What sank the Kursk??

O.K i know this isnt a US or European Military issue just wanna know if anyone knows what sank that nuclear sub what it radiation leakeage? or Espionage?or what.

Certain Russian Military higher ups still seem to think it was a collision with a US sub, but the best evidence ive seen was that it was a torpedo room explosion, i will find a link for you when i get the chance.
www.bellona.no/en/international/russia/navy/northern_fleet/incidents/kursk/18778.html
heres a report regarding the fact that it may have been a leaking torpedo that sank the Kursk

[Edited on 14-8-2003 by RogueTrooper]

Cheers Rogue thats what i heard i was watching a programme about it they mentioned something about the torpedo room exploding.

I dont believe it was a collision otherwise the US would have reported it, wait the US never report things like this.

[Edited on 14-8-2003 by drunk]

No probs, but there are still some people that insist it was a US sub, their reasoning for that is that after the Kursk went down a sat image was released supposedly showing a US sub docked in a European Millatary base for what they say were repairs. Sorry i cant find the image but you may be able to find it if you rummage around google.
If it was a US sub then it is unusual because as far as i know US subs dont dock anywere exept their home port. I may be wrong tho perhaps some one could help us with that.
The base were this sub supposedly dock was not far from the location of the Kusk, finnland? or some were like that.


[Edited on 14-8-2003 by RogueTrooper]

Or it could be an enchanced image that you saw, the US govt do thats ort of thing nowadays to get the public on their side.

Im not sure where the image came from but it was the ruskies who were waving it about, so i think it may have come from a Russian sat. The image quality wasnt great tho.

It was Yeltsin's empties.

I saw a very good documentary on this. The Kursk had some old style torpedoes that use hydrogen peroxide as one of the fuel components. When this hits carbon steel, it volumetrically expands some astronomical amount (like 600 times or something, I can't remember the exact expansion ratio). Anyway, they concluded that there was a leak in the plumbing from the fuel tank to the engine of the torpedo which allowed the hydrogen peroxide to leak out into the carbon steel housing. So, basically it created a gigantic pipe bomb...which exploded.

The documentary reported of a similar occurrence in the past when a submarine was docked in port. They had loaded two experimental torpedoes that were also fueled in this manner that exploded at dock and sank it right there in the port.

Yeah Val there was a documentary on it last nite but i was only able to catch the last 10- 15 mins of it cos i was working. It looked really interesting.

Apparently is was testing a new type of Russian torpedo called the Shkval. Check the link for specs. Something went wrong with that

LINK

Just to add to the hydrogen peroxide story, as the programme stated the problem was the gas expansion from a burst or damaged propellant pipe...they reached this conclusion though a number of factors.
1. The explosions were recorded in oxford uk (there were two recorded explosions)
2. The accoustic signature of both explosions were identical, and consistant with a specific Russian type of explosive (the 2nd explosion was in the order of magnitute of 200 times more powerful than the first)
3. The explosions were separated by a time gap of 17mins
4. The Russian torpedo design was an updated copy of the british designed Mk 18 torpedo...which when develpoed in the early 50's caused an explosion onboard and subsequant loss of a RN submarine (in uncannily similar circumstances to the Kursk)
5. The final nail in the coffin was the underwater camera views showing only hull damage to the bow...consistant with an internal explosion

Regards
Spear

Just been looking thu google and found this piece from the moscow times. I dont think that the Kursk was sunk by a collision but it makes interesting reading. The article was post on Aug 23 200 so is old news, but this was the Russian take on it then.

www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2000/08/23/017.html

There are also some other interesting links at the end of the story.



[Edited on 15-8-2003 by RogueTrooper]