Russian submarine Kursk (K-141)

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Career	Russian Naval Ensign

The Oscar II class submarine K-141 Kursk
Ordered:
Laid down:	1992
Launched:	1994
Commissioned:	December 1994
Fate:	Lost at sea August 12, 2000
Homeport:	Vidjaeva, Russia
Stricken:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	13.400 t, 16.400 t
Length:	154.0 m
Beam:	18.2 m
Draft:	9.0 m
Propulsion:	1 nuclear reactor OK-650b, 2 steam turbines, 2/7-bladed props
Diving depth:	300 to 600 meters [by various estimates]
Speed:	32 knots (59 km/h) submerged, 16 knots (30 km/h) surfaced
Range:
Complement:	44 officers, 68 enlisted
Armament:	24 x SS-N-19/P-700 Granit, 4 x 533 mm and 2 x 650 mm bow torpedo tubes

K-141 Kursk (Russian in full: Атомная подводная лодка "Курск" [АПЛ "Курск"] - nuclear submarine "Kursk") was a Project 949A Антей (Antey, Antaeus; also known by its NATO reporting name of "Oscar-II" class) nuclear cruise missile submarine named after the Russian city Kursk, where one of the biggest battles of World War II took place (Battle of Kursk). She was commissioned into the Northern Fleet of the Russian Navy. Kursk sank on August 12, 2000 with all hands lost.

Background

Construction of the Kursk began in Severodvinsk, near Archangelsk, in 1992. She was launched for the first time in 1994 and formally commissioned in December of that year. The ship was "baptized" by an Orthodox priest in 1995. The Kursk was the last of the large Oscar-II class submarines to be designed and approved in the Soviet era. At 155 metres in length, and four stories high, it was the largest attack submarine ever built. The class had also been described as "unsinkable" on account of its double hull. The outer hull, made of high-nickel high-chrome content steel just 8.5mm thick, had exceptionally good resistance to corrosion and a weak magnetic signature which helped prevent detection by Magnetic Anomaly Detection (MAD) systems. There was a two-metre gap to the two-inch-thick steel inner hull.

Kursk formed part of the Russian Northern Fleet. The Fleet had suffered tremendous cutbacks through lack of funding throughout the 1990s. Many submarines had been brought into docks along the Barents Sea and left to rust. All but the most essential frontline equipment was inadequately serviced, including search and rescue equipment. Sailors of the Northern Fleet had gone unpaid in the mid-1990s due to money being re-appropriated before reaching the Arctic North. However, the end of the decade represented something of a renaissance for the fleet. In 1999 Kursk had carried out a successful reconnaissance mission in the Mediterranean, spying on the United States Navy's Sixth Fleet during the Kosovo War. The training exercise of August 2000 was to be the largest summer drill since the collapse of the Soviet Union ten years before, involving four attack submarines and the Fleet's flagship Peter the Great amongst a flotilla of smaller ships.

Explosion and rescue attempts

File:Kursk Memorial (Kursk).jpg

President Vladimir Putin at the Kursk, Russia memorial to the Kursk submarine.

The Kursk sailed out to sea to perform an exercise of firing dummy torpedoes at a Kirov-class battlecruiser. On August 12, 2000 at 11:28 local time (07:28 UTC), the missiles were fired, but an explosion occurred soon after on the Kursk. The chemical explosion blasted with the force of 100 kg of TNT and registered 1.5 on the Richter scale. The submarine sank to a depth of 108 metres, approximately 135km (85 miles) off Severomorsk, at 69°40′N 37°35′E / 69.667°N 37.583°E / 69.667; 37.583.

Though a rescue attempt was made by Russian and Norwegian teams, all sailors and officers aboard the Kursk were lost. The subsequent investigation would show that most of the crew had died within minutes of the explosion, however journal entries show that many survived in the rear of the ship for 3 more days. The Kursk was eventually recovered from her grave by a Dutch team and 115 of the 118 dead were recovered and laid to rest in Russia. Numerous offers of help were made by government and non-government organizations from around the world, but these offers were rejected by Russia.

Controversy

A great deal of evidence alludes that there was outside involvement in the sinking of the Kursk. The United States Navy later confirmed they had two ships in the area, the USS Memphis and the USS Toledo. It is thought that the USS Memphis was shadowing the Kursk and accidentally came into contact. Underwater footage shows a perfectly symmetrical hole, engineers say is consistent with a US Mark IV torpedo. It is assumed that when the crew of the Kursk responded to the contact by opening their torpedo doors, the Memphis was forced to fire preemptively. The damage to the Memphis was severe, shown by oil streak on the surface following its evacuation of the area. Satellite photos later confirmed it was at dock the next day for repair. The US forgave $10bn in debt for the Russians and issued another $10bn in the days following the tragedy. The details are shrouded in secrecy and speculation about the cause has not been confirmed by either side.

External links

Background

Explosion and rescue attempts

Controversy

See also

External links