Forty years ago, on February 7, 1981, the Tu-104 plane of the commander of the Pacific Fleet (Pacific Fleet) of the USSR crashed during takeoff from the military airfield near Leningrad. The crash killed 16 admirals and generals on board, the whole leadership of the fleet. The tragedy came as a huge shock for the Soviet Pacific Fleet, because the fleet did not lose so many admirals even during the Second World War. The Ministry of Defense of the USSR suggested that the crash occurred as a result of subversive activities, so the department was expecting aggression on the eastern coast of the USSR. In fact, everything turned out to be much more prosaic.