Russian ingenuity and Danish gratitude. From Trumpet to Adenauer to "The Power of Siberia Secrets of Dracula's Homeland"
The post-war division of Europe into socialist and capitalist camps very soon revealed great contradictions. The uprisings in the GDR in 1953, in Hungary and Poland in 1956, were caused by the fact that new friends did not want to live at the behest of Moscow. And then the Kremlin decided to "sweeten the pill" - to give the socialist camp the opportunity to swim in cheap oil ...
The natural response of the revanchist West Germany was the ban by its Chancellor Konrad Adenauer on the supply of large-diameter pipes to the USSR, so necessary for the construction of both the Druzhba oil pipeline and the Bukhara-Ural intra-Union high-pressure gas pipeline ... But in the shortest possible time at the Chelyabinsk at the pipe-rolling plant (ChTPZ), the production of such pipes was established and not a single construction site was disrupted ... and the revanchist West Germany and Adenauer personally .... remained "with a nose" ...
Oil pipeline Druzhba: A pipe for you, Adenauer!
The Druzhba oil pipeline was the last brainchild of Khrushchev!
As you know, pipeline transport is one of the cheapest modes of transport. After all, you build it once and for a long time. However, things were not so simple with Russian oil pipelines. They were launched even before the revolution: the length of the first was only 10 kilometers, and the capacity did not exceed 0.47 million tons per year. It would seem, build further and shear coupons! But that was not the case: the owners of the railways , who were engaged in the transportation of oil, had a powerful lobby in the government, which hindered the development of pipeline transport.
Then there was a revolution and war, the country was not up to gigantic construction projects. The issue of delivering oil via pipeline to Poland, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia arose in the late 1950s and was associated primarily with the name of Nikita Khrushchev.
An instrument of big politics
By the mid-1950s, when peaceful life finally came into its own, it became clear that the countries of the socialist camp were looking towards the West with great sympathy. And there was a reason why the “Marshall Plan” and the “economic miracle” of Konrad Adenauer allowed Europe to quickly return to the pre-war level of comfort and even surpass it. In addition, the existence of political freedoms, the ability to travel around the world and live where it suits you, gave the Western way of life a wonderful halo. And in the countries that chose the socialist path, none of this happened. In addition, Moscow dictated to its "vassals" what to do, how to live and even how to think. Not surprisingly, a series of uprisings soon swept through Eastern Europe. They were suppressed with great difficulty and considerable ideological losses - the USSR again became a strangler of freedoms, a gendarme of Europe, as it was under the tsar. The political leadership should have come up with something so that the "windy girlfriends" - Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia - would again ignite great love for us.
And this role fell to oil. As you know, in the late 1950s, the USSR had a lot of explored oil reserves.
The decision to create the Druzhba oil pipeline system was made within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in 1959. The total length of the pipeline system, which began in Kuibyshev (Samara), was to be more than 6 thousand kilometers. In addition to laying an oil pipeline to the fraternal socialist countries, a branch was being built from the Bryansk region to the Latvian port of Ventspils, where an export oil terminal was created.
Construction began in 1960. Each country had to supply all the necessary building materials , machinery and equipment. And in fact - built by the whole world. Pipes for the project were manufactured by the Soviet Union. All the advanced innovations and technologies of that time were thrown into the construction of the oil pipeline. Thus, it was decided that it was necessary to use pipes made of carbon and low alloy steel, mostly welded. Of all the submitted ideas, the most rational ones were chosen, requiring small investments and with maximum return. But the construction also had its difficulties. As you know, since November 1962, within the framework of NATO, an embargo was introduced on the export to the USSR of large-diameter pipes for oil and gas pipelines. However, at the Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant, they managed to launch the production of such pipes at the Mill 1020, which was created very quickly, on the first product of which the workers wrote: “The pipe is for you, Adenauer!”.
The CMEA countries also took an active part in the construction: Czechoslovakia supplied the fittings, the GDR was in charge of pumps, and Hungary was responsible for the automation of communication equipment.
In 1962, the first oil arrived in Czechoslovakia, in 1963 - in Poland and the GDR. The entire pipeline was put into operation on October 15, 1964. At its opening, Nikita Khrushchev, who was the "father" of this project, had to remove the symbolic cap. But, alas, shortly before this significant event, he was dismissed.
However, this did not change the essence - a high-quality and practically gratuitous oil river poured into the Eastern European countries.
Gesheft in a socialist way
After the opening of the oil channel, the demand for Soviet oil rapidly increased in volume. If at first the fuel was available only to Poland and Germany, soon other countries wanted to join this "feast". And no wonder: in the conditions of the Soviet financial and raw material replenishment, it was not necessary to develop our own geological exploration, save fuel, and reduce energy costs in the economy and housing and communal services. Appetites grew rapidly, and in 1968, friends asked for "additives." In this regard, by 1974 a new Druzhba-2 highway was built and the capacity of Druzhba-1 was increased.
In addition to the fact that the economy of the socialist countries needed oil, its leaders did their own small business : since the supplied fuel was very cheap, the “fraternal socialist countries” often resold Soviet oil and oil products made from it to the West.
The Soviet leadership pretended not to notice anything. According to various estimates, by the mid-1980s, from 25 to 30% of the oil coming from the USSR was sent to this business.
The construction of the Druzhba oil pipeline had its own secrets, which were not spoken about aloud. "Friendship" was also needed in order to eliminate recalcitrant Romania from the oil market, which, after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, did not welcome the anti-Stalinist course, but, on the contrary, together with China and Albania, accused the USSR of opportunism and betrayal of communist ideals.
Secondly, Romania suspected the USSR of political treachery, since there were rumors that Khrushchev, Mikoyan and Andropov (then the USSR ambassador to Hungary) agreed with Imre Nagy and Janos Kadar (Hungarian leaders) on the possible transfer to Budapest of part of Romanian Transylvania, which was entirely part of the composition of Hungary in 1940-1946 (and earlier, until 1919), subject to the further participation of Hungary in the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact.
Secrets of Dracula's Homeland
Of course, this caused a panic among the Romanians - after all, Transylvania was the Romanian oil El Dorado. It was from there that oil flowed to Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Austria. Moreover, oil from the homeland of Dracula came to Israel, Egypt and even Kampuchea, which at that time was headed by Pol Pot. And by commissioning the Druzhba oil pipeline, the USSR in one fell swoop took away the lion's share of buyers from Romania and put its oil business at risk of collapse.
Druzhba posed no less of a threat to Western countries. At first, they planned to buy oil supplied from the Middle East or North Africa via a pipeline through Greece - Yugoslavia (the port of Thessaloniki - Skopje - Nis - Belgrade - Budapest, with a further branch to Czechoslovakia).
But by the end of the 1960s, only the Greece-Yugoslavia section was built. And the USSR, after being able to bypass the Western embargo on the supply of high-quality pipes to the USSR in 1969, unfolded even wider. Branches of Soviet oil pipelines were connected to the oil pipeline network of Western Europe - Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, West Berlin and other countries became our oil clients. And when in 1973 the Saudi sheikhs refused to supply oil to the West in the same volume, the USSR took their place. Thus, most of Europe became our oil fiefdom.
True, there were some problems too: when concluding a contract for the supply of oil from the USSR, the FRG demanded a monopoly right to supply us with its pipes. Ours were only glad - after all, the German pipes, unfortunately, were better than those that prepared the death of Adenauer. But then, when the economic crisis broke out in the USSR, the “pipe dependence” came back to us sideways.
Surprisingly, the Druzhba oil pipeline is still operating. And every year the system, which includes 8,900 kilometers of pipelines (of which 3,900 kilometers are on the territory of Russia) and through which more than 100 million tons of oil are exported annually, confirms its importance and necessity.
Bukhara-Ural gas pipeline
The post-war division of Europe into socialist and capitalist camps very soon revealed great contradictions. The uprisings in the GDR in 1953, in Hungary and Poland in 1956, were caused by the fact that new friends did not want to live at the behest of Moscow. And then the Kremlin decided to "sweeten the pill" - to give the socialist camp the opportunity to bathe in cheap oil...
As you know, pipeline transport is one of the cheapest modes of transport. After all, you build it once and for a long time. However, things were not so simple with Russian oil pipelines. They were launched even before the revolution: the length of the first was only 10 kilometers, and the capacity did not exceed 0.47 million tons per year. It would seem, build further and shear coupons! But that was not the case: the owners of the railways, which were engaged in the transportation of oil, had a powerful lobby in the government, which hindered the development of pipeline transport.
Then there was a revolution and war, the country was not up to gigantic construction projects. The issue of delivering oil via pipeline to Poland, Germany, Hungary, Czechoslovakia arose in the late 1950s and was associated primarily with the name of Nikita Khrushchev.
An instrument of big politics
By the mid-1950s, when peaceful life finally came into its own, it became clear that the countries of the socialist camp were looking towards the West with great sympathy. And there was a reason: the "Marshall Plan" and the "economic miracle" of Konrad Adenauer allowed Europe to quickly return to the pre-war level of comfort and even surpass it. In addition, the existence of political freedoms, the ability to travel around the world and live where it suits you, gave the Western way of life a wonderful halo. And in the countries that chose the socialist path, none of this happened. In addition, Moscow dictated to its "vassals" what to do, how to live and even how to think. Not surprisingly, a series of uprisings soon swept through Eastern Europe. They were suppressed with great difficulty and considerable ideological losses - the USSR again became a strangler of freedoms, a gendarme of Europe, as it was under the tsar. The political leadership should have come up with something so that the "windy girlfriends" - Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia - would again ignite great love for us.
And this role fell to oil. As you know, in the late 1950s, the USSR had a lot of explored oil reserves.
The decision to create the Druzhba oil pipeline system was made within the framework of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) in 1959. The total length of the pipeline system, which began in Kuibyshev (Samara), was to be more than 6,000 kilometers. In addition to laying an oil pipeline to the fraternal socialist countries, a branch was being built from the Bryansk region to the Latvian port of Ventspils, where an export oil terminal was created.
Construction began in 1960. Each country had to supply all the necessary building materials, machinery and equipment. And in fact - built by the whole world. Pipes for the project were manufactured by the Soviet Union. All the advanced innovations and technologies of that time were thrown into the construction of the oil pipeline. Thus, it was decided that it was necessary to use pipes made of carbon and low alloy steel, mostly welded. Of all the submitted ideas, the most rational ones were chosen, requiring small investments and with maximum return. But the construction also had its difficulties. As you know, since November 1962, within the framework of NATO, an embargo was introduced on the export to the USSR of large-diameter pipes for oil and gas pipelines. However, at the Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant, they managed to launch the production of such pipes at the Mill 1020, which was created very quickly, on the first product of which the workers wrote: “The pipe is for you, Adenauer!”.
The CMEA countries also took an active part in the construction: Czechoslovakia supplied the fittings, the GDR was in charge of pumps, and Hungary was responsible for the automation of communication equipment.
In 1962, the first oil arrived in Czechoslovakia, in 1963 - in Poland and the GDR. The entire pipeline was put into operation on October 15, 1964. At its opening, Nikita Khrushchev, who was the "father" of this project, had to remove the symbolic cap. But, alas, shortly before this significant event, he was dismissed.
However, this did not change the essence - a high-quality and practically gratuitous oil river poured into the Eastern European countries.
Gesheft in a socialist way
After the opening of the oil channel, the demand for Soviet oil rapidly increased in volume. If at first the fuel was available only to Poland and Germany, soon other countries wanted to join this "feast". And no wonder: in the conditions of the Soviet financial and raw material replenishment, it was not necessary to develop our own geological exploration, save fuel, and reduce energy costs in the economy and housing and communal services. Appetites grew rapidly, and in 1968, friends asked for "additives." In this regard, by 1974 a new highway "Druzhba-2" was built and the capacity of "Druzh-by-1" was increased.
In addition to the fact that the economy of the socialist countries needed oil, its leaders did their small business on it, since the fuel supplied was very cheap, the “fraternal socialist countries” often resold Soviet oil and oil products made from it to the West.
The Soviet leadership pretended not to notice anything. According to various estimates, by the mid-1980s, from 25 to 30% of the oil coming from the USSR was sent to this business.
The construction of the Druzhba oil pipeline had its own secrets, which were not spoken about aloud. "Friendship" was also needed in order to eliminate recalcitrant Romania from the oil market, which, after the XX Congress of the CPSU, did not welcome the anti-Stalin course, but, on the contrary, together with China and Albania, accused the USSR of opportunism and betrayal of communist ideals.
Secondly, Romania suspected the USSR of political treachery, since there were rumors that Khrushchev, Mikoyan and Andropov (then the USSR ambassador to Hungary) agreed with Imre Nagy and Janos Kadar (Hungarian leaders) on the possible transfer to Budapest of part of Romanian Transylvania, which was entirely part of the composition of Hungary in 1940-1946 (and earlier, until 1919), subject to the further participation of Hungary in the Comecon and the Warsaw Pact.
Secrets of Dracula's Homeland
Of course, this caused a panic among the Romanians - after all, Transylvania was the Romanian oil El Dorado. It was from there that oil flowed to Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, and Austria. Moreover, oil from the homeland of Dracula came to Israel, Egypt and even Kampuchea, which at that time was headed by Pol Pot. And by commissioning the Druzhba oil pipeline, the USSR in one fell swoop took away the lion's share of buyers from Romania and put its oil business at risk of collapse.
Druzhba posed no less of a threat to Western countries. At first, they planned to buy oil supplied from the Middle East or North Africa via a pipeline through Greece - Yugoslavia (the port of Thessaloniki - Skopje - Nis - Belgrade - Budapest, with a further branch to Czechoslovakia).
But by the end of the 1960s, only the Greece-Yugoslavia section was built. And the USSR, after being able to bypass the Western embargo on the supply of high-quality pipes to the USSR in 1969, unfolded even wider. Branches of Soviet oil pipelines were connected to the oil pipeline network of Western Europe - Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia, West Berlin and other countries became our oil clients. And when in 1973 the Saudi sheikhs refused to supply oil to the West in the same volume, the USSR took their place. Thus, most of Europe became our oil fiefdom.
True, there were some problems too: when concluding a contract for the supply of oil from the USSR, the FRG demanded a monopoly right to supply us with its pipes. Ours were only glad - after all, the German pipes, unfortunately, were better than those that prepared the death of Adenauer. But then, when the economic crisis broke out in the USSR, the “pipe dependence” came back to us sideways.
Surprisingly, the Druzhba oil pipeline is still operating. And every year the system, which includes 8,900 kilometers of pipelines (of which 3,900 kilometers are on the territory of Russia) and through which more than 100 million tons of oil are exported annually, confirms its importance and necessity.
Viktor Prikhodko
We will visit our "Walks around the city of Ch" in the industrial zone of Chelyabinsk, however, in a special one. Even President Vladimir Putin called it a local Disneyland.
There is also a story to tell. On October 20, the Chelyabinsk Pipe Rolling Plant produced its first products. It was 75 years ago - in the military year of 1942. And the enterprise was created at an accelerated pace on the basis of the Mariupol Pipe Plant evacuated to Chelyabinsk.
In 1949, for the first time in the country, the plant mastered the production of water and gas pipes by continuous furnace welding, and in 1956 the production of large-diameter pipes began. In the 1970s ChTPZ was the largest pipe plant in the world, producing 3.3-3.5 million tons of pipe products per year.
On the eve of their 75th anniversary, the Ural pipe-rollers invited Chelyabinsk and Sverdlovsk journalists on a press tour of their ... workshops. More precisely, two workshops were chosen for this, but those that the President of Russia is not ashamed to show. He was wearing them, as evidenced by his autograph on the trumpet and photographs in the guests' exposition.
The correspondent of the newspaper "Vozrozhdeniye Urala" also became a participant of the press tour.
On high
The reference book “100 wonders of the Urals - natural and man-made” says about this place as follows: “The first example of white metallurgy in Russia, and one of the sites for industrial tourism. Workshop for the production of pipes of large diameter. The world's first manufacturer of branded colored pipes. The interior of the workshop is reminiscent of the scenery for films about the future - from bright equipment to sterile cleanliness and flowers in pots.
The case when I heard about "Height 239" many times. But it's better to see it once.
And here it is - Height. Not natural, but man-made. In addition, included in the number of wonders of the Urals.
Some interesting facts and figures about her:
The unusual name of the Vysota 239 shop is due to its location - at an altitude of 239 m above sea level, higher than other pipe plants in the world;
- "Vysota 239" - one of the most beautiful industrial enterprises in the world according to Forbes, Afisha magazines, the jury of the Best Building Awards, etc.;
30 years - the average age of employees;
15 football fields - workshop area.
Hello Adenauer!
A representative of Vysoty 239 showed a unique production, and now and then switched to no less unique photographs that made up a gallery in the workshop.
Do you know who Adenauer is, what kind of photograph this is, and why the President of Russia stayed with her when he walked around our shop?
Do you know who the author of this picture is? - I asked and answered myself: - Here he is, Yevgeny Tkachenko, here with us today. By the way, in this picture, he is just talking about this work of his to Vladimir Putin within the walls of this workshop.
The story of this famous photograph is so popular here because its heroes are Chelyabinsk pipe-rollers. And because history repeats itself, everything has happened before. This picture is about sanctions and about our country's response to them. In the 1960s, under Chancellor Adenauer, the FRG refused to sell us large-diameter pipes. They were needed for the construction of a new gas pipeline. And the USSR quickly set up their production - at ChTPZ. And on the first product, the workers wrote: "The pipe is for you, Adenauer!" It was a response to the sanctions that made the rounds around the world thanks to a snapshot of a then young Chelyabinsk reporter, Yevgeny Tkachenko, who worked in 1963 in the Chelyabinsk Rabochy newspaper.
More than half a century has passed, and the Chelyabinsk pipe-rollers again appeared in big politics.
At Vysoto 239, import-substituting technologies have been introduced; when welding pipes, ceramic flux of our own production . Pipes produced at Height 239 can be used in areas with permafrost, in seismic zones, on the bottom of the seas. Vysoty 239's products are used in such major projects as the Nord Stream 2, Power of Siberia, and Southern Corridor pipelines. The Vysoty 239 pipes were used in the construction of sports facilities for the 2014 Olympics and the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
A bewitching sight - this press
ChTPZ's strategic partner for the production of large-diameter pipes at Vysota 239 is the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works, which has implemented a project to build a mill 5000.
And another partner, in whose workshop you can find the autograph of both Vladimir Putin and Alexei Miller, the head of Gazprom, appeared recently. In 2015, ChTPZ and RUSNANO announced the implementation of a joint project - the construction of an enterprise for the production of pipeline fittings using nanostructured materials. To implement the project, a partner company "Eterno" was created.
Ural journalists at first looked with interest and photographed the "decoration" of the workshop from the outside - a caravan of camels and a small train, on the platforms of which the company's products were placed. And then - already inside - they waited for a fiery blank to be taken out of the furnace, to which two specialists in special, almost space suits, approached potto They also “conjure” something next to the fire pipe, which is then taken by a special loader to the bath, where it is immersed in order to throw off 900 degrees of fire.
Ferrous metallurgy in white coats
As you know, metallurgy enterprises belonged to the Ministry of Ferrous Metallurgy - this was the case in Soviet times, when they were built.
Chelyabinsk pipe-rollers introduced the concept of "white metallurgy". It was before, only associated with high-tech areas - medicine, microelectronics, where accuracy and responsibility are priorities, and white coats are traditionally the work clothes Thanks to the use of the latest technologies, ChelPipe's white metallurgy destroys one of the most persistent stereotypes in the past that work with metal cannot be associated with clean clothes and white, traditionally refers to "black", dirty industries...
OUR THEME | Mutual risks
Sanctions are as old as the world. History, however, has not preserved examples of their application in primitive society, but there certainly were sanctions in ancient times. The first recorded case occurred in ancient Greece. Two and a half millennia ago, the great Pericles himself forbade merchants from the Megara region to unload their ships in the port of Athens and trade in the local market. Megara found allies, and the result of the conflict was the protracted and bloody Peloponnesian War.
Countries that traded with China from time to time imposed bans on silk clothes for their subjects in order to somehow weaken the economy and the influence of the Celestial Empire. And Napoleon, fighting Great Britain, established a “continental blockade” against her, forbidding European countries occupied by France or dependent on it from buying goods from Foggy Albion.
For a very long time, mankind has come to understand that free trade is beneficial to everyone - both sellers and buyers. Nevertheless, an American researcher, director of the Institute for Economic Democracy, John Smith, considers one of the main reasons for the outbreak of the First and Second World Wars to be trade and economic conflicts between the major powers. And what? The redistribution of spheres of influence and markets as a result of these wars took place, but can we say that all contradictions were removed?
Too often, sanctions are unproductive or even counterproductive. After Japan launched hostilities in Asia, the United States, which had not yet participated in the war, imposed an oil embargo on the Land of the Rising Sun. The Japanese, deprived of their own deposits, considered this an act of economic aggression, which became a decisive argument in favor of a strike on the United States, and not on the Soviet Union, which at the end of 1941 fought the hardest battles near Moscow.
In October 1973, the Arab countries imposed an oil embargo on the United States itself in protest against their support for Israel. World oil prices have increased several times. In 1974-1975, the West experienced a severe economic crisis, but in the end, the hydrocarbon exporting countries themselves also suffered. The West has radically changed its energy policy, significantly reducing oil consumption through more efficient engines and alternative energy sources. As a result, exporters lost their income and lost access to advanced technologies and investments for several years.
It took two and a half decades of total sanctions to topple the apartheid regime in South Africa, and even then it is a moot point whether they caused a change of power in southern Africa or did the intensification of the struggle of the black population. Iran's economy, which was under the influence of sanctions, looked much healthier in the late 1990s than the economy of many countries that the United States helped. Attempts to put pressure on China with sanctions after the events in Tiananmen Square also failed. The idea turned out to be useless, and soon it was abandoned.
Now our sworn partners are trying to scare us. Of course, you don't have to be afraid. We must draw conclusions.
The main conclusion is not even a conclusion. This is a statement of what has been known for a long time. Russia has no friends. Except for her army and navy. Today, the words of Alexander III are no less relevant than when he spoke them. We are too rich in resources to be friends with us. You can only covet our wealth. Let's not forget Madeleine Albright's statement that the ownership of such resources by one country is a historical injustice. And this "injustice" has not yet been corrected for only one reason - we still have a nuclear missile shield.
To neutralize our ability to retaliate, the Americans are running around with their missile defenses. We know the price of their talk about its orientation against Iran. If Iran launches a missile towards the United States, and even more so Europe, it does not make much sense to intercept it from Poland. As well as if we launch our own from Siberia. Therefore, a major war is not expected in the near future. And the citizens of Russia should not worry about this.
Some conflicts are possible with the Ukrainian national-madmen. You have to be ready for them. There's nothing to be done here.
And we have many answers to sanctions. Suffice it to recall that American astronauts fly to the ISS and back on our technology, and their military satellites launch rockets equipped with our engines. Their communication with Afghanistan goes through our Ulyanovsk. And so on.
Once, under Chancellor Adenauer, the FRG refused to sell us large-diameter pipes. The USSR quickly set up their production. On the first product, the workers wrote: "Pipe for you, Adenauer!" This is the best response to sanctions.
The work year is coming to an end, and you can just relax by reading our selection of tales and real stories about pipelines.
Union of beer and science
The Danes are very fond of their countryman, the famous physicist Niels Bohr. Bohr, the developer of the foundations of quantum mechanics, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. As soon as he was not immortalized by grateful compatriots. Even on the banknote of 500 Danish kroner you can see his portrait.
But the Danish brewing company Carlsberg expressed its gratitude best of all to its countryman, even during the life of the great scientist. The brewers gave Bor a house on a small plot not far from their factory. A feature of this house was a pipeline connected to the brewery - beer was supplied to the house 24/7 through it, free of charge, unlimitedly and until the end of the scientist's life.
Bor, out of modesty, refused many gifts from his compatriots, but he could not resist the tempting prospect of free beer.
Against scrap...
Location: oil pipeline. Foreign partners brought television inspection equipment worth $16 million. The goals were set globally: a “television inspector” would check the condition of the pipeline and draw up the most up-to-date map of the location of the pipes. But foreign experts did not take into account the Russian mentality. For many thousands of kilometers, the device was waiting at the outlet of the pipe. Didn't wait.
And all because a few months before that, workers were repairing a hole in the pipeline. And they patched it very simply - they stuck a crowbar in it and tightly welded it. And what, oil still will not notice such an obstacle, they thought.
... A foreign monster moving at high speed for 16 million dollars simply could not oppose anything to the Russian crowbar. Having crumbled into many small pieces, it never made a map of Russian oil pipelines...
Our answer to Adenauer
In 1962, at the height of the Cold War, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, under the influence of the United States, banned the supply of large diameter pipes to the USSR. The fact is that LDPs were not produced in our country at that time, so they had to be ordered from Germany. The famous Druzhba oil pipeline and the Bukhara-Ural gas pipeline were under threat.
The Russians did not lose their heads and in just a year they built the "1020" mill at ChTPZ. For the first time in the world, a new technology for the production of double-seam pipes was developed and mastered, which is not inferior in strength to foreign single-seam pipes. Later, the developers of the new technology were awarded a state prize. Already in March 1963, the first pipe with a diameter of 1020 mm was issued. On one of the pipes of the first batch, the workers wrote: "The pipe is for you, Adenauer!" This historic moment was captured by photographer Yevgeny Tkachenko.
The photo has spread all over the international media. Adenauer himself saw it too. He, however, did not immediately understand what to be offended by: if translated literally, it turned out that the Russians made a pipe for him.
There is evidence that at first the inscription on the pipe had a different look. Instead of the word "pipe" there was another, unprintable word.
A good reaction never hurts
One team of welders really wanted to celebrate a colleague's birthday. Even during business hours . It was decided to make a model. They stuffed the robe with rags, tied a handle to the hand of the stuffed animal and left the stuffed animal at a height - to create the appearance of work. The wind will blow - from the side it seems that the stuffed animal is cooking (because the holder with the electrode is swinging). And the welders themselves are fermenting nearby.
Now imagine: the authorities come out of the dining room, look - everything is fine. And then comes a particularly strong gust of wind. The scarecrow blows away, and it flies down from a height of seventy meters! The bosses' hair almost turned gray - everyone rushed to the landing site. The hero of the occasion, noticing the fall of the effigy in time, descends, jumps out into the street, throws out his dummy and lies down instead of him ... A second later, the authorities come running and see - the welder gets up, curses, shakes off his robe and says: - “Yes, so I got there!”
Unfortunate supplier
Well, such workers are probably familiar to you.
The foreman forgot to indicate fittings for the pipeline in the application and calls the supplier: "Urgently order the fittings." The supplier specifies: "How much, what diameter?". Foreman: "Fifty pieces, twenty."
The next day, a long truck arrives at the construction site. It contains one and a half tons of reinforcement. The most common fittings for reinforced concrete products. As the driver explained to the shocked workers, the supplier sent him to the metal depot and said: “Exactly fifty pieces, and to count!”
Readers already guessed what was the matter, but the supplier did not understand then that if a pipeliner orders fittings, he orders shutoff valves, i.e. valve, faucet, valve. And instead of shut-off valves, he drove a completely different valve to the construction site ... The day turned out to be hot for the workers. Quickly order valves, hand over one and a half tons of fittings ...
The unlucky supplier was still given another chance. But he again successfully "failed" the next task.
The foreman asked him to bring twenty valves Dy 200 to the facility. The supplier, in order not to make a mistake, goes to the facility and asks to show him the valve. The foreman points him to the installed valve, mounted to the pipeline on one side, on the other side with a cut-off plug, and points with his finger: "Here, look." The supplier nods: I understand. The next day, with a happy face, he comes to the site and brings ... plugs.
Takes everything out!
Nekrasov wrote about the Russian people: “They will endure everything that the Lord sends!”, referring to the mighty stamina of the Russians. However, his statement can be understood in another sense: our people will take out anything from anywhere.
At the Tupolev firm, the workers somehow argued that they would take out a 5-meter pipe. Needless to say, the regime there was not weak. And at lunchtime, two workers drag the subject of the dispute to the workshop, which is not far from the checkpoint, rest against the wall, point the other end at the gate, make a mark with chalk. Then they drag the pipe, align it with the mark, make a new one, and so on, approaching the gate. Having reached them, they yell at the watchman to open them. To the watchman’s timid question, “What is going on with you?” They answer: “Don't you see? We are doing markings for a new heating main!” Having got out of the gate, they make a few more marks, and, hiding around the corner, they throw the pipe. The bet is won. The pipe rusted against the wall for many more years...
