![]() ![]() If it breaks apart and spills the highly radioactive contents of its reactors in the Barents Sea, the results will threaten one of the most productive fishing grounds in the Arctic. The Kursk will be raised from relatively shallow waters, less than 350 feet. "He promised that to the relatives, and our president is from a category of people who keep their word," Spassky said. President Vladimir Putin, criticized in an emotional encounter with the families of Kursk crew members for the navy's inability to stage a rescue, returned to the Kremlin and told Russia's leading submarine designer, Igor Spassky, that the sub had to be lifted to pay tribute to the crew and to give proper burial to the bodies that could be found. 12 explosion, 12 bodies were recovered, but perhaps 100 more remain entangled in the wreckage of the control room or locked in the rear compartments, where sailors fled the onrushing sea, then waited in darkness _ some writing farewell notes to loved ones _ for the rescue that never came. In November, during the first examination of the interior of the submarine by Russian divers since the Aug. Russian officials say the risks are outweighed by their duty to the perished crew as well as the Arctic environment. Each carries a warhead packed with nearly 1,000 pounds of high explosives. The crews must avoid disturbing the twin nuclear reactors and jostling the lethal payload of unexploded torpedoes and 22 supersonic cruise missiles, still snug in 30-foot launching canisters. The crew were awarded the Order of the Red Banner after the incident.But the raising of the Kursk, one of the largest and most complex salvages ever attempted, is fraught with danger. Of the 69 crewmen, 27 survived the incident and 42 died: 9 during the accident and the subsequent sinking, 30 in the water of hypothermia or injuries, and three aboard the rescue boat. The floating fish factory B-64/10 Aleksey Khlobystov (Алексей Хлобыстов) arrived 81 minutes after K-278 sank, and took aboard survivors. Many men had already died from hypothermia in the 2 ☌ (36 ☏) water of the Barents Sea. Rescue aircraft arrived quickly and dropped small rafts, but winds and sea conditions precluded their use. Only one of the five to reach the surface was able to leave the capsule and survive before it sank in the rough seas. The commanding officer and four others who were still on board entered the escape capsule and ejected it. At 15:15, several hours after surfacing, the boat sank in 1,680 metres (5,510 ft) of water, about 250 kilometres (135 nmi) SSW off Bear Island. The fire continued to burn, fed by the compressed air system. Distress calls were made, and most of the crew abandoned ship. An emergency ballast tank blow was performed and the submarine surfaced eleven minutes after the fire began. Electrical problems spread as cables burned through, and control of the boat was threatened. The reactor scrammed and propulsion was lost. ![]() On 7 April 1989, while under the command of Captain 1st Rank Evgeny Vanin and running submerged at a depth of 335 metres (1,099 ft) about 180 kilometres (100 nmi) southwest of Bear Island (Norway), a fire broke out in an engineering compartment due to a short circuit, and even though watertight doors were shut, the resulting fire spread through bulkhead cable penetrations. ![]()
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