Bellona Archve

The most shocking accident in the Northern Fleet was the loss of the Kursk, an Oscar class submarine which sank in 110 metres of water in August 2001 during a training exercise after a torpedo exploded on board, killing all 118 crew members. As one of the most highlighted media events that year, it showed the Russian Navy’s absolute inability to deal with a crisis this size. After almost a week underwater, it was finally a Norwegian diving team that tried to free any survivors. In August 2003, the rust-eaten K-159 sank while being towed to dismantlement and sank in 280 metres of water, killing nine of the 10 crew members on board to plug holes along the way. In 1989, the Komsomolets, a Mike class sub sank in the Norwegian Sea after a fire in 1685 meters of water killing 47 and injuring 25. Reactor accidents have also plagued the Northern Fleet throughout its history from the K-11, the K27, the k-140 the K329, the K-222, the K-123, the K-314, the K-431, the K-192, the K-8, the K-3 and the Soviet Union’s first strategic submarine, the K-19.