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From:
Werner Engelmaier <[log in to unmask]>
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TechNet E-Mail Forum.
Date:
Wed, 13 Sep 2000 08:57:51 EDT
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      The Kursk's dark mission

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      K-141 is down. The Kursk, an Antyey type 949A nuclear attack submarine,
was lost in the Barents Sea. The Kursk, one of eight active Oscar II class
submarines, was the pride of the Russian navy and the leading edge of the new
Northern Fleet.
      Commissioned in 1995, the Kursk was the Northern Fleet's most powerful
weapon. It made a high-profile voyage to the Mediterranean in September 1999
and was due to return later this year as part of a planned Russian nuclear
task group deployment to the Middle East. The August Russian naval exercise
in the Barents Sea was designed to provide the West with good reason to
remember the Kursk.
      Reports now show the exercise was intended to showcase the Kursk as she
performed her two primary roles, killing American carriers and submarines.
The Russian navy exercise also drew a small crowd of interested observers in
the form of two U.S. Los Angeles attack submarines, loitering in the shallow
polar sea over 50 miles from the Kursk.
      That fateful morning the Kursk reportedly completed a successful firing
of her main killer, the Chelomey Granit missile, NATO code-named SS-N-19
Shipwreck. The Kursk and her sister boats carry 24 Shipwreck missiles. The
missiles are stored on each side of the huge submarine in banks of 12, hidden
between the layers of the boat's thick twin hull skin. The Shipwreck missiles
are stored in launching tubes external to the inner pressure hull where the
118 crewmembers worked and lived.
      The Shipwreck missile fired by the Kursk that Saturday morning
contained a 1,600-pound conventional warhead. It reportedly scored a direct
hit against a Russian hulk target over 200 miles away. The Shipwreck is
intended to strike U.S. carriers but can also be targeted against U.S.
cities. Russian naval sources indicate that the Shipwreck
missile can be armed with an H-bomb warhead equal to one half million tons of
TNT, more than enough to flatten Los Angeles or New York City.
      That fateful August Saturday, in the dim afternoon light of the arctic
summer sun, the Kursk began her last performance, the simulated destruction
of a U.S. submarine using the 100-RU Veder missile. The Veder, NATO
code-named SS-N-16A Stallion, is a rocket-boosted torpedo. The Stallion is
launched from the huge 26-inch diameter torpedo tubes installed on each Oscar
II class submarine.
      The Stallion is so secret that no picture of the weapon has ever been
published. The Stallion is fired from the submarine's torpedo tube but flies
like a missile. The Stallion rocket booster ignites underwater once the
weapon is clear of the submarine, sending the missile to the surface. The
missile then flies to the target under rocket power where it finally ejects a
lightweight torpedo at supersonic speed.
      The mini-torpedo then uses its own little parachute, slowing to drop
gently into the water directly above the target. The mini-torpedo then homes
in on the target submarine for the final kill. The conventional Stallion
fired by the Kursk was armed with a mini-220 pound explosive warhead. Jane's
Defense reports that the missile can also be armed with a mini-nuclear
warhead equal to 200,000 tons of TNT.
      According to Jane's, the last moments of the Kursk were recorded as she
prepared to fire the Stallion. Seismologists in Norway told Jane's that a
monitoring station registered two explosions at the time the Kursk sank. The
first registered 1.5 on the Richter scale. A second, stronger explosion
measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale equivalent to one to two tons of TNT was
recorded just over two minutes later.
      The Stallion rocket motor may have ignited inside the sealed torpedo
tube just before firing. The Stallion may have jammed itself inside the
torpedo tube as it was fired. In any event, the underwater rocket appears to
have ignited inside the inner manned pressure hull.
      The force of the Stallion rocket motor would have twisted the huge
torpedo tube, melting through the metal walls within seconds. Just enough
time for alarms to sound and men to die. Then the small 220-pound warhead
exploded, blowing a gaping hole in the twisted skin of the attack submarine.
The submarine immediately fell forward as the icy water rushed to fill the
forward weapon bay.
      The last moments of the Kursk and most of her crew were filled with
fire and ice as the vessel plunged into the cold arctic depths. The rush of
cold water did not extinguish the fire since the Stallion rocket booster was
designed to burn without air. The exploding warhead would have sent huge
flaming chunks of the rocket booster into the forward weapon control room.
      The force of the 14,000-ton submarine striking the bottom on the
damaged torpedo bay was the final blow, detonating one of the many weapons
inside upon impact. The force of the explosion inside the twin hull submarine
ripped the starboard side open back to the sail. The manned areas forward of
the reactor compartment, including the control room and living quarters,
rapidly flooded, leaving no time for personnel in those compartments to
escape.
      This may not be the end of the story. There are now suggestions that
the West should help Russia raise the Kursk. Yet, despite being broke, Russia
continues to build and deploy the Oscar II submarine force. There are seven
active Oscar II class boats. The latest, K-530 the Belgorod, is still under
construction at the Severodvinsk Shipyard. Budget cutbacks have slowed
progress on the boat to a standstill but construction continues. There are
rumors that China is interested in buying K-530.
      The Kursk sailed the Mediterranean in late 1999 as a show of flag to
Russian allies such as Syria, Libya and Serbia. At the same time the Kursk
was touring the Mediterranean in 1999, a Pacific Fleet Oscar II submarine was
quietly cruising the western seaboard of the United States, within missile
range of California, Oregon and Washington.
      While we all mourn the passing of K-141 and her crew, we should also
reflect on exactly what her mission was.

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      Charles Smith is a national security and defense reporter for
WorldNetDaily.

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