Time is a sworn enemy who inexorably takes into oblivion the names of people who died while doing their job, turning tragedy into yet another date on the pages of history. Almost two decades have passed since the moment when the Kursk submarine sank, and 118 people died with it.
Submarine Kursk
The nuclear submarine of the Antey project, K-141 Kursk, was designed in 1990 in Severodvinsk at the Northern Machine-Building Enterprise. Two years later, the main designers of the project I.L. Baranov and P.P. The Pustyntsevs made some changes to the development of nuclear submarines, and in May 1994 the submarine was launched. At the end of December of this year, the Kursk was put into operation.
From 1995 to 2000, the nuclear submarine was part of the Northern Fleet of Russia and is based in Vidyaevo. It is interesting to note the fact that the crew was formed back in 1991, the first commander of the Kursk was Captain Viktor Rozhkov.
In the service of the Navy, the submarine was listed from August 1999 to October 15, 2000, then the submarine was scheduled to enter the Mediterranean Sea. But when the Kursk submarine sank, only records in the minutes began to remind of this campaign.
Tragedy
So where did the Kursk submerge? She met her death 170 kilometers from Severomorsk in the Barents Sea, falling to the bottom at a depth of 108 meters. All crew members died, and the ship itself was raised from the bottom of the ocean only in the second half of 2001. In world history, this accident was the second most deadly navy soldier in peacetime.
But on August 10, the Kursk successfully completed combat training exercises near the Kola Bay. Then the ship was commanded by Captain Lyachin, his task was to conduct military exercises. The morning of August 12 began with an attack by a squadron led by the cruisers Admiral Kuznetsov and Peter the Great. According to the plan, at 9.40 in the morning the preparatory work was to begin at the Kursk nuclear submarine, and exercises were conducted from 11.40 to 13.40. Here are just the last entry in the logbook dated 11 hours 16 minutes, and at the appointed time, the Kurs submarine did not contact. In 2000, the Kursk submarine sank during exercises. How did this tragedy happen? Why did the submarine Kursk sink, killing over a hundred lives.
August 12, 2000 (Saturday)
On the day when the Kursk submarine sank, the crew of the ship never got out of touch. The military, observing the course of the exercises, noticed that at the appointed time there were no planned attacks. There was also no information that the submarine had surfaced. At 14.50, ships and helicopters of the Navy began to inspect the perimeter, trying to find a submarine, but the attempts were in vain. At 17.30, the captain of the Kursk submarine was supposed to report on the exercises, but the crew didn’t get in touch.
At 23.00 the military leadership already realized that the submarine crashed when the second time the captain of the "Kursk" did not get in touch. After half an hour, the nuclear submarines are declared emergency.
August 13, 2000 (Sunday)
The morning of the next day began with a search for the Kursk. At 4.51 in the morning with the echo sounder of the cruiser Peter the Great, an anomaly was discovered at the bottom of the sea. Subsequently, it turned out that this anomaly is the Kursk submarine. At 10 a.m. the first rescue ship was sent to the scene of the tragedy, but based on the depth at which the Kursk submarine sank, the first attempts to evacuate the crew did not bring the desired results.
August 14, 2000 (Monday)
Only on Monday at 11 a.m. the Navy for the first time reports of the Kursk tragedy. But then the testimony of the military is confused: in the first official statement it was indicated that radio communication was established with the crew. This information was later refuted by saying that communication takes place through tapping.
Closer to dinner, rescue vessels rush to the scene of the tragedy, the news reports that the power supply has already been cut off on the submarine, and the bow is completely flooded. Probably, in order to avoid panic, the military is actively denying the possibility of flooding the bow of the submarine. Nevertheless, speaking of the time of the accident, they call Sunday, although communication problems began as early as Saturday afternoon. Obviously, it is not beneficial for someone to divulge the whole truth about the death. Why did the submarine Kursk sink? Even today, when almost two decades have passed since the tragedy, many questions remain unanswered.
At six o’clock in the evening, the commander-in-chief of the Navy, Admiral Kuroyedov, confirmed that the submarine was seriously damaged and the chances of saving the crew were very low. On the evening of this day, they begin to make assumptions about the causes of the death of the sunken submarine Kursk. According to one version, she collided with a foreign submarine, but this information was refuted, as it later became known that an explosion occurred on board the submarine.
On the same day, Britain and the United States offered their assistance in the rescue operation.
August 15, 2000 (Tuesday)
A full-scale rescue operation was supposed to begin on this day, but because of the storm, rescuers cannot begin work. At 9 o’clock in the morning a message came from the military that the sailors in the Kursk submarine were alive, and the Russian fleet was capable of independently conducting a rescue operation without interfering with foreigners.
After three in the afternoon, when the storm calmed down, the rescue operation began, the sailors reported that not so much oxygen remained on the Kursk. At 9 pm, the first rescue capsule began to be immersed, but due to a new storm, all the manipulations had to be stopped. On the evening of this day, representatives of the Russian military forces meet with their colleagues from NATO.
August 16, 2000 (Wednesday)
At three o’clock in the afternoon, the Russian president declares the situation on board the Kursk critical, shortly afterwards, Deputy Prime Minister I. Klebanov said that no signs of life were found on the submarine.
At 16.00, Admiral Kuroyedov said that Russia would ask for help from Britain and other friendly states. A few hours later, official assistance requests were sent from Moscow to London and Oslo. The government of Norway and the UK reacted quickly, as early as 7 pm a rescue ship with the LR-5 (mini-submarine) was delivered to Trondheim (Norway).
August 17, 2000 (Thursday)
When the submarine Kursk sank, several attempts were made to rescue it. According to official sources, there were 6 such attempts, but, in fact, there were 10 of them, and all failed. Weather conditions did not allow to attach the rescue capsule to the hatch of the submarine.
On August 17, a rescue ship leaves Trondheim. According to the plan, he will not be at the scene of the disaster until Saturday. Also, another rescue crew was sent from Norway, who was planning to arrive on Sunday night.
Negotiations began with NATO, in particular with representatives of the North Atlantic Alliance. For a long 8 hours, authorities discussed a rescue operation plan.
August 18, 2000 (Friday)
In the morning, the military began to carry out rescue operations, but weather conditions prevented this, as last time.
In the afternoon, Colonel-General Yu. Baluevsky (Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces) said that although the collapse of the Kursk nuclear submarine had reduced the flotilla’s potential for a military unit, the tragedy didn’t affect the reduction of military power. Many residents were outraged by such a statement, because at that time it was necessary to think about saving the sailors who were on the ship. In addition, the public was more interested in the truth, why did the Kursk submerge?
The information that the submarine could collide with other floating objects was completely denied. Alexander Ushakov said that at the time of the military exercises in the Barents Sea there was not a single third-party facility.
The list of crew members is still not published, the leaders of the Navy motivate this by the fact that a rescue operation is currently underway. In the evening, the situation on Kursk was already called “supercritical,” but the rescue operations were not canceled.
August 19, 2000 (Saturday)
The Russian president is returning from Crimea with a statement that there is practically no hope of saving at least someone from Kursk. At 5 pm, Admiral M. Motsak announced that there were no more people left aboard the submarine.
Rescue operations are ongoing. Already in the evening, a rescue crew arriving from Norway arrives at the place where the submarine sank. The next morning, the dive is planned LR-5. The military suggests that the shell exploded when it hit the seabed.
August 20, 2000 (Sunday)
The rescue operation resumed on Sunday morning. British and Norwegian military forces joined the Russian navy. Although in the morning, the head of the government commission, Klebanov, said that the chances of saving at least one of the Kursk crew were “exceptionally theoretical.”
But, despite such a pessimistic statement, the Norwegian robotic arm reached the sunken submarine at 12.30. Divers descend behind the robot in a capsule. At 5 pm, the headquarters of the naval forces receives a message that the submariners managed to get to the Kursk hatch, but they cannot open it. At the same time, a message appears: divers divers are sure that someone was in the lock chamber and tried to get out.
August 21, 2000 (Monday)
After receiving information that there was someone in the lock chamber, on the night of August 21, Klebanov claims that it is impossible to manually open the hatch. However, Norwegian rescuers say that this is quite real, and that is what they will do early in the morning.
At 7.45, the Norwegians still opened the hatch of the Kursk submarine, but found no one. Throughout the day, divers try to break into the sunken submarine to save at least someone. At the same time, Admiral Popov notes that the ninth compartment, to which the second hatch leads, is probably flooded, therefore there will be no survivors.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, the news agency reported that the divers managed to open the hatch in the ninth compartment, as previously assumed - it was filled with water. Half an hour after opening the hatch, a camera is placed in the airlock; with its help, specialists tried to understand the state of the 7th and 8th compartments. In the 9th compartment, a video camera recorded the body of someone from the crew, and already at 17.00 M. Motsak made an official statement that the entire crew of the Kursk nuclear submarine was dead.
August was already in the courtyard of such a distant year 2000, and in what year the Kursk submarine sank. For 118 people, that summer was the last of their lives.
Mourning
According to the decree of the President of Russia, issued on August 22: 08/23 - declared the day of national mourning. After that day, they began to prepare an operation to lift the dead sailors. It began on October 25 and ended on November 7. The submarine itself was raised a year after the tragedy (photos of the sunken Kursk submarine are presented in the article). On October 10, 2001, the Kursk sunk into the deeps of the sea was towed to the Roslyakovsky shipyard. For all this time, 118 people were recovered from the submarine, three of which remained unidentified.
To find out what caused the tragedy, 8 investigation teams were formed, which began to inspect the submarine as soon as they pumped water out of the compartments. On October 27, 2001, the Prosecutor General of Russia V. Ustinov said that according to the results of the inspection, it can be concluded that an explosion occurred on the submarine, and the ensuing fire spread throughout the submarine. Experts found that at the epicenter of the explosion, the temperature exceeded 8,000 degrees Celsius, as a result, the boat was completely flooded after 7 hours, after it sank to the bottom.
But even today, the cause of the explosion is unknown, someone believes that the submarine was inadvertently “shot dead” in the exercises, someone believes that the explosion occurred by itself. But this does not negate the fact that the boat sank, and more than a hundred people died with it.
Naturally, the families of the victims received compensation, and crew members were awarded posthumous medals for Courage. Monuments and memorials have been erected in different cities of Russia in memory of the dead sailors who served on the Kursk. This event will forever remain in the memory of the relatives of the victims and will be the next date in the history of Russia. The criminal case on the death of Kursk was closed due to the lack of corpus delicti. Who is guilty of the tragedy remains a mystery: either the villain-fate gloated, or human negligence was well hidden by the authorities.
The distant and tragic 2000 — that was the year the Kursk submarine sank. 118 dead sailors and a new date on the pages of history. These are just numbers, but unfulfilled hopes, unexplored lives, unfulfilled heights - this is really a terrible grief. A tragedy for all mankind, because no one knows, maybe on board the Kursk there was a man who could change the world for the better.