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Valery Mikhailovich Sablin was a Soviet Navy officer and a member of the Communist Party. In November 1975 he led a mutiny on the Soviet warship the Vigilant (Storozhevoy, in Russian) in the hope of starting a political revolution in the Soviet Union. His mutiny failed and he was shot nine months later.

The mutiny

On 7 November 1975, Captain 3rd Rank Valery Sablin seized the Storozhevoy (Vigilant), a Soviet Krivak Class missile frigate, and confined the ship's captain and other officers to the wardroom. Sablin's plan was to take the ship from the Gulf of Riga north into the Gulf of Finland and to Leningrad, from where he would, by radio and television, recount the sins and hypocrisy of the Soviet system and demand reforms. However a junior officer escaped from confinement and radioed for assistance. When the Storozhevoy cleared the mouth of the Gulf of Riga, she did so with 10 bomber and reconnaissance airplanes and nine warships in pursuit. Sablin surrendered after several bombs were dropped in front and behind the ship.

He was arrested, tried before a military court in May 1976; Sablin was found guilty of betraying the Motherland. Although this crime usually carried a 15-year prison sentence he was executed on 3 August 1976. His second in command, Alexander (Sasha) Shein, received an eight-year prison sentence. All of the other mutineers were freed.

Report of the mutiny in the west

The Kremlin didn't want news of the uprising to spread and were therefore willing, perhaps even prepared, to present it to world public opinion as an attempted defection to the West - something that could not be further from the truth. The Gulf of Riga is impassable to the north, closed off by the Estonian islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa. A ship making for Leningrad from Riga needs to initially head west towards the Swedish Isle of Gotland, then steer northwest towards Stockholm, and then finally turn east and head into the Gulf of Finland and then to the port of Leningrad. This course gave the mistaken impression that the Vigilant was heading to Sweden instead of Leningrad. Until the end of the Cold War western intelligence believed that the crew was going to defect.

American author Tom Clancy was inspired by the event to write the 1982 novel The Hunt for Red October (later made into a 1990 film starring Sean Connery).

Quotes

"Trust the fact that history will judge events honestly and you will never have to be embarrassed for what your father did. On no account ever be one of those people who criticise but do not follow through their actions. Such people are hypocrites - weak, worthless people who do not have the power to reconcile their beliefs with their actions. I wish you courage, my dear. Be strong in the belief that life is wonderful. Be positive and believe that the Revolution will always win."

-Valery Sablin's last letter to his son before his execution.

"I am convinced that a revolutionary consciousness will catch fire among our people."

-Valery Sablin's farewell letter to his parents.

External links

• A Leninist Hero of our Times, an article about Sablin's mutiny by Alan Woods.

• Russian military people
• 1976 deaths
• Soviet executions