On April 2, the Murmansk Regional Scientific Library hosted a presentation of the report on the Complex Expedition of the Northern Fleet and the Russian Geographical Society "Remember the War". The Chairman of the Murmansk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society Denis Moiseev and the scientific director of the Expedition, the head of the department of the Hydrographic Service of the Northern Fleet, Captain 1st rank Alexey Kornis, told about the work carried out and presented a publication dedicated to the expedition. The event opened with a welcome speech by Denis Moiseev.
“First of all, I would like to mention the fact that the Russian Geographical Society was founded by naval officers, and since then they have made a significant contribution to research in all regions of Russia, including in the Arctic. It is great that this tradition lives on, that the Northern Fleet actively participates in various events, conducts complex expeditions. Today's event is dedicated to one of these expeditions. It's called “Remember the War.” Last year, the Murmansk Regional RGS Branch received an RGS grant, and we're using it to support this project as much as we can,” Denis Moiseev said.
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Last year, the Murmansk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, within the framework of the RGS grant "Complex expeditionary research in the Arctic region of the Russian Federation in 2021", organized the creation of models of three discovered submarines: K-2, D-3 and U-387. Each model is extremely detailed. All three are unique, each of them is the only copy. Each model has a special page on the Murmansk Regional RGS Branch's website the with historical information about the submarines.
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Denis Moiseev noted that this year the project “Remember the War“ participates in the "Crystal Compass", the first competition in the field of geography, ecology, preservation and popularization of the natural and historical and cultural heritage of Russia.
"The “Crystal Compass" is sometimes called the geographical Oscar. I hope that the jury of the competition will appreciate the project. The All-Russian voting will open soon, and we invite everyone to vote for our project,” Denis Moiseev said.
The Murmansk branch participates in the competition with two more projects – a book about the expedition to Franz Josef Land that was published last year, and a series of events dedicated to the 800th anniversary of Alexander Nevsky.
During the event, the scientific director of the Expedition, Captain 1st Rank Alexey Kornis, spoke in detail about the course of the Complex Expedition, its achiements and interesting discoveries.
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This is the first expedition in the history of the Russian Navy of such a large-scale. 12 ships and vessels of search and rescue support took part in the work. Four warships were found — presumably Soviet patrol ships “Passat” and “Tuman”, British destroyer “Matabele” and corvette Bluebell, as well as 12 vessels, including trawler Onega that sank in 2020, two aircrafts — A-20 “Boston” and I-153 “Chaika” and the three bottom mines. The Expedition also confirmed and specified the location of the 20 other ships and vessels, including Soviet submarines K-2 and D-3, German submarines U-307, U 286 and U-387. During the Expedition, a lot of work was carried out in the filed of mapping. As a result, just the hydrographic vessel "Romuald Muklevich" alone performed a survey of the sea bottom on an area of about 3 thousand square kilometers.
The activities of the Complex Expedition were not limited to the search for missing objects. Events were held in memory of those who died defending their Fatherland during the war, as well as a scientific conference.
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A publication containing a detailed report on the Expedition stages conducted in 2021 was presented at the event in the Murmansk Regional Scientific Library. It contains almost all the materials obtained during the Complex Expedition, some of them are being published for the first time. 500 copies have been published.
“The publication contains a lot of interesting materials. I urge everyone interested to visit the library and study it. It contains a huge number of interesting facts both from the point of view of search work and related historical works – various kinds of combat orders, reports, historical investigations,” Alexey Kornis noted.
In conclusion, Alexey Kornis told about the plans for the new season. Due to the great results of the work carried out, the command of the Northern Fleet decided that work on the project should be continued.
“Everything we have achieved this year allows us to hope that the second season of the Complex Expedition will be quite successful and productive. We treat these expeditions not as simple trips, but as big and serious work. There are some prospects, and I hope they will be fulfilled,” said Alexey Kornis.
After the presentation, Alexey Kornis answered questions from the audience. The author of the best question received a copy of the report on the Complex Expedition. The signed copies were also handed over to the Murmansk Regional Scientific Library, the Murmansk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society and representatives of the Murmansk Trawl Fleet.
The Murmansk Regional Branch of the Russian Geographical Society expresses its gratitude to the Murmansk Regional Scientific Library and personally to Elena Mikhailova for the opportunity to hold this event and the comprehensive assistance provided in its organization.