August 12, 2000, today marks 23 years since the sinking of the Kursk (K-141) in the Barents Sea.
Lately I've been focusing on collecting naval items and wanted to share two items that I recently added to my collection. One is a November 6, 2000 issue of Newsweek magazine talking about the Kursk Submarine Disaster. The second is a commemorative badge for the Kursk.
A little brief history on the name of the submarine, Kursk was named after the city of Kursk. The Battle of Kursk in 1943 was the largest tank battle between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. The Soviets took the victory.
On August 12, 2000, the Kursk was participating in the "Summer X" wargames. This was the biggest naval exercise that Russia had done in 10 years and the first since the collapse of the USSR. Thirty ships and three submarines were taking part in the exercise. The Kursk was scheduled to fire a dummy torpedo and due to a HTP (High Test Peroxide) leak the torpedo exploded. Two minutes and 15 seconds later a larger explore occurred, which resulted in 5-7 torpedo warheads to explode.
23 sailors survived the explosions and made their way to the ninth compartment of the submarine. However, in the end all 118 sailors passed away. A note was found on the body of Captain-Lieutenant Dmitry Kolesnikov which show a small glimpse into the situation. A flash fire occurred and consumed the remaining oxygen in the ninth compartment when the crew attempted to replace a potassium superoxide chemical oxygen cartridge but fell into the oily water.
Anniversary of the Kursk K-141
Anniversary of the Kursk K-141
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