The museum’s exhibition features a ship’s bell from the B-57 submarine (project 641). In 1960, this submarine was incorporated into the 4th Submarine Squadron of the Northern Fleet. The B-57 performed tasks as part of the squadron until October 1981. Then, after carrying out repairs in Severodvinsk, it was transferred to the Baltic Fleet.

The Russian word “rynda” is strictly speaking not the bell itself but the sound it makes to mark the beginning of a new day at sea. For many centuries this word was used to denote the ship’s bell and at some point it became a commonly accepted term. All bells are built roughly the same — they have a dome-shaped body and a clapper suspended inside, which when the bell is rocked, hits its walls and produces a sound. Some bells are designed in such a way that both the bell and the clapper can swing at the same time, independently of each other.

A ship’s bell was cast during the ship’s construction. It is engraved with a tactical number which, unlike the one on board, was secret and mentioned only in confidential documents. And even if the name of the ship was changed, the one on the bell did not. By ringing these bells, ships alert one another in bad weather conditions and dangerous areas. This also applies to surfaced submarines.

In the Navy, these bells are used for watchkeeping. To “keep watch” means to ring the bell every half hour which allows the crew to determine exactly how much time had passed and how much remained until the end of the watch as well as what they were scheduled to do.

The Naval Charter still prescribes the procedure for ringing bells on surface ships of the 1st and 2nd rank: at 8:00 the bell rings eight times (four double strikes), at 08:30 — one stroke of the bell, at 09:00 — two, at 09:30 — three (one double strike and one single). Then three bells are rung every half hour until 12:00. At 12:00, the rynda is rung— this is when the ship’s bell strikes in triplets. From 12:30, the countdown of the bells begins anew until 16:00. The next countdown is from 20:00 to 23:00. At 23:00, six bells ring.