K-141 Kursk

http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/7535/990107055yj8.jpg (http://amazingfiltered.blogspot.com/2007/04/nuclear-powered-k-141-kursk-submarine.html)

Class v Antei (Oscar-II by NATO classification), project 949A (in operation since 1986)

A submarine of this class is regarded as the most effective multipurpose sub in the world.

Built in 1992.

Launched in May 1994.

Commissioned on September 30, 1994.

Active in Russia's Northern Fleet from 1995 to 2000.

Passed inspection at the Sukhona floating dock in Severodvinsk in January 1998. Its weapons system was modernized there.

Physical and operational statistics:

Length v 154 m

Width v 18.2 m

Draft v 9 m

Displacement v 13,400/18,000 tons (14,700/23,860)

Speed -- 30 knots surface, 28 knots submerged (30/15)

Maximum submergence depth v 600 m

Hull v high-tensile steel

Number of compartments v 10

Crew v 130

Nuclear power plant - type OK-650, modified with two water-cooled power reactors; heat power v 2x190 megawatts, shaft power v 2x50, 50,000 hp

2 steam turbines (90,000 hp each); 2 seven-blade propellers

Weapons: 24 cruise-missile launchers. Missile v P-700/SSn-19 Granit; weight 6.9 tons, length 10.5 m, warhead weight 1,000 kg, range 555 km, speed Mach 1.5.

Missiles with nuclear warheads were removed from ships under the START Treaty

4 torpedo tubes (caliber 533 mm); 2 big caliber depth charges; (a variant v 8 torpedo tubes; 4 of which are of 533 mm caliber and 2 of 650 mm caliber). Unit of fire - 18 torpedoes.

Buoyancy reserve v 30%

The sub is capable of lying on the seabed.

Can stay at sea over 120 days

Place of manufacture v Severodvinsk

Base v Zapadnaya Litsa (Bolshaya Lopatka)

Number of this type of submarine built in Russia v 12

In 2001 there were 9 active submarines of this class (two are decommissioned and one sank).

http://img255.imageshack.us/img255/359/03dw4.jpg (http://amazingfiltered.blogspot.com/2007/04/nuclear-powered-k-141-kursk-submarine.html)

Here (http://amazingfiltered.blogspot.com/2007/04/nuclear-powered-k-141-kursk-submarine.html)

The Kursk disaster is a story I followed for years. It was a monument to the lack of Russian "Sub Safe" guidelines like the ones employed by the US military.

I could go on all day about the Kursk tragedy but here is the most compelling part: the note of a seaman who survived the initial blast but remained trapped in the depths and darkness of the Kursk until oxygen ran out.

Lt. Capt. Dmitri Kolesnikov, who left his note in his pocket describing how 23 surviving sailors huddled in the ninth compartment in the rear of the sub after the torpedo tube blast, wrote the following:

"15.45 [3:45 p.m.]. It is too dark to write here, but I will try and do it by touch. It doesn't look as if we have any chance. Ten to 20 percent. We will hope that at least someone will read this. Here is a list of the compartment staff, who are in the ninth and will try to get out. Best wishes to everyone. There is no need to despair."

As I recall this tragedy occurred during a Russian naval excercise and shook up the Russian Federation and the submarine community at large. I heard that a US sub that was monitoring the Russian naval exercise heard the Kursk topedo (that had apparently been armed and was "running hot in the rack") blow up inside the sub. NATO offered rescue submarine assistance immediatly. However, that offer wasn't accepted by the Russians until several days later after the trapped Kursk crew had run out of heat, light and oxygen.

Buried alive in the Barents Sea. A horrible way to go.