EFIM PROKOPIEVICH NIKONOV

Life dates: Date of birth unknown - after 1728
Place of Birth: Pokrovskoye village - Rubtsovo, Russia
Russian inventor, author of the first built Russian submarine, the "hidden ship"

Born in the village of Pokrovskoye-Rubtsovo, Moscow region, in the family of a serf. In 1718, he submitted a petition to Tsar Peter I, in which he claimed that “... he will make a suitable ship for the enemy on a military occasion, which at sea, in quiet times, will break ships, at least ten, or twenty, and for testing that ship will make a model ... "
In 1720-1721, at the direction of Peter I, he first built a model, and then, in 1721-1724, a full-size underwater "Secret Ship", which became the first Russian submarine.
Boards, iron strips, copper sheets, leather and other materials were used to build the Hidden Vessel.

DESIGN DESCRIPTION

Since no drawings or detailed descriptions of this vessel have been preserved, one can only assume that the “Secret Vessel” was barrel-shaped. The reason for this is the participation of coopers in its construction, as well as the order to release fifteen iron strips, most likely intended for hoops, with which they pulled together the wooden hull of the submarine. Approximately we can say that its length was no more than 6 meters, height 1.5-2 meters. 10 tin plates with through holes were built into the case to receive water when immersed. During the ascent, water was pumped overboard manually using a piston pump. A lock chamber was made in the hull with a hatch for the diver to exit from the submerged boat. It was assumed that, in the event of successful tests, a “fire pipe” and a mover, most likely in the form of oars, would be installed on the boat.

In parallel with the construction of the boat, Nikonov developed one of the first diving suits for getting a person out of a ship in a submerged position to destroy the bottom of an enemy ship (a prototype of a modern combat swimmer-saboteur).
Nikonov was the commander of a crew of four (according to other sources - of eight) people, test dives were carried out under his leadership.
The test of the "hidden ship" took place in 1721 in the presence of Peter I on the Neva River near the Galley Yard.

A modern researcher, shipbuilding engineer E. E. Kolosov believes that Nikonov’s ship “according to the technical solutions incorporated in it, was a prototype of a modern submarine” and that Nikonov himself, despite failures, “proved the possibility of scuba diving in action: in the summer of 1721 Yefim on his "model ship" nevertheless made two successful dives and ascents on the Neva.
Another test of the ship, in the presence of Peter I, took place in the autumn of 1724 and ended in an accident: when it hit the ground, the bottom of the ship was broken.
In the spring of 1725, the ship was launched after repairs, but a leak was discovered that prevented a dive.
Nikonov tested his ship for the third time in 1727.
After the death of Peter I, he fell into disgrace. In 1728 he was demoted from the masters to an ordinary carpenter and exiled to the Astrakhan shipyard.

Already after the death of Peter the Great, in April 1725, in the presence of the President of the Admiralty Board, General Admiral F.M. Apraksin, repeated tests of the “hidden vessel” were carried out. Three times Efim Nikonov plunged into the waters of the Neva, but each time he was forced to rise to the surface: “... they tried it three times and lowered it into the water, but it just didn’t work due to damage and water leakage.”
September 7, 1725 Catherine I ordered to continue work on the "secret ship". It can be assumed that the next tests of the ship were carried out in the spring of 1727, but the test results again did not satisfy the members of the Admiralty Board.
On January 29, 1728, the Admiralty Board decided to stop work on the "hidden ship". Nikonov was accused of "invalid buildings", demoted to "simple Admiralty workers" and exiled to the distant Astrakhan Admiralty, where ships for the Caspian Flotilla were being built at that moment.

February 11 - 1720 - Carpenter Efim Nikonov begins to build a "hidden ship", the predecessor of submarines.

The problem of scuba diving has occupied the minds of many people since ancient times. Unfortunately, its practical solution depended primarily on the level of development of science and technology, which at that time were not up to par. Nevertheless, Russia can rightly be proud of the fact that it is one of the few powers in the world in which such means of combat at sea as submarines (Submarines) were born and found the widest use.

For the first time in our country, a native of the Pokrovskoye village near Moscow, Rubtsovo, Efim Prokofievich Nikonov, who did not have any technical education of that time (and did not know how to read and write at all), but, nevertheless, was well acquainted with the construction of surface sailing ships, was engaged in the creation of a submarine,
working as a carpenter at a shipyard. At the end of 1718, he filed a petition to Peter I. In this petition, Yefim informed the tsar that he would make "... for a military occasion against the enemies, a suitable ship, which at sea in quiet times will hammer ships from a shell, at least ten or twenty, and for a test, that ship will make a sample, how many cannons will be on it" . This curious document was preserved in the archive, but the sovereign did not give an answer to it. In 1719, E. Nikonov filed a new petition addressed to the tsar, in which, complaining about the oppression and insults of "officials, clerks and elders", he again stated that he could build a ship capable of sailing in the water "... secretly and knock out a warship down to the bottom." This time, not indifferent to what concerns actions at sea, Peter I ordered E. Nikonov to be sent to St. Petersburg. The tsar personally talked with the inventor, after which he ordered him, “hiding from the eyes of others”, to first build a working model of an underwater vessel: “not to the extent that would fit under a ship in the sea, but for the sake of testimony and in the river of testing.” Peter Ι, with his characteristic energy, supported the unknown inventor and ordered him to start building a model of a "hidden ship", entrusting it to the care of the Admiralties - the College.

In 1720-1721, at the direction of Peter I, he first built a model, and then, in 1721-1724, a full-size underwater "Secret Ship", which became the first Russian submarine. Model of the secret ship by Efim Nikonov, tested on Lake Razliv in the presence of Peter I in the city of Sestroretsk. Boards, iron strips, copper sheets, leather and other materials were used to build the “Secret Ship”. The first tests of the ship, in the presence of Peter I, took place in the autumn of 1724 and ended in an accident: when it hit the ground, the bottom of the ship was broken. In the spring of 1725, the ship was launched after repairs, but the discovered leak did not allow the dive. Nikonov tested his ship for the third time in 1727.

After the death of Peter I, he fell into disgrace. In 1728 he was demoted from the masters to an ordinary carpenter and exiled to the Astrakhan shipyard.

After E. Nikonov, no one was engaged in experimental underwater shipbuilding in Russia for almost 100 years. The attempts made after this period to create submarines did not arouse the interest of the maritime department. But Efim Nikonov is not forgotten. A year after the 100th anniversary of the Russian Submarine Forces (in 2006), in 2007, a monument was erected to him in the Pionersky village in the Istra district of the Moscow region. The author of the monument is the famous Moscow sculptor Alexei Vikulov

On February 11, 1720, the Russian carpenter Efim Nikonov began the construction of the "hidden boat" - the first Russian submarine. From this event comes the history of submarine shipbuilding in Russia.

In 1718, the carpenter Nikonov filed a petition to the tsar: “... he will make for a military occasion against the enemies a pleasing ship, with which at sea, in quiet times, he will break ships, at least ten or twenty, and for testing that ship will make a sample. ..”

This document was preserved in the archive, but the sovereign did not give an answer to it. Then, in 1719, the self-taught inventor dictated to the scribe a new petition addressed to the tsar, in which, complaining about the oppression and insults of “officials, clerks and elders”, he again stated that he could build a ship capable of sailing in the water “secretly and knocked out under the military ship to the very bottom. Having received the second letter, Peter I ordered Nikonov to be sent to St. Petersburg. The tsar personally talked with the inventor, after which he ordered him, "hiding from the eyes of others", to first build a working model of an underwater vessel: "not to the extent that would fit under the ship in the sea, but for the sake of testimony and in the test river", and in The Admiralty College to promote Nikonov to the "master of hidden ships."

On January 31, 1720, the Admiralty Board decided: “Send the peasant Efim Nikonov to the office of Major General Golovin and order an exemplary vessel to be made, and what is moreover, scaffolding and artisans should be sent at the request of this peasant Nikonov from the said office.”

The model was built on the site of the Ober-Sarvaer shipyard in St. Petersburg. Work began in February 1720. 13 months later, in March 1721, the model was ready. Her tests took place in the summer of that year, in the presence of Tsar Peter. Although they were far from satisfactory, Nikonov was ordered to begin construction of a "hidden fire vessel of a large hull" on the slipway of the Galley Yard (shipyard) in St. Petersburg.

In August 1721, in St. Petersburg, at the Galley Yard, the first domestic submarine was laid down secretly, without much publicity. With great uncertainty, since no descriptions or drawings of this vessel have been preserved, it can be assumed that Nikonov's submarine was barrel-shaped. The reason for this may be the participation of coopers in the assembly of the ship, as well as the requirement to leave "fifteen strips of iron two inches wide, two-quarters", probably for the manufacture of hoops that pulled together the wooden hull of the ship. Its bow part repeated the architecture of a surface ship, and the stern part was equipped with a rudder. The cabin on the upper deck had sealed viewing glasses. Oars were used as a mover, the crew consisted of four people. For testing, 50 candles were released, which corresponds to the time spent under water on the order of 10-12 hours.


In the archive, in the list of cases of the Ober-Sarvaer office at the Admiralty Collegiums, there is a file filed on January 31, 1720 No. 54 “On the construction of the village of Pokrovsky by Efim (son) Prokofiev of a hidden model ship and on leave for the construction of forests, various materials and supplies.” A selective list of materials and their quantitative characteristics make it possible to reconstruct the dimensions of an underwater vessel, restore the principle of operation of the dive and ascent system:
* pine saw boards 3 fathoms long - 60 pcs. (120 feet);
* beef fat for impregnation of boards - 2 pounds;
* fat for resinifying the body - 4 pounds;
* canvas 40 arshins;
* canvases 20 arshins;
* bhot skins (made from seal skins) black - 3 pcs.;
* copper boiler and half a bucket;
* copper pipe - one; copper wire - 3 pounds;
* tin boards with 500 holes thinner than a hair, 2 feet long and 1 foot wide - 10 pcs.


Thus, it can be assumed that the length of the vessel was about 6.0-6.4 m, and the width (diameter) was 2.1-2.15 m.

The dive and ascent system apparently worked as follows. When the lock of the receiving kingston was opened, sea water entered the lower part of the tank - the main ballast system. As it was filled, the air was forced out into the compartment through the open ventilation pipes on the roof of the tank. At the same time, the pressure in the compartment increased slightly, reducing its difference with the outboard one. The small total area of ​​the through holes in the tin boards made it possible to fill the tank at a moderate rate and evenly along the length of the entire tank. When moving to a submerged position, the receiving kingston was closed. After removing air bubbles from the tank, the ventilation pipes were blocked. The boat, being under water in a suspended state, made evolutions when rowing with oars.

When the water was pumped out by a tidal piston pump, the weight of the boat decreased and it floated. During operation of the pump, the valves on the drain tube and the central vent were kept open. Observation of the moment of passage of the water's edge was carried out through the felling portholes.

At first, Nikonov intended to equip the boat with guns, but then he decided to install an airlock through which, when the ship was submerged, a diver dressed in a spacesuit (designed by the inventor himself) could go out and use tools to destroy the bottom of an enemy ship. “And for walking in the water under the ships, it is necessary to make two camisoles with trousers for each person from bhot skins, and a wooden barrel sheathed or upholstered with leather on the head, on which windows should be made against the eyes and killed with lead with boreholes and with horse hair, and beyond In addition, lead or sand will be tied to the back for cargo in proportion, and when it is corrected, then for the action to check and ignite the ships, it is necessary to make special tools, which are given by the painting.

Later, Nikonov re-equipped the boat with "fiery copper pipes", so it was required for Nikonov - To send promemoria to the main artillery and demand that ten copper pipes be ordered to be filled with gunpowder and smeared with saltpeter from that artillery.

As a result, the submarine was called the "fire ship" because its armament consisted of several "incendiary tubes", i.e. devices similar in principle to a one-time flamethrower. Apparently, such a pipe (or several pipes) was supposed to be installed along the deck of the submarine and equipped with a mechanism for lifting at an elevation angle to the horizon. The boat will covertly approach the enemy ship, push the end of the pipe to the surface of the water and set it on fire with a “fiery composition”.

By the fall of 1724, the "hidden ship" was built. His tests, carried out in the presence of Tsar Peter, ended unsuccessfully. It hit the ground and broke through the bottom ("... during the descent, the bottom of that vessel was damaged, and then it did not work and was taken ashore ..."). Peter ordered the inventor to repair the damage and strengthen the ship's hull, and also announced that Nikonov "should not be blamed for embarrassment."

Nikonov repaired the damage, but on January 25, 1725, Peter died. The inventor lost his patron. Nevertheless, despite various obstacles, he brought the repair to the end. In the spring of 1725 the boat was launched a second time. But a leak was again found in her hull, and she was again pulled ashore. It is curious that in response to a request from the Admiralty Collegiums about the possibility of testing the “hidden ship” after a new repair, Nikonov bluntly stated that the ship would not be able to act as he himself promised the Tsar-father, because “it was made only for testing, as translate the spirit.

The last tests of Nikonov's submarine took place in 1727. They also did not give positive results and could not give. The well-known historian of the Russian submarine fleet G. M. Trusov (1889-1960) noted in this regard: "The ship was too primitive for swimming under water, and even more so in order to hit enemy ships with fire weapons." Disappointed with this outcome of the case, the naval authorities ordered the “hidden ship” to be placed in a barn under the castle, away from the “stray eye”. There it was kept for many years, until it gradually rotted away. The inventor, in January 1728, was demoted from the masters to an ordinary carpenter and sent to the Astrakhan shipyard. He was accused of the following: “After filing that petition ten years later, not only such a vessel, I really could not do a lower model for that case, which, although it was built from the Admiralty supplies and by the Admiralty servants and the construction of those ships was used from the Admiralty income is not small the amount, but this, according to the samples, was not very valid. The vessel was tried three times and lowered into the water, but only did not work due to damage and water leakage.

Did you know that the first prototypes of submarines were created several centuries ago? Of course, such developments were far from modern steel giants. It is noteworthy, but one of the first copies of the submarine was created not by an engineer, but by an ordinary Russian carpenter back in 1721.

Master of the "hidden" vessel

This story originates in 1719, when a 29-year-old illiterate peasant Yefim Nikonov submitted a written petition addressed to Peter I. Since Yefim could not write, he asked the local clerk to write a petition for a nominal fee. In the petition, Yefim indicated that he wanted to create a "hidden" ship that could sneak up on an enemy ship unnoticed and sink it.

The last tsar of all Russia liked the idea so much that he immediately summoned Nikonov to St. Petersburg for a personal conversation. Peter I, who himself was an experienced shipbuilder, saw great potential in the idea of ​​a peasant. First, the tsar suggested that Nikonov make a smaller version of the submarine in order to visually see its capabilities. Peter I ordered the development to be carried out in strict secrecy and not to tell anyone about it. On January 31, 1720, an official decree was signed for the construction of the "Model" (this is the code name the submarine received), and Nikonov himself received the unofficial title of "master of the hidden ship."

Development

A day later, work on the creation of a prototype was started. Efim could take the best craftsmen from the St. Petersburg shipyard to help. There is no exact description of the boat, however, according to the available data, you can create a general picture. The submarine was made of wood and looked like a large barrel. It was supposedly three and a half meters long and about two meters high. For diving under water, there were leather bags on the bottom of the boat, into which outboard water entered through through holes. In order for the ship to float to the top, the water was pumped out manually using a foot pump.

Approximate view of the submarine| Photo: Magazine "Bonfire".

On top of the submarine there was a hole for the exit of the diver. By the way, in parallel with the “hidden” ship, Nikonov also developed, perhaps, the first prototype of a diving suit. Ordinary oars were used as a mover. To destroy an enemy ship, it was planned to install a flamethrower in the bow of the boat. According to the site, there were two options for destroying the enemy fleet.

In both of them, the submarine had to quietly approach the target and surface. Further, either a flamethrower was used, which would set fire to a wooden ship, or a diver descended to damage the bottom of an enemy ship.

Tests

Peter I often visited Yefim and his workers, made adjustments and encouraged the builders in every possible way. The development of the "Model" was completed in March 1721, but due to the heavy workload of the tsar and other circumstances, the first test of the "hidden" ship took place only in the spring of 1724 on the Neva. In addition to Peter I, other high-ranking ranks and admirals were present at the tests. Unfortunately, the first attempt was unsuccessful. The boat sank too abruptly, damaged the bottom and gave a strong leak. Novikov had to be saved. The innovative development did not satisfy the members of the Admiralty Board, but the tsar continued to believe in Yefim's idea, saying that not all great things are obtained the first time.

The submarine was taken from the bottom, and Novikov began to finalize the project and strengthen the ship's hull. Due to the deterioration of health, Peter I began to rarely appear at the shipyard, but until his death he believed that the "hidden" ship still had a future. Repeated tests of the submarine took place after the death of the king in 1725. Three times the "Model" was submerged under water and all three times unsuccessfully. The hull of the submarine invariably leaked. In all tests, Nikonov acted as the captain of the boat, and the crew consisted of four more people.

At the end of 1725, Catherine I gave the go-ahead to continue improving the submarine. The third and last test passed in the autumn of 1727, but failed again. The Admiralty Board ordered the project of the "hidden" ship to be closed, and Novikov was demoted from masters to ordinary carpenters.

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