Cherkashin Nikolay is one of the most famous contemporary Russian writer-marinists. Its theme has long been the romance of the sea. He is the author of not only fiction, but also journalistic works, as well as fascinating historical investigations.
Officer way
Cherkashin Nikolay Andreevich was born in the town of Volkovysk, in which less than 50 thousand inhabitants live. Now it is a district center in the Grodno region of the Republic of Belarus. Childhood passed in the difficult post-war period, Nikolai was born shortly after the end of World War II, in 1946.
From youth, he strove for more, so immediately after school he entered the Moscow State University at the Faculty of Philosophy, and graduated from graduate school.
He decided not to be limited to science and went to serve in the army. In the Northern Fleet he entered the location of the 4th squadron of submarines. This is the world's largest submarine flotilla. He took part in sea voyages in the Mediterranean Sea and in the Atlantic Ocean.
But still the passion for literature and journalism prevailed. Since the 1980s, Nikolai Cherkashin began to actively participate in the work of the editorial board of the heroic-patriotic literary and artistic almanac "Feat". It is noteworthy that the very first works he wrote were related to the marine theme, she remains faithful to her until now.
Researcher of the Russian fleet
Cherkashin Nikolay writes about his naval profession, explores the heroic and sometimes dramatic history of the Russian fleet. Many compare his work with the work of another famous historiographer - Valentin Pikul, who studied in detail the fate of the Russian Empire.
Among the most striking works of the author there is a story dedicated to the death of the nuclear submarine Komsomolets. This happened as a result of a fire in the Norwegian Sea in 1989. As a former submariner, Nikolai Andreevich Cherkashin was especially keen on this tragedy and realistically described it.
His other notable story, āFlames in the Compartments,ā is dedicated to another disaster in the submarine fleet that happened near Bear Island. The author was awarded a separate prize named after Alexander Nevsky for a novel about Admiral Kolchak.
Marine fiction
One of the most famous works, written by Nikolay Cherkashin, is the science fiction novel The Secret of Archelon. According to the story Archelon, the newest American ship, an atomic missile carrier. Suddenly he is struck by an unknown virus. As it turns out, the cause of infection is the depressurization of one of the shells that was on a submarine.
In 1986 at Mosfilm, this novel was filmed under the title Dolphin Scream. In the picture, as in the book, all the symptoms of infection are similar to leprosy. Because of this, the ship does not leave combat duty for three years. The crew begins to overwhelm aggression due to a long stay in a limited, enclosed space. Keeping order is getting harder every day.
At the decisive moment, the submarine commander does not stand up, he decides to destroy all of humanity by launching the notorious infected missiles. His role is brilliantly performed by actor Ivar Kalnins. Especially the audience remembered the moment when the captain nevertheless thinks over, cancels his order and drowns the boat. So ends the picture "Dolphin Scream".
Hidden tragedies
But still, real fame came to Cherkashin, thanks not to fiction and science fiction, but to documentary books. One of his most famous and well-known such works is the novel "I am a Submarine."
It details the many years of confrontation between the Soviet and American armies. The Cold War unfolded not only on land, but also on the submarine fleet. The work was published by the Top Secret Publishing House and was one of the first to tell about these pages of 20th century history.
The novel describes in detail the details of the Soviet-American confrontation, previously unknown to a wide range of readers, many of which until then had been kept exclusively under the heading "secret." Separate chapters are devoted to the unique in complexity operation to lift the Kursk nuclear submarine, which crashed in August 2000. And also about hitherto unknown naval facilities of our and foreign fleets. The book is filled with awareness of the tragedy of once one of the best fleets of a great country, which today has lost a lot and has lost.
Maritime tragedy
Cherkashin dedicated a separate work to the fate of the Kursk submarine . This is the novel "Gone with the Abyss. The death of" Kursk ", released in 2001, less than a year after the tragedy.
This is a scientific and historical investigation. The author describes the tragic fate of the officers and sailors of the Kursk, who, not sparing themselves, served the homeland, but that did not save them at a critical moment. To understand the causes of the death of an atomic submarine - the main thing for Cherkashin. He tries to look into the very essence of what happened, in which his personal experience of a submariner greatly helps him. In the novel, he sets out his own version of the sad incident.
The writer is trying to answer dozens of questions: how Kursk lay on the ground; what happened in all ten compartments of the submarine; could he be attacked; collects the opinions of other researchers and professionals. He is trying to figure out what the last gather was about, tells personal stories of the commander, officers and ordinary sailors of the Kursk. The main questions are how long the sailors held out after the accident, whether they died immediately or tried to get in touch by transmitting distress signals, step by step restores the entire catastrophe on the Kursk nuclear submarine.
Writing Awards
Nikolay Cherkashin is a writer who was awarded many awards for his unique and hard work, and some of them are primarily related not to his talent, but to his civic position, unique investigations, including historical, to which he devoted almost all own life. And also for his valiant service in the Soviet navy.
So, Nikolay Cherkashin was awarded the 2nd and 3rd degree Orders for Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR. He was awarded the George Konstantinovich Zhukov Prize for his contribution to the development and strengthening of the defense capability of the Russian army.
There are also exclusively literary awards for specific works. So, the Lenin Komsomol Prize was awarded to the writer for the novels āSalt on the shoulder strapsā and āFate in a green capā. And in 1992, he received the international prize of St. Andrew the First-Called with the wording "For the total literary work for the good of Russia."
The fate of the admiral
Cherkashin has already dedicated three novels to the history of the white admiral Kolchak. In 2005, the first book, Admiral Kolchak. Involuntarily Dictator, was published, in 2008 - Kolchakās Last Love, and in 2009 - Admiral Kolchakās Tragic Destiny.
Nikolai Cherkashin writes books about this hero with special love. He notes that Kolchak was not only a military leader, but also a famous traveler who explored the Arctic, was interested in issues of icebreaking shipbuilding. During the First World War, in the confrontation with the German fleet, he was one of the prominent Russian naval commanders, and with the outbreak of the Civil War he became the head of the white movement. His goal was the revival of the perishing state, as Kolchak himself said.
Under the pretext of fighting the Bolsheviks, he strove to gather diverse political forces around him and create a strong state. Cherkashin admits that Kolchak made many fatal political and life mistakes, however, despite this, he remains one of the most prominent figures in the Russian army at the beginning of the 20th century.
Cherkashin believes that it is necessary to perpetuate the memory of Kolchak, even though it is one of the most controversial participants in the Civil War.
Our contemporary
And today, the author does not leave the work. Nikolay Andreevich Cherkashin, whose biography is directly related to the sea and the Russian fleet, remains one of the most famous and respected researchers and publicists in this field.
Today he lives in Moscow, he is 69 years old, but he still hopes to please the readers with his works.