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N0KFQ > TODAY 07.08.15 16:42l 52 Lines 2324 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 63498_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Aug 7
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 150807/1434Z 63498@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
2005
Trapped Russian sub rescued
On this day in 2005, a Russian Priz AS-28 mini-submarine, with
seven crew members on board, is rescued from deep in the Pacific
Ocean. On August 4, the vessel had been taking part in training
exercises in Beryozovaya Bay, off the coast of Russia's
far-eastern Kamchatka peninsula, when its propellers became
entangled in cables that were part of Russia's coastal monitoring
system. Unable to surface, the sub's crew was stranded in the
dark, freezing submarine for more than three days.
At 1 p.m. on August 4, the Priz, trapped at 190 meters below the
ocean surface, issued a mayday call. The Russian navy soon began
to organize a rescue mission, asking for help from the United
Kingdom, United States and Japan. In the ensuing days, while the
three countries mobilized rescue crews for the trip to eastern
Russia, the Russian navy attempted to first lift the sub from the
water and later to drag it to shallower water where it could be
reached by divers. Both approaches were complicated by the 60-ton
anchor attached to the cables that had ensnared the sub. Finally,
with fears mounting that the trapped crew's oxygen supply would
soon run out, the six-man crew of a British-owned-and-operated
Scorpio-45 rescue sub arrived and was able to cut the sub loose.
All seven on board, which included six Russian navy seamen and
one representative of the company that made the sub, survived the
ordeal.
The Priz incident occurred just five years after the Kursk, a
Russian nuclear submarine, sank, killing all 118 people on board.
In that disaster, the Russian government had delayed asking for
outside help for some 30 hours and was widely blamed for the
sailors deaths. As the disaster unfolded, Russian President
Vladimir Putin stunned the public by failing to address the
nation and even refused to cut short his vacation in light of the
tragedy.
Although Russians everywhere were relieved and happy that the
Priz was successfully rescued, others could not believe that the
Russian navy had not acquired its own rescue equipment in the
five years since the Kursk tragedy. For many, the Priz incident
highlighted the effect of a decade of decay on the once-mighty
Russian military.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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