command of a Division and then a Brigade of submarines of the Northern Fleet. He speaks of his comrades-in-arms Gadjiev, Fisanovich, Vidayev and other famous submariners, whom he accompanied on long and dangerous war patrols. He writes of commanders and political instructors who trained men for battle, and of the ardent Soviet patriotism that inspired sailors to greats feats of heroism.