Submarines are considered secret ships, and probably not only because their life is shrouded in mystery. Sometimes this also applies to their death.
After all, the sea almost never leaves any witnesses or traces ...
The Kursk submarine was assembled in 1994 at the Severodvinsk Machine-Building Plant and immediately sent to the seventh division of the valiant Northern Fleet.
The captain of the first rank Lyachin, an experienced submariner, was appointed commander of the ship.
Experts were sure that Kursk is the latest generation submarine, absolutely reliable and has a huge survivability reserve.
The nuclear submarine safely participated in many training operations, and during air strikes against Yugoslavia from the depths of the sea, it secretly controlled American aircraft carriers.
For its only Mediterranean campaign, the Kursk submarine worked out five conditional attacks for very real purposes, for which 72 crew members were presented for awards. She was nicknamed “the killer of aircraft carriers”: she disappeared and appeared just as suddenly, causing panic and striking at “American vanity”.
In August 2000, the submarine was in the Barents Sea. It was the last day of military exercises. On the 12th, the Kursk submarine with tail number K 141 went on its final combat mission.
And did not return ...
The official version, which sounded dry enough, says that the submarine died as a result of a spontaneous explosion.
The entire crew died, 118 people ...
The whole country with tears in her eyes for several days watching the fate of the submarine. Hope, although very small, did not leave people until the very last second ...
What happened, why the reliable and unsinkable submarine Kursk, which at the time of the disaster had more than two dozen cruise missiles, so sadly and at the same time mysteriously ended its journey at the bottom of the Barents Sea?
The State Commission published its conclusion: the Kursk submarine, whose death occurred on August 12 at 11.28, exploded as a result of a leak of hydrogen - the fuel component of the torpedo. As a result of the fire literally immediately, detonation began. There was a second, more powerful explosion, which destroyed several compartments.
However, some submariners believe that the cause of the second explosion was a sharp collision with the soil of the bottom of the submarine, traveling at a speed of three knots, with the first compartment completely filled with water, at a depth of more than one hundred meters.
But there are other versions: several admirals of the Northern Fleet are convinced at once that the Kursk submarine was torpedoed by one of two American ships located nearby and watching the demonstration shots of the latest Squall torpedo, fired from the K 141 board.
There were other versions, such as a collision with a mine, an underwater object, presumably another boat, a ballistic missile entering Kursk, etc. But they were all rejected after the official version was announced.
Rescue operations began on August 13th, but due to their great depth, poor visibility and high speed, they were unsuccessful. And today it is unknown whether the crew could have saved if luck had been on the side of the submarine and rescuers could have sunk to the bottom.
In October 2001, it was, however, without the first compartment, with the help of the Norwegians, raised from the water. A detailed study already in the dry dock, as well as data from recorders made it possible to restore in detail the chronicle of the last tragic hours of the existence of Kursk.
The official version has been fully confirmed.
And let today many argue that torpedoes aboard nuclear submarines do not explode on their own, that the conclusions of the commission are not entirely correct, and the lives of 118 submariners cannot be returned ...
And the mystery of the dead Kursk will forever remain buried at the bottom of the cold and harsh Barents Sea.