All language subtitles for Kursk-Submarine-Disaster

Saturday August 12 2011 20 M the

southern Barents Sea north of murmansk

russia

even in summer snow can fall on these

waters that border the Kola Peninsula

[Music]

but they are the only permanently ice

tree access that russia's northern fleet

has to the world and it is at this time

of year that russia conducts war games

for the ships of this fleet

today the Russian Cruiser Peter the

great leads other vessels of the fleet

in a game of cat and mouse their

opponent is not an American but a

Russian submarine designated k14 one

her name is coerced

[Music]

the captain of the course can his crew

make preparations for a mock attack it

is an attack that will never happen at

11:28 an explosion equivalent to 200

pounds of TNT rocks the course

[Music]

sixty-five miles away from course the

American submarine Memphis lies

eavesdropping on the Russian exercise

only minutes after the first explosion a

second massive blast over 40 times

greater than the first registers on the

American sonar we will never know for

certain the cause of the explosions what

is known is that the enormous force of

the second blast sends the Kursk and her

crew to the bottom of the Barents Sea it

would be the Russian Navy's greatest

tragedy but the events that sank this

great ship did not begin in these frigid

waters or in the year 2000 sometimes I'm

asked when did the the Kursk accident

actually happen and the easy answer is

to say it happened on August 12th 2000

but actually that the real answer it has

happened 10 years earlier it happened

when the the Soviet Union collapsed the

Revolution in 1991 would bring freedoms

that Russians had been dreaming of for

decades but it would also reveal that

what had been the Soviet Union was on

the brink of economic collapse the Navy

and its great submarine force were not

immune to huge cutbacks

life in the Soviet Navy had never been

pampered but sailors in the new Russian

maybe now endured hardships never before

asked of them

[Music]

at its peak in the mid-1980s the Soviet

submarine force deployed as many as 180

boats but by the end of the 90s fewer

than 40 subs remained in service

northern ports were filled with rusting

abandoned submarines now bringing those

kind of systems when you don't have much

in the way of financial backup and

support is really quite difficult that

it soon becomes potentially dangerous

but these guys were so so transcendently

patriotic about what they were doing for

the weather they were willing to defend

it and they were proud of defending it

regardless of what it took even amidst

the cutbacks the seventh member of a new

class of submarines is launched in May

1994 this newest sub is named for the

largest tank battle of World War two the

enormous new boat is christened course

the curse was 505 feet long 60 feet

across at the beam and displaced 18,000

tons submerged it was impressive no

question about it you we often look at

the Russian Navy the Russian Armed

Forces and believe it's a generation

behind what the United States fields but

in fact the Kursk was an exceptional

piece of engineering

kursk is five stories high on the length

of two jumbo jets in to end our mess

decks are spacious amazingly she even

has sauna baths and a swimming pool to

move all this through the water Kursk is

powered by two nuclear reactors that can

propel her at almost 30 knots while

submerged

in August 2000 the captain of this

remarkable vessel is 45 year old qunari

lyachin

he is a respected commander who is

admired by his crew as fair and capable

as he prepares to launch his practice

attack against the Peter the Great on

that August day and mm the action

commands 117 men captain lieutenant

Dmitri Kalashnikov is typical of the men

of the course the son of a submariner

Kalashnikov has been aboard Kursk for

five years and loves his work he had

recently married and brought his new

bride Olga to visit the ship he was so

committed to Olga and the rest of the

world will never know exactly what

happened on that day but it is possible

to reconstruct some of the events as

captain the action slowed to 8 knots he

prepared to launch a practice version of

the 6576 torpedo that Russian sailors

nicknamed fatty or the fat girl

the fat-girl torpedo weighs 9,000 pounds

and is propelled by kerosene fuel but to

move this enormous weapon at high speeds

the energy supplied to the motor by the

kerosene must receive an immense boost

by being force-fed huge amounts of

oxygen the oxygen has supplied by a

simple but highly concentrated chemical

called hydrogen peroxide hydrogen

peroxide is a manufactured chemical they

start with water and then they put an

extra oxygen atom on each water molecule

but if the hydrogen peroxide comes in

contact with certain catalytics

materials such as copper or brass or

other contaminants then the hydrogen

peroxide begins to disassociate rapidly

it produces great heat the heat in turn

generates great pressure by expanding

the volume of peroxide by five thousand

times but the Russians were willing to

gamble on using this temperamental but

powerful chemical both the British and

American Navy has introduced peroxide

torpedoes at the end of World War two

but by the 1960s both navies abandoned

peroxide as too dangerous

peroxide powered torpedoes required

ongoing and highly skilled maintenance

such maintenance can be demanding in the

most well-funded navies in the Russian

Navy of 2000 peroxide torpedoes were

accidents waiting to happen

later review of records indicated the

peroxide fueled weapon that went into

the Kursk torpedo tube had not received

the maintenance it required it became

clear that those torpedoes had been

stored and forgotten they had been

neglected and this is not a can of

tomato soup that can be stored on a

shelf for years sometime that morning of

August 12th the high-test peroxide

probably managed to leak through a

gasket or corroded seal and once the

leaking peroxide contacted brass or

copper pressure began to build with

irresistible force until at last the

torpedo exploded like a balloon backward

into the torpedo room

the massive fireball raced through the

first compartments killing all in its

path probably including captain Lee

auction

within seconds temperatures in the

torpedo room soared to 5,000 degrees

until at least four torpedo warheads

exploded with the force of five tons of

TNT the blast obliterated the front of

the cushion slowly the great ship headed

down by the bow until she settled on the

bottom

50 feet below the surface the shock wave

had moved back through the Sun battering

down bulkheads and instantly killing all

eight you

but buried in the belly of course the

heavily reinforced nuclear reactor had

stopped the force of the tremendous

explosion after the reactor four

compartments remained unfunded huddled

inside 23 men now awaited their fate

modern marvels Kursk

will return in a moment we now return to

an inviting disaster curse on modern

marvels the explosions aboard the Kursk

illustrate the principle that when human

lives are at stake

need immediate help from wherever source

international from experts around the

world from other governments that is no

time to be hiding to be evasive to be

attempting to salvage a reputation

[Music]

August 12 2000 sometime afternoon four

of the rear compartments of course cap

survived the terrible explosions of that

morning in the red glow of emergency

lighting survivors help each other

toward the last compartment or the air

will soon become a stale atmosphere

rapidly filling with carbon dioxide they

are alive but the cramped space in which

they now huddle is miserable

it's extremely cold it's extremely dark

they're very frightened and they

probably got the feeling in the back of

their mind that no one knows that it's

happened to them like all modern Serbs

Kursk was equipped with two escape

hatches one has survived the blast it is

theoretically possible that the men can

put on breathing masks and float to the

surface but if no one picks them up

immediately they will die of hypothermia

there is another problem their small

compartment is leaking the pressure of

350 feet of depth is forcing water into

the cell the worst is in the ninth

compartment which is the last in the

submarine it is here that the propulsion

shafts go through the hull to the

propellers with no forward movement the

pressure has water shooting in around

the shaft but it isn't drowning that

threatens the map the problem wouldn't

have been the water coming into the

submarine is the fact that the the water

would would cause the pressure to rise

as water fills the compartment the

remaining air surrounding the men would

be compressed into higher and higher

pressure in any escape attempt

nitrogen forced into the crews blood by

the pressure would turn to bubbles as

they ascended twisting joints and making

breathing impossible faced with frigid

water and possibly dying of the bends

the men in compartment 9 make a choice

they decided that since they knew that

the Northern Fleet had a submarine

rescue capabilities they would wait for

rescue and who's to blame them

captain lieutenant Dmitri Kalashnikov

has taken it upon himself to assume

command of the survivors after the

decision is made to stay in the course

he manages to find paper and writes to

his wife

Olga I love you please don't be too

upset it's 1316 all the crew from

sections 6 7 & 8 have moved to section 9

there are 23 of us here we have made

this decision because none of us can

escape

the problem with the survivors decision

to stay is that no one on the surface is

taking any action to come to their aid

on board his flagship Peter the Great a

commander of the Northern Fleet Admiral

Vishwa Popov is aware of course kis

overdue to check in now he's told two

explosions have been picked up by sonar

as an X sub marine er Popov knows

something terrible has happened to Kursk

he also knows that as the fleet

commander he would take a great deal of

the blame in the tradition of the

Russian military his immediate reaction

on this day is to do nothing

many people say that one of the greatest

weaknesses of the Russian Northup leet

in fact of the Russian armed forces is

the flow of information very few people

have an incentive to pass bad news up

the chain of command

Popov finally notifiers the high command

but it is not until 12 hours after the

sinking that an emergency is declared

[Music]

the Northern Fleet has rescued

submersibles in nearby ports whose

mission it is to rescue stranded

submarine errs by diving down and

locking on to the escape hatch of the

stricken sub one of these submersibles

Capri's his finally loaded aboard a

support vessel and put to sea but

Russian rescue vessels have also been

the victims of Russian budget cuts

Sunday August 13th 5:20 p.m. nearly 30

hours after the course went to the

bottom the priests at last dives to

attempt a rescue the submersible relies

on very crude thrusters to position her

over the course even worse her batteries

are hopelessly outdated and will allow

only a short time to attempt the rescue

in spite of the limitations the crew of

the priests come close to locking on to

the course but their attempts fail and

they are forced to return to the surface

to recharge batteries it is sadly

apparent that the little Russian sub is

not equipped to bring the men of course

back to the surface they were well

manned by very professional very proud

in fact very courageous men but they

couldn't fight the beam adequate

engineering the inadequate repair work

the inadequate maintenance had been

hadn't been done for for many many years

but alternatives to the obsolete priests

are available and standing by

intelligent sectors of the British in

American navies know full well that a

Russian submarine has been lost and both

navies maintain excellent submarine

rescue vessels ready to travel anywhere

in the world at a moment's notice

the Russians know this but they refused

to ask for help for over 40 years the

British and American navies had been

Russia's opponents in the game of the

Cold War

to rush to ask Western Navy's for help

now is more than the pride of Russian

Admirals can accept some individuals who

are still you know thinking that you

know they're still spying on us they're

still practicing with us as their as

their enemy etc etc this is not a good

time for us to get all kissy faced

what's fascinating to me is it is still

the Cold War the Cold War is still very

much alive in the kursk event

it was probably never realistic that the

Russian Navy would turn to the Americans

for help but the British Royal Navy does

not come with nearly as much political

baggage and the British have two forms

of technology that might save the

survivors on the course the first is

1,500 miles away sitting in a

maintenance building in Scotland

this is lr5 she weighs about 21 and a

half tons and she can carry a 16 rescue

ease and she has a crew of three and

she's developed to go to depths of up to

400 meters the lr5 submersible is

similar to the russian pries but

possesses much more advanced technology

using sophisticated sonar the lr5 can be

maneuvered to the escape hatch of a

stricken sub up to 1,200 feet down

unlike the Russian vessel lr5 can

approach the stricken submarine from

almost any angle a flexible skirt

settles over the escape hatch water

inside the skirt is pumped out sealing

the lr5 in the sub like a suction cup

the subs hatch is opened and the

stranded crew can be taken aboard the

rescue vessel the offshore oil industry

of britain and norway has been

responsible for developing another

technology that could be used to rescue

the kursk survivors in order to

construct and repair oil drilling

equipment on the seafloor the oil

industry has perfected the technique of

saturation diving the technique allows

divers to work at deep ocean pressure

down to a thousand feet then returned to

the surface without experiencing the

bends to do this divers are placed in

chambers which increase the pressure on

their bodies until it equals that of the

ocean floor the divers are then lowered

to the bottom by a diving bell

when they have finished work for the day

they return to rest in the pressurized

chamber when their work is completely

finished the Chamber's slowly reduces

the pressure on their bodies until it

again matches the surface atmosphere

if saturation divers can reach the

course perhaps they can establish

contact with any survivors

Russia has very few such divers and no

equipment to support such a complex

mission but in the days following the

accident the Russians see no reason to

ask others to help as a storm tosses the

waters above the sunken course time is

passing the Russians have failed in

their rescue attempts the odds are

increasingly against the 23 trapped

survivors

the courage of the men in that

compartment as witnessed by the notes

that were recovered that they had

written to their families was absolutely

heroic I don't know how he did it inside

the dark and cold coffin of the ninth

compartment the surviving men are left

with only flashlights the gasp for

breath as oxygen disappears Dmitriy

Kalashnikov writes again to his wife

none of us can escape to the surface it

seems like there are no chances in the

more than 10 or 20% let's hope that at

least someone will read this regards to

everybody no need to despair collision

cough

your heart goes out to this case the

Soviet Navy's first nuclear submarine

was the k3 velinski Komsomol it crossed

the North Pole in 1962 modern marvels

will return in a moment we now return to

an inviting disaster curse on modern

marvels the cursed disaster is only one

in a long line of cases of misuse and

under respect of explosive materials

there's the explosion at the New London

Texas school district the main school

building in 1937 where just after school

almost three hundred adults and children

were caught up in the explosion of

natural gas and the second case that

comes to mind is Texas City Texas where

the grand camp and a Liberty ship full

of 2,200 tons of ammonium nitrate caught

fire the ship exploded killing almost

500 people so what we have here are

cases where people were lulled into

security although they were dealing with

large amounts of explosive materials and

we would see that happen again with

curse

Monday August 14th day 3 Vladimir Putin

Russian president for just three months

is on vacation at the Black Sea when

coast goes to the bottom he is not told

of the accident until almost a day later

he accepts advise to remain on holiday

it is a decision he will regret

in England on this day Commodore David

Russell is the duty officer in charge of

submarines for the Royal Navy when he is

told of the course

I think the first reaction was a

submariner that I had that there was

something wrong with another submarine

was that really it's the same reaction

that anyone who goes to sea has with any

disaster at sea is that you really want

to help if you can I think that's

particularly acute in the case of

submariners you know what it's going to

be like on board and you know that time

is of the essence we don't need any

orders in situations like that we make

up our minds and we get on with it

without orders or authorisation and

still unrequested by Russia

Russell begins to set wheels in motion

to come to the aid of possible survivors

he loads the lr5 aboard a huge Antonov

cargo jet which will carry the rescue

submersible to Norway there it will

rendezvous with the mothership the

Normand pioneer you'd go with what can

and you get it to to Norway put it on

board the mothership and send the ship

towards Russian waters because you can

always bring it back by noon on Monday

the British Embassy in Moscow officially

offers help for the rescue

American officials will soon do the same

but in Russia military leaders are still

pretending that all is under control

rumors are flying everywhere about the

loss of the Kursk instead of addressing

the rumors with directness and honesty

the Russian military resorts to the

deceptions of the past the Kursk is

described as having simply a malfunction

Admiral Popov offers the preposterous

claimed that communications have been

established with the crew and that water

and oxygen are being supplied

it is poignant to think that as they

were dying there in the ninth

compartment their families are sure were

being comprehensively lied to by the

Admirals for those 23 men were serving

if got even as hours turned today's

media pressure at home and international

a begins to build for President Putin to

intervene in Kursk operations it is no

longer the dark Soviet days of

restricted press now reporters want to

know why Putin is still on holiday and

why the names of those aboard course

have yet to be released

he'd only been in power remember 100

days at this point he didn't understand

that he had to be seen to be helping

that he couldn't just delegate this to

submarine rescue professionals up there

on the Kola Peninsula that he had to get

personally involves finally the Russian

president begins to grasp the potential

political consequences of the unraveling

story of course after a call from

President Bill Clinton urging him to act

putin orders his admirals to accept

Western aid in the rescue one of the

first things requested our divers to go

down to the course to see if they can

get any response from inside the vessel

the call for help goes to sport a

Norwegian and British underwater

construction company

industry one of the first goals they

make mr. diver Tony Scott

then when the phone call came from stole

offshore never because it they just said

it deep diving job in north and always I

knew what it was because you know it's

expecting something and just so jumped

at the opportunity Tony Scott and the

other saturation divers will meet the

dive ship Seaway eagle in Trump's own

Norway where it will be rigged for the

mission in less than 12 hours the Eagle

heads north

she is followed by the Normand pioneer

carrying the lr5 rescue self Commodore

David Russell will be overall

coordinating officer for the Royal Navy

what he needs now are technical answers

and we need technical information

because this is a complex operation you

need to know what the situation is

actually on site but Russian authorities

are not quick to provide such

information it is clear that they are

stalling the British rescue team heads

toward the Kursk knowing little more

than what has appeared in the press as

the British ships team north at full

speed Russia's Deputy Prime Minister

ilya klebanov meets with the families

and attempts to dodge responsibility for

the accident without any evidence he

claims the course was sunk by an

American submarine

Nadezhda Tillich has a son aboard Kursk

at last her fear and frustration with

such lies move her to interrupt the

Deputy Prime Minister and shout what so

many families are feeling in a scene

that shocks the world

a female medic steps forward with a

hypodermic needle containing sedatives

she injects Nadezhda Tilak through her

coat into her thigh

Tillich sinks into her chair as the

sedative takes effect Russia is changing

but some of the old ways of dealing with

dissent still remain Saturday August

19th 11:30 a.m. the Normand pioneer

arrives at the site of the accident

hopes are high the Kursk is a huge ship

a sealed compartment would hold a large

quantity of air perhaps enough that men

could still be alive but the English and

Norwegian rescue team is greeted with a

shock when Russian Admirals arrive for a

meeting

Russian search-and-rescue commander

Admiral Gennady Viraj amazingly tows

Commodore Russell that the lr5 will have

to stay miles away from the course the

rescue team begins to wonder why they've

come I think the problem was we rapidly

began to get the feeling that actually

admiral rich Lee's agenda was one of

their probably are dead already we just

need to bring this to a quick close by

finding that out we know as submariners

what it would be like to be in that

position he really wouldn't like someone

giving up after four or five days mainly

because that's what the book said and

you'd want them to continue until there

was absolutely no chance the British and

Norwegian team the best hope for rescue

is at last on the scene but it appears

they will not be allowed to give the men

of course that one last chance for

survival the US Navy's first use of a

rescue craft occurred after the sinking

of the squalus in 1939 modern marvels

we'll return in a moment

we now return to an inviting disaster

curse on modern marvels one way to think

of it is that so much effort goes into

developing these machines and it seems

to suck up the money and the time and

the expertise leaving the tail-end for

working out the kinks for writing the

manuals for working through the

procedures what if X happens what are

the people on the scene supposed to do

Sunday August 20th 10:00 a.m. the ninth

day after traveling over 1500 miles the

lr5 and its crew are now forced to sit

helplessly miles from the Kursk Russian

Admiral Gennady Viraj won't admit it but

he has never wanted foreigners involved

in the course of tragedy he just wants

to get the situation resolved good or

bad but without foreigners dead guys

equals not so great but dead guys with

foreigners equals a you know sort of a

political living hell but the Russians

do finally authorized the divers from

Seaway eagle to go down to course Tony

Scott and the other Norwegian and

British divers have been in the

compression chamber for hours preparing

for the descent now they enter the

diving bell and head for the bottom I

think everybody was thinking that it

wasn't a hundred percent likely that

there was gonna be any survivors but

there was just that chance the Scott

leaves the diving bell and enters the

cold pitch dark world of the ocean floor

to maintain body heat at this depth hot

water is constantly pumped into his suit

was a very big prominent white painted

ring around the hatch and that came into

view you know I had imagined it to be a

rounded shape and you might have to

clean on two entire self off but you

just might it was just like staying on

top of the buildings a bit after a few

minutes dive supervisors above passed

the word it is time to send a signal to

anyone who might still be alive inside

the course Scott will tap a pre-arranged

code on the side of the hall

it is no date it will be heard inside

and what we were desperately hoping to

hear was a return tub every person on

the the Eagle was awake little ships

holding his breath and hoping

best

[Music]

I mean we did want it to be you know if

you could will something to happen

that's what wanted happen you wanted to

hear something Tony rests his head on

the hole and stops breathing to listen

for the slightest response sadly there

is no answer

but the lack of response to the tapping

still doesn't rule out the chance of

life inside not having gained any

response that didn't necessarily mean

there was nobody alive you know they

could have been unconscious they could

have been in stupor or coma whatever the

priority for the divers now shifts to

finding out if the compartment below is

flooded the only means of getting at the

sub interior is through the remaining

escape hatch Scott and his diving

partner are hovering over the hatch

leads to an intermediate chamber which

is separated from the ninth compartment

by a second lower hatch that opens

inward if the divers open the outer

hatch and the inner hatch is already

open survivors below will drown

it is vital the rescuers learn if the

interconnecting chamber is flooded they

come up with a plan to do this by

opening a small valve on the outer hatch

there's a what we call an equalization

valve new operates and it tells you

whether you've you're sucking the water

in or whether there's no suction and

therefore inside and outside of equal

pressure if the chamber below is dry

water around the valve will be sucked in

word because the ocean pressure is so

much greater if the chamber below is

flooded the pressure is equal and no

water will move the difference is

critical the problem is it is almost

impossible to observe the water's

movement the engineers aboard the Seaway

eagle devised a simple test so what we

did is we had a bottle made up with I

believe it was milk at the time some

substance that was easily seen under

water and we just squirted it around the

valve just so you know you would see

that flowing in if there was going in

this you wanted there's no detectable

flow in or out that was pretty good

evidence at that hatch below the hatch

was flooded the outer hatch is opened

showing the chamber is indeed flooded

there is virtually no hope remaining for

the survivors but the lower hatch will

have to be opened a special wrench is

manufactured aboard the Eagle and sent

down to the divers the Russians asked us

to open the hatch so we sent the hatch

doggin mechanism to the open position

but still the hatch didn't drop open

[Music]

although not yet fully opened the lower

hatch seal has now been cranked bubbles

pulse around the seal from the

compartment below they cause some

confusion until someone realizes it is

simply the surge of the time pulling

small amounts of air out of the ninth

compartment the time has arrived to

fully open the inner hatch an arm of the

remote vehicle pushes it open the

remaining gas that had accumulated in

the ninth compartment rushes out later

tests will confirm this gas was unfit

for human life

as the bubbles stream upward then burst

and disappear so to the remaining hopes

of the manacles

it was a remarkable display of

commitment by the Norwegian and the

British rescuers who went to the scene

at August 2000 they didn't give a damn

about the politics in the Ministry of

Defence they didn't give a damn about

the Russian Admirals they were genuinely

motivated by a desire to save human life

the work of the British and Norwegian

rescue specialists is finished they will

not participate in any salvage effort

for the first time since it arrived the

Normand pioneer is allowed to float

directly over the course on behalf of

the Royal Navy Commodore Russell leads a

memorial service and flowers are tossed

to float above the dead submarine it

didn't feel we could have done anything

better than we did it's about the only

comfort there is it's different it's

that perhaps that it may just be that

out of these tragic circumstances comes

a little bit of hope for the future all

attempts to rescue the men of course

have failed but the impact of this

disaster on a grieving Russia is not

over

energetic oxygen containing chemicals

have been implicated in non submarine

accidents also including the crash of

ValuJet flight 592 in 1996 modern

marvels will return in a moment we now

return to an inviting disaster curse on

modern marvels we tend to relate most to

people like ourselves who are bystanders

who are accidentally caught up in these

events but so often it's the workers

that really pay the price for what I

regard as carelessness and at the top

that the management does not have the

proper attitude of the healthy fear

[Music]

on his 22nd 2002 days after all hope is

given up for the men of coast Russian

President Vladimir Putin that blast

arrives in VDI both the home port of the

sub to meet with the families of the

dead crew he pledges that curse will be

raised and the bodies of their loved

ones retrieved

although Putin's pledge is well received

by the grieving families accomplishing

the faith will be an enormous

technological challenge to Dutch

companies are contracted to take on the

immense job of retrieving the great sub

work begins 11 months after the accident

the forward section of Kursk which had

sustained massive damage from the

explosions will be cut off and left

behind a diamond-studded chain acts like

an immense hacksaw as it slices through

the double hull of high-strength steel

working in the tremendous tangle of

debris and cutting into unknown spaces

is very dangerous my personal thoughts

are cutting into any space is hazardous

because you get a buildup hydrogen

oxygen in a concentration that is very

explosive and I have been divers killed

by explosions by cutting into things due

to the build-up of the gases once the

bow of course has been cut off a huge

barge appropriately-named giant is towed

from Holland and positioned over the Sun

giant is equipped with 26 heavy cables

each capable of lifting 900 tons

divers begin cutting holes into the site

of course with powerful Jets of abrasive

sand

after weeks of work each of the cables

on the barge is attached to the holes on

October 8th 2001 14 months after the

accident

mammoth jacks on board the Giant at last

begin to lift the course and the remains

of the sailors will rest within her

even without her bow course quays 9600

tonnes never before has anything this

heavy been lifted from the bottom of the

sea

it takes 15 hours to raise the Hulk into

position below the Giant

ocean going tugs and begin to tow the

barge and it's grim cargo to awaiting

drydock in Murmansk as course leaves the

scene of its death

divers place a marble tombstone on the

floor of the sea

suspended beneath the barge Kursk is at

last towed into position in the drydock

on October 23rd 2001 water is drained

and the face of the great submarine once

again appears in the weeks that follow

bodies are removed and investigators

pore over every part of the sub just

three of the 118 crewmen are left

unidentified autopsies of the dead

sailors reveal the 23 survivors in the

ninth compartment at last met their end

in a second disaster the final event

that killed those sailors was a fire an

intense fire caused by their chemical

canisters that generated oxygen meeting

an oily film on the water that was

rising in that compartment each

compartment of course was equipped with

canisters holding potassium superoxide a

chemical was used to scrub the air of

carbon dioxide and replace oxygen

unfortunately if potassium superoxide

touches water it reacts violently

releasing great heat at some time one of

the struggling survivors probably

dropped one of these canisters it's heat

and high oxygen content would have

turned the oily water into a blowtorch

those who didn't die in the fire

suffocated when the last of the oxygen

was consumed by the flames it now

appears certain that all were dead well

before the British and Norwegians

received the call to come to their aid

[Music]

the investigative board at last confirms

leaking peroxide in the fat-girl torpedo

as the cause of the explosions which

killed Kursk but that answer does not go

far enough

the men of course gave their lives

because of Russia's ongoing but

unrealistic commitment to a level of

military technology it could no longer

afford not only the technology of their

torpedoes but that of their rescue

vessels had been allowed to fail by a

system that diluted itself into thinking

it was still a superpower

the tragedy of course reminds the world

that arrogance and pride can be killers

when mixed with high technology I

believe that history is going to view it

as the last dramatic event of the Cold

War those guys died for the Cold War

we've thought of that Cold War as one in

which very there was very little

bloodshed

well there's 118 guys all out of rec

families who can testify otherwise

[Music]

Vladimir Putin survived the criticism of

his slow response to the Kursk tragedy

but he had tasted the public's anger as

had no Russian leader since the Tsar now

Putin demands reform leaders who had put

their careers and self-interest in the

way of prompt reporting and rescue are

called to account Rear Admiral Barrett

who had refused to allow lr5 to even

enter the water was fired Admiral Popov

who had resisted taking action as men

died was relieved of command one of the

lists of models in ilya klebanov the

deputy premier who had steadfastly

insisted Kursk had been sunk by an

American submarine was fired

but managed atelic who had screamed in

rage at klebanov became a hero to all

who dream of being able to criticize

their government without fear a story of

failure in russia's once proud submarine

fleet unfortunately continues on August

30th 2003 the sub k1 5/9 sank as it was

being towed to a scrapyard

nine men died and a tragedy described as

needless this time President Putin

responded immediately to the news of the

sinking and launched another

investigation but Russian sailors had

once again paid with their lives for the

inept decision-making of their

commanders as the months passed Russians

paused to bury and grieve for the men

who died aboard Kursk they had given

their lives to Mother Russia not on a

battlefield but in a submarine made

dangerous by outmoded equipment poor

maintenance and shoddy standards but the

deaths of the men of course marked a

very real precedent in Russia's evolving

democracy

it revealed a shift in the way Russia's

people respond to the deceit and

manipulation of their government we

often talk about how the curse submarine

is a metaphor for Russia in decline but

the families are also a metaphor for a

new Russia for a more hopeful Russia

because they understand that they're no

longer prepared to be lied to without

reacting they now understand they have a

a voice in a new Russia Kursk was

eventually towed to a scrapyard where

she was chopped into pieces and melted

down but the great submarine did leave

something of herself behind the drama of

the men who fought for life within her

Hall continues to provide her countrymen

with an undying example of dedication

patriotism and courage