Long Beach stuck with costly eyesore after abandoned Cold War relic falls apart

A California city could be on the hook for a multimillion-dollar bill in order to finally get rid of a rusting Cold War relic that has been rotting for more than a decade.

Long Beach has taken the first steps toward removing a Russian submarine, which has been moored alongside historic ocean liner, the Queen Mary, since 1998, the Long Beach Post reported.

City officials are now seeking information from contractors on how to haul away the deteriorating 299-foot vessel, including the logistics and eye-watering cost of sending it to a disposal site.

The 299-foot-long B-427 attack submarine was launched by the Soviet navy in 1971, before it was decommissioned more than twenty years later in 1994, the Press Telegram reported.

It was then leased by an Australian company and opened as an attraction at the Australian National Maritime Museum, before finally making its way to Long Beach after Ed Skowron purchased it for $970,000. 

Between 1998 and 2015, nearly 8,000 tourists a month would check out the Soviet Union-era sub during peak summer months as it sat alongside the 1930’s luxury liner.

For 17 years, visitors got the chance to take a look inside the vessel that once tracked enemies in the Pacific Ocean as part of Russia’s Pacific Fleet.

In 2015, a water hull ruptured and flooded a ballast tank, forcing the closure of the vessel to the public, with it eventually becoming a home for racoons. 

Since that time, the sub has slowly been deteriorating with rust and holes forming on the outer layer, as saltwater and storms aided the process.

“In the interest of safety, water quality, and to mitigate any risk of damage to the Queen Mary, the vessel has been identified by the City as an abandoned asset for removal, pending any future legal or administrative actions required for its removal,” wrote Public Works spokesperson Jocelin Padilla.

“However, further analysis has to be conducted to determine the most appropriate course of action, taking into account safety, risk, impacts, and costs.”

While the city doesn’t own the sub, exactly who does is unclear with the most recent owner Australia-based NEWCO Pty Ltd. dissolving in 2020.

The question next is how to do it, either by land or water. Previous estimates put the cost anywhere from $8.6 million for land removal up to nearly $22 million for waterside removal, a local publication reported.

Ralph Botticelli with Curtin Maritime Corp., a marine construction and salvage company, said the issue is preventing polluting the water with hazardous material.

He said several factors have to be considered whether crews take it out with a towline or lift it out with a crane, including the sub’s asbestos piping, batteries and the thickness of the steel.

“There’s no rule of thumb,” Botticeilli said. “It’s just what is deemed appropriate at the time and most cost-effective and most safe.”

“Thirty years in this business and I’ve never seen anything like this.”

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