Firebird (submarine)

The Firebird (Russian:Жар-птица) was a Soviet Delta-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine in operation during the Cold War, part of the Soviet Navy's Northern Fleet. In 1983, it was under the command of Captain Zhukov on a seemingly routine oil exploration run at the North Pole. (TV: Cold War) The book The Secret Lives of Monsters, however, suggested that the submarine was actually on a scientific mission to investigate a particular area of polar ice, arguing the significance of stationing an eminent Soviet scientist - Professor Grisenko - aboard a nuclear submarine. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) At the North Pole, the crew discovered an Ice Warrior buried in a block of ice. When awakened, this Ice Warrior, Skaldak, took over the sub and proposed to use its nuclear payload to start a full-blown nuclear war between the US and the Soviet Union through the principle of mutually assured destruction. The incident came at a renewed tension between the superpowers that had been brewing since the late 1970s, where there was a risk of a nuclear war not seen since the early days of the Cold War. Only the intervention of the Eleventh Doctor and Clara Oswald allowed the submarine to once again safely come under Zhukov's control. (TV: Cold War)

Following the near catastrophic breakdown in the Arctic waters, details of the incident were never made public and the Russians played down any possible risk. UNIT, however, took interest in the incident at the time. (PROSE: The Secret Lives of Monsters) Despite this, Angie Maitland came across a picture of the Eleventh Doctor and Clara aboard the submarine on her laptop in 2013. (TV: The Crimson Horror)