St. Petersburg honours the memory of perished submarine's crew

On Thursday, St. Petersburg honours the memory of the crew of the Soviet submarine M-256 of the Baltic Fleet, which perished in 1957.

A memorial service held at St. Petersburg's Naval St. Nicholas-Epiphany Cathedral gathered the surviving crew of the M-256, families and friends of the perished crew members, and veterans of the undersea fleet, reported St. Petersburg's Submariners' Club. After the service, the assembly laid flowers to the common grave of the submarine's crew in Kronstadt, a town outside St. Petersburg.

The submarine M-256 of the Malyutka type was launched at Leningrad's Sudomekh plant in 1954. The vessel was equipped with a powerplant that used liquid oxygen, a highly fire-hazardous substance, which accounted for its nickname, "Lighter." In all over the twelve years of combat service of that type of submarines, five fires were registered on their board - and the M-256 was the one to open this tragic list.

The submarine sank in the Tallinn Gulf of the Baltic Sea on September 26th, 1957, as a result of a fire on board. The disaster claimed the lives of 35 sailors. 7 more survived.