Nikolai Zateyev

Biography

Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev (Russian: Николай Владимирович Затеев; c. June 30, 1926 – 28 August 1998) was a Russian submariner and a Captain First Rank in the Soviet Navy, notable as the commander of the ill-fated Soviet submarine K-19 in July 1961 during the Hotel class submarine's nuclear-reactor coolant leak. Zateyev and the actions of his crew managed to avert disaster, despite severe radiation exposure. After the event, Zateyev and his crew were sworn to secrecy by the Soviet government regarding the events that transpired, and were only permitted to reveal the story after its collapse. Zateyev later released his memoirs on the event, which were used as the basis for a number of literary works on the disaster, as well as a 2002 documentary and film. In these memoirs, Zateyev criticised the rushed production of Russia's first nuclear ballistic missile submarine. He and his crew's actions on July 4, 1961, earned the surviving crewmembers a joint nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize in March 2006.