The Russian submarine Kursk, one of the largest in the world, sunk in the icy Barents Sea last Saturday, August 12, during military maneuvers. All 118 submariners are feared dead. An International effort to reach survivors continues.
A US surveillance ship, monitoring “the largest Russian naval exercise of the year” involving several dozen ships and all elements of the Russian Navy and Air Force, was 200 miles away. Using sensitive electronic and acoustic equipment, the US ship reported two large underwater explosions in that vicinity. Norwegian Seismic Array (NORSAR) registered the second at 3.5 on the Richter Scale.
The Kursk, with two crippled nuclear reactors, lay on the bottom at 350 feet. Its location is 85 miles from the Severomorsk naval base within the Arctic Circle. It was in communication with the fleet at the time.
Two days later, on Monday the Russian Navy assembled seven surface ships including the rarely deployed aircraft carrier Kuznetsov, to the downed Oscar-II class submarine. Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov said, “the prospect of rescuing the crew is not very high.”
Norway, the UK and the US governments offered assistances to the Russian officials who politely withheld acceptance for more than a week. The Norwegian Navy had a ship nearby with trained divers. The UK offered their submersible rescue sub, and the Americans offered technical consultation and equipment as needed. France, Germany and the Netherlands offered medical and decompression facilities.
The first video of the underwater wreckage from Russian robotic cameras revealed the desperate condition of the six-year old, 505-foot long, 14,000-ton vessel.
The Kursk lay at a steep angle on its side. The front of the sub, from the bow to behind the first fins, is severely damaged including both front and rear escape hatches. The periscope is in the up position and the torpedo tube is open. A “terrifying hole” on the right side is where most of the crew would have been. It is believed that the disaster was immediate and catastrophic.
Although the escape hatch was buckled and torn, the Russian rescue diving bell was attached to the hatches several times but could not achieve a seal to the locking rings. Clanking from sailors trapped within the ship could be heard by rescuers only on Monday, but no sounds of life since.
The most plausible explanation for the disaster, given the physical and scientific evidence, is that an initial explosion in the torpedo tube was followed by a secondary explosion within the bow two minutes later, an equivalent of 2-tons TNT. Officials said that the Kursk carried 28 torpedoes and anti-submarine missiles; no nuclear weapons were present.
Yevgeny Aznabayev, on board the Yankee-class submarine survived an explosion and fire in 1986. Sea water leaked passed a seal in a missile hatch cover, reacting with fuel residue from the torpedo tubes causing an explosion and fire. Speculation is that something similar occurred to the Kursk.
Adverse weather on the surface hampered the Russian Navy for three more days. Alternative plans to save the crew included raising the gigantic sub with 400-ton pontoons. Towing the sub to shallower waters was an equally impossible and impractical notion. Saving the crew can only be through the damaged emergency hatches.
After all Russian attempts failed, authorization was given on Friday, and International rescue efforts immediately rushed to assist. “Is it too late to save the lives of the crew?” is the criticism of President Vladimir Putin by the Russian press. Putin, a former KGB spy, remains at his Black Sea resort of Sochi during these frantic days.
The world’s most advanced submarine rescue vehicle is the British LR5. Weighing 21 tons, it’s 33 feet long, 10 feet wide and made of a special glass-reinforced polyester instead of steel. It’s capable of operating at depths of 1500 feet. The LR5 arrived on Saturday, just hours before the Norwegian divers.
Gordon Robertson of Vickers Shipbuilding said, “My gut feeling is that they’re going to get there too late. I’m very disappointed in the politicians. They’ve wasted a lot of time mucking around with their own agendas. It’s tragic.”
On Sunday Divers, wearing special diving equipment, reached the Kursk, one week after the accident. The sub’s escape hatch can be opened, say the Norwegians! The latching ring is manually being replaced to receive the awaiting LR5 submersible.
Five nuclear submarines have sunk since 1963, all resting on the ocean floor deeper than 4500 feet, all except the Kursk. Among them were two former Soviet subs; one that caught fire and sunk near Bermuda in 1986, and the other near Spain in 1970. The others, USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, sunk during the Cold War 1960s.
In 1989 the Russian Navy’s Komsomolets caught fire and was abandoned in the Barents Sea; 42 Russian sailors died.
Declining standards and resources of the Russian Navy is the focus of the
accident investigation. Hundreds of ships have been decommissioned because
provisions, repairs, maintenance and training are no longer affordable.