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N0KFQ > TODAY 12.08.15 16:22l 47 Lines 2015 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 63859_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Aug 12
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 150812/1422Z 63859@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ1.4.63
2000
Russian sub sinks with 118 onboard
A Russian nuclear submarine sinks to the bottom of the Barents
Sea on this day in 2000; all 118 crew members are later found
dead. The exact cause of the disaster remains unknown.
The Kursk left port on August 10 to take part in war games with
the Russian military. Russian ships, planes and submarines met up
in the Barents Sea, which is above the Arctic Circle, to practice
military maneuvers. On August 12, the Kursk was scheduled to fire
a practice torpedo; at 11:29 a.m., before doing so, two
explosions spaced shortly apart occurred in the front hull of the
submarine and it plunged toward the bottom of the sea.
The Kursk was 500 feet long and weighed 24,000 tons. It had two
nuclear reactors and could reach speeds of 28 knots. It was the
largest attack submarine in the world, approximately three times
the size of the largest subs in the United States Navy.
With the fate of the 118 Russian soldiers onboard the Kursk
unknown, several nations offered to contribute to the rescue
effort, but the Russian government refused any assistance. When
divers finally reached the Kursk a week later, they found no
signs of life. Under a great deal of pressure, Russian President
Vladimir Putin agreed to raise the submarine from the sea bottom
for an investigation, although no ship or object that size had
ever before been recovered from the ocean floor. Furthermore,
given that the Barents Sea is frozen for most of the year, the
operation had only a small window in which to work.
Using $100 million, the best available technology and an
international team of experts, the Kursk was raised on September
26, 2001, about a year after the accident. Unfortunately,
however, the team was forced to cut off the front hull from the
rest of the sub in order to bring it to the surface, leaving the
best evidence of what caused the explosions at the bottom of the
sea.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
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