Kursk submarine disaster

 "accident"
Kursk submarine disaster (Shipwrecking,  Deep event?)

Date	12 August 2000
Location	Barents Sea,  Kola Peninsula,  Arctic
Perpetrators	NATO?
Blamed on	Russia?
Description	A Russian nuclear submarine sinking in 2000. Either an accident -or caused by a secret collision with a NATO submarine.

The Kursk nuclear submarine sank on 12 August 2000 in the Barents Sea, during the first major Russian naval exercise in more than 10 years. All 118 personnel on board were killed.

Official narrative

Over four days, the Russian Navy repeatedly failed in its attempts to attach four different diving bells and submersibles to the escape hatch of the submarine. Its response was criticised as slow and inept. Officials misled and manipulated the public and news media, and refused help from other countries' ships nearby. President Vladimir Putin initially continued his vacation at a seaside resort in Sochi and authorized the Russian Navy to accept British and Norwegian assistance only after five days had passed. Two days later, British and Norwegian divers finally opened a hatch to the escape trunk in the boat's flooded ninth compartment, but found no survivors.

An official investigation concluded that when the crew loaded a dummy 65–76 "Kit" torpedo, a faulty weld in its casing leaked high-test peroxide (HTP) inside the torpedo tube, initiating a catalytic explosion. The torpedo manufacturer challenged this hypothesis, insisting that its design would prevent the kind of event described.

Problems with official narrative

In November 2021, retired Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, who was the commander of Russia's Northern Fleet when the Kursk exploded and sank, was caused by a collision with a NATO submarine, an claim that defies the official conclusion that the catastrophe was triggered by a faulty torpedo. Popov told in an interview that the NATO submarine was also damaged in the powerful explosion and sent a distress signal from the area. He didn't identify the submarine. Popov, who was left holding the blame for the slow and bungled response to the catastrophe as the Northern Fleet's chief, has made the collision claim before, but his latest statement was more outspoken and detailed.

Russian media reports have claimed that two U.S. submarines and a British sub were detected in the area near the Russian naval exercise in the Barents Sea when the Kursk disaster happened.

In 2018, Thomas Vinterberg made a propagandistic movie about the incident, colored by the needs of the New Cold War, where "noble Norwegians" are begging the "callous Russians" to "accept their help".

 

The Official Culprit

Name	Description
Russia	The largest nation state in the world

Many thanks to our Patrons who cover ~2/3 of our hosting bill. Please join them if you can.