The sinking of the Russian Oscar II Class Submarine Kursk
12 August 2000 in about 100 metres of water, Barents Sea
AcciMap
5. Societal
Military standoffs – legacy of the Cold War
No assistance from the US or British Governments accepted
No assistance from the US or British Governments accepted
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4. Government/Regulatory System
Poorly funded and funding cutbacks in the Northern Fleet
Inadequate rescue equipment and systems
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3. Company
Russian Navy
The protection of Government equipment and secrets of military equipment was foremost
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2. Organisational
SYSTEMS
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DESIGN
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ENVIRONMENT
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The tube door which should have withstood the first explosion was not closed properly due to poorly functioning electric connectors which did not always contact correctly. This meant the door had to be closed mulitple times to have the connectors engage.
Dummy torpedos manufactured in the 1990's never had their welds checked because it was unnecessary if not carrying a war head. |
The service time of 3 torpedos had reportedly lapsed
Poor maintenance schedules
The automatic emergency buoy to show the location of a submarine in need of assistance, was disabled during a previous mission for fears of unintentioanl deployment and alerting the US Navy to the submarines location
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Operating in a military exercise environment.
Each individual ship in the exercise only knew its own movements, so it was unknown what the movement of the Kursk was
The exercise was being watched by US Navy vessels
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1.Physical Accident Sequence
Hydrogen leaked from a weld on one of the torpedos fuel system, which escaped into the torpedo casing where it decomposed on the metals and oxides.
The torpedo exploded causing the submarine to sink
The torpedo exploded causing the submarine to sink
Upon hitting the seabed further torpedos inside the Kursk exploded
Sailors unable to be rescued or to escapefrom inside the compartment where they were trapped
118 sailors died
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References
Wikipedia n.d., Russian submarine K-141 Kursk, viewed 4 May 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_K-141_Kursk
Wikipedia.com n.d., Russian submarine Kursk explosion, viewed 4 May 2012
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_submarine_Kursk_explosion
Telegraph.com n.d., Kursk, digital image, viewed 4 May 2012,
Reed, C 2001, Sinking the Kursk, Geotimes.org, February, viewed 4 May 2012,
http://www.geotimes.org/feb01/kursk.html
Gurin, I 2002, Why did the Kursk sink?, Kursk Submarine p2, 19 March, viewed 4 May 2012, http://www.wps.ru/en/pp/kursk/2002/03/19/1.html
Zarakhovich, Y 2001, The Kursk: Accidents Can Happen, Time.com, 14 September, viewed 4 May 2012, http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,174906,00.html
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