Kursk Submarine Disaster:

The Russian nuclear submarine Kursk was lost with all of her
118 crewmembers onboard during naval exercises on Aug. 12th 2000.
Early reports from the U.S. believe that an explosion occurred near the front torpedo tube
that crippled the sub and sent her immediately plunging to the bottom of the icy Barents Sea.
The submarine's control room was then shattered by an enormous second
explosion that devastated the forward sections of the ship. This 2nd explosion may have happened as a result of torpedoes exploding when the bow of the Kursk struck the sea bottom. The 1st explosion may have sent the sub into a fast nose dive to the bottom
 
  
********* Click here for a Video News Clip of the Disaster******** 

After 7 days of unsucessfull Russian attempts to reach and open the sub's rear escape hatch, a Norwegian team of 12 divers was able to attach to and open the rear hatch in less than 24 hours. Capt. Rune Fredheim a spokesman for the Norwegians said that
"The divers have determined that the submarine is full of water."

The commander of the rescue operation believes now that there is no one alive aboard, after divers inspected the sunken Kursk.
"That is sad." he said and added that any further efforts at rescue will probably end.  
    According to Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov that since the Norwegian team has opened the rear hatch and found no possibilities of survivors the British mini-sub LR5 will not be used in the Kursk operations.  Divers were working under very difficult conditions. The water temp is 30 degrees, cold enough to freeze a man to death in seconds.  At that depth they are operating under the pressure of 11 atmospheres and any further diving will only risk the life of the divers.
 
Each of the 350-foot dives took several hours and work had to be done very carefully. Norwegian divers were used because Russia's navy has no skilled divers.
     Meanwhile, Russian officials are still trying to figure out what happened to the Kursk. A government commission looking into the disaster has a few ideas.
They said Saturday that the sub suffered a huge explosion in the forward torpedo compartment. But they're not sure what happened to trigger the explosion. They believe it was either an internal problem or a collision. 
     
Underwater video showed the sub was found with one of her forward torpedo doors open and the periscope raised,
leading us to believe the 1st crippling explosion occurred near the surface in 60 to 80 feet of water.    
Prime Minister Klebanov said a collision with a mine left over from World War II was Possible.
He also said there were up to three foreign subs in the area when the Kursk went down. He did not specify which countries he meant.  
However, the U.S. navy said that neither of its two subs in the area was involved in a collision.
The U.S. Navy did report that surveillance ships detected the sound of 2 explosions Saturday and that the second explosion was registered on the Richter scale for earthquakes, indicating that that blast may have occurred on or near the bottom and was much larger then the first.
Norwegian video cameras lowered to the site Sunday were checking the hull and the surrounding water for possible radiation leaks from the two nuclear reactors on board and so far have not found any radiation leaks.
Efforts now turn towards recovery of the 2 nuclear reactors onboard the sub by lifting or towing the sub to shallow water or by cutting the sub into peices for easier removal. This effort may not happen for many month, if at all, due to the lack money and resorces needed for such a huge undertaking.
MSNBC , AAA Net Services and
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

Compartments: 10
Nuclear Reactor:  Two pressurized water reactors with a model OK-650 b reactor core
generating power of 2 x 190 MWt and a shaft power of 2 x 50 000 hp.

Nuclear Weapons:   24 missiles of the same type as on the Oscar-I submarine.
The missile tubes are located outside the pressure hull of the submarine.

Naval Architects:  Principal builders: P.P. Pustyntsev and I.L. Bazanov
Construction Yard:  The Oscar-II submarines were built in Severodvinsk.
Base: Bolshaya Lopatka at Zapadnaya Litsa.

Russian Oscar II Class Fleet Information
Project 949 A (Antey)

	Northern Fleet	Pacific Fleet	Total
In service	7	4	11
Inactive	0	0	0
Dismantled	0	0	0
Number			11

Individual Submarines

Northern Fleet:
K-148,Krasnodar. Commissioned in 1986.
K-119,Vorone. Commissioned in 1988.
K-410,Smolensk. Commissioned in 1990.
K-266,Orel, formerly Severodvinsk. Commissioned in 1992.
K-186,Omsk. Launched on May 8, 1993, and commissioned on October 27, 1993.
K-141,Kursk. Laid down in 1992 and launched in 1994. Commissioned in December 1994.   
                                              Sunk in Barents Sea by Explosion on Aug. 12th 2000
Pacific Fleet:
K-132,Belgorod. Commissioned in 1987.
K-173,Chelyabinsk. Commissioned in 1989.
K-442.Tomsk Commissioned in 1991.
K-456,Kasatka. Commissioned to the Northern Fleet in 1991; transferred to the Pacific Fleet in September 1993
K-238, Murmansky Vestnik, December 2, 1993.

 
This Information was Provided in the Memory of the 118 Men of the
Kursk who gave their lives for the silent service. 

For the all the Men on Eternal Patrol ....

So Few,
Who Gave So Much,
For So Many.. 
"May God have mercy on your Immortal Souls."

Valentina Staroseltseva now morns the loss of her son Dimitiri,
who is one of the sailors killed in the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk.

MSNBC and
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. 

SS191 SCULPIN
The Story of Another Submarine Sinking

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