Soviet Submarine S-363 - Interpretations

Interpretations

At the time, the incident was generally seen as a proof of widespread Soviet infiltration of the Swedish coastline.

In an interview in 2006, Vasily Besedin, the political officer on board, gave a different picture. The vessel had dual navigation systems, a well-trained crew and the captain Pyotr Gushchin was amongst the best. On board was staff officer Joseph Avrukevich who was trained in security techniques. Besedin claimed the incident was caused by an error in calculations by the navigation officer.

The area in which the Soviet submarine ran aground was at the time a restricted military zone where no foreign nationals were allowed. The exact location served as one of only two routes that could be used to move bigger ships from the naval base in Karlskrona to open water.

This incident is popularly known in the West as "Whisky on the rocks". In the Soviet Navy the sub came to be known as "Swedish Komsomolets", a pun on both the incident and the then widespread tendency to give the subs Komsomol-themed names.