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Kursk submarine tragedy remembered ten years later
Published: 12 August, 2010, 07:30
Edited: 17 August, 2010, 20:26
TAGS: Anniversary, Military, Russia, Accident
The accident onboard the nuclear submarine Kursk that happened exactly 10 years ago during the naval exercise left all 118 members of its crew, most of whom were under 30, dead.
Mourning ceremonies have been held at all fleets of the Russian Federation’s navy to remember the victims of the tragedy.
Fleet commanders and families of the victims took part in a ceremony of throwing wreaths into the Barents Sea, where the tragedy happened ten years ago.
The catastrophe of the Kursk submarine is Russia's largest post-Soviet naval tragedy to date.
The Kursk had been the pride and the emblem of power of Russia's fleet, but a decade ago it turned to a symbol of pain.
On August 12, 2000 the nuclear submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea during a maritime exercise.
International rescue efforts failed to save anyone on board.
All 118 sailors aboard died while trapped in a watery grave waiting in vain for help.
Lydia Panarina, mother of 24-year-old Andrey who was a lieutenant on the Kursk, says what happened 10 years ago feels like yesterday.“When I think of the pain he felt, it kills me. I would do anything – give my life to take away his pain – anything for my boy.”
She and her younger sons and grandsons often visit Andrey's grave. His memory is something they're not prepared to let go of.
“I'm a teacher, not a military expert. So I don't know whether the tragedy could be avoided. But I do know they should have been saved, our boys. They had to save them,” Lydia Panarina says.
According to experts, if rescue operations had begun immediately, instead of some days later, lives could have been saved.
Afterwards, oxygen levels in the remaining sectors where survivors huddled dropped dramatically. By August 14, Navy officials stated the chances for getting the sailors out alive were minimal. A week later, when divers entered the sub, 118 people were dead.
There have been many different versions of what really happened to the Kursk sub.
Some people believe it may have collided with an American submarine that was in the same waters, others – that it could have struck a mine left over from World War II.
But regardless of the theories floating about, the human tragedy of the Kursk cannot be denied – or ever forgotten.
12.08.2010, 00:23
2 comments
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Shocking that Russia could let these men die - irrespective of the circumstances under which the Kursk got into trouble. In future be strong enough to ask for help! We all need it!
Hello my Russian friends, I sympathize with your loss but I believe you have it wrong. I was an American submariner in the Cold War. My submarine, the Hammerhead, trailed three Soviet nuclear submarines in the Med during my tour in the 80s. At one point, we hid underneath the Kirov, a Soviet nuclear cruiser. One mid-watch, we had an incident in which we inadvertently went to all-ahead-flank when in trail of a Victor-class. We sped up and almost scraped his paint off. The Soviet crew on duty never reacted, even though they had to have heard us. I believe they covered up the incident because they would have been in trouble with the political officer onboard and were protecting the captain's career. In any case, I was interviewed by Pravda after the sinking of the Kursk and asked if a collision with an American submarine could have caused the sinking, and my reply was the circumstances did not lead to that conclusion. The weapons test underway of an underwater solid-fueled torpedo/missile killed the Kursk. I am the author of 9 novels (see ussdevilfish.com) and in several of my novels (try "PHOENIX SUB ZERO"), the use of an underwater solid-fueled torpedo blows up the firing ship. In this case, life imitated art. If an American sub collided with Kursk, she would have been able to emergency blow to the surface with a minor leak. Adding to American frustration is that Putin turned down American offers of help. Russia needs to understand -- we all watched the death of the Kursk in agony, all of us praying for the survival of the Kursk crew. I know, I was glued to the TV. All of my friends and family cried over the deaths of the Kursk crew. We all were so sorry for the loss of Russia's sons on that vessel. My Russian friends, there was no conspiracy and no American fault in this sinking.
Michael DiMercurio Do think the U.S media tells "the truth"? Do you think the 5000 plus American soldier who were killed in Iraq because they were fighting a war based on lies and deceit in Iraq deserved to live? Note: unlike the heroic sailors of Kursk, the dead American soldiers bodies from Iraq and Afghanistanm are often smuggled on the dead of night into country and are not often buried with military honour. Do you think thousands more American soldiers who have been maimed for life in Iraq and Afghanistan deserved to lead peaceful productive lives? At least in Russia, soldiers who die in defense of the Motherland are adored and remembered with statues and parades for generations and centuries. The same is not true in the United States. Putin could have begged the imperialists for help. But he has a moral duty to support the families of these sailors and to raise standards of the Russia’s navy. If we wish to speak about the agony of pain, perhaps we need to look at the victims of the nuclear bombs against the civilian population in Japan.