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In the early morning of August 30, 2003, the news of the sinking of the nuclear submarine K-159 was uploaded from the Barents Sea, although the ship was scrapped in the first November. The class nuclear submarine sank in the process of being towed to the shipyard for disassembly, but for the Russian navy that just lost the Kursk in 2000, the sinking of the K-159 was undoubtedly another heavy blow.
If the sinking of the Kursk was an unforeseen disaster, the sinking of the K-159 nuclear submarine can be completely avoided, because the final result of the Russian investigation is the fluke psychology of the relevant personnel and the violation of the operation. Caused this tragedy.
The submarine veteran who retired after the accident once bluntly stated that such an accident was impossible during the Soviet era, because the disassembly of a nuclear submarine was a very rigorous process. On the other hand, Russia has repeatedly delayed the disassembly of submarines. Due to the shortage of funds, the simplest method has been adopted, and even the relevant personnel have not fulfilled their responsibilities.
▲The Russian Navy has not yet emerged from the shadow of the sinking of the Kursk, and the nuclear submarine K-159 sank during the transfer and disassembly process. The
K-159 nuclear submarine officially entered service in the Soviet Navy in November 1963. As the Soviet Union’s first-generation offensive nuclear submarine, the birth of this class of submarine has greatly improved the technical level of Soviet submarine development, but this class was in service during the service. Submarine accidents are also frequent, and two of them sank completely into the ocean.
In July 1989, the K-159 nuclear submarine officially withdrew from active service in the Soviet army. The disassembly of the disused nuclear submarine should have started as early as 2000, but the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the downturn in Russia pushed this date forward. It was August 28, 2003.
Since K-159, which has been in a scrapped state all year round, does not have the ability to float for a long time, the staff placed two large pontoons on the left and right sides of the boat. It is said that these two pontoons were still used when the Kursk was salvaged. The special cables (made of precious metals) left behind and used to connect the hull of the boat are often stolen and sold, so this cable is often in a state of insufficient use.
▲The nuclear submarine K-159 leaving the port under the tugboat, you can see two large pontoons on the left and right sides. After the accident, the Russian side has never used this Way to transfer ships.
At noon on the 28th, a flat-bottomed tugboat dragged the K-159 nuclear submarine lifted by four buoys to the Kola Bay Shipyard to complete the disassembly work. By the early morning of the 30th, the submarine was raging in the Kola Bay waters. The body was swaying left and right under the action of wind and waves, and at this time the cable used to connect the port side of the submarine to the pontoon made a huge noise.
The commander who felt bad immediately ordered the tug to lower its speed and asked the personnel on the submarine to check the condition of the cable and prepare to abandon the boat at any time. However, the inspection work was very slow under the big waves, and it did not take long for K- to lose buoyancy. The hull of No. 159 began to slowly tilt to the right and eventually sank to the bottom of the sea.
Fortunately, the defensive tug boat released the rope in time, so the rope used for towing did not break, and the submarine sank 238 meters deep behind the tug. Afterwards, the accompanying tugboat found three naval officers wearing life jackets on the sea. One of them survived. The two were frozen under the cold sea. The other seven officers and technicians were missing.
The rescue helicopter arrived at 5 o'clock and the rescue fleet arrived at about 6:30. After several days of search and rescue, the Russian Navy, which believed that the missing persons could not survive, voluntarily stopped the search on September 3.
▲The submarine sank in the waters near Kilgin Island in the Barents Sea. At that time, the sea wind on the sea reached 50 meters per second. The commander received the water before the submarine set off. According to the weather forecast, the submarine should suspend the transfer in sea conditions above level 3, but the commander took the chance to finally let the submarine go out to sea in wind and waves.
Actually, the officials of the Russian Northern Fleet’s submarine base had already received it before the boat started.According to the forecast of poor weather conditions in the Barents Sea from the early morning of the 29th morning to the late night of the 30th, it is obvious that the submarine transfer should be suspended in this case.
However, the naval officer who had a fluke mind did not do this, and not long after the submarine started, there was a water leak at the joint of the propeller in the tail tank. The crew tried various efforts to prevent the continuation. The water leakage, and finally, coupled with the break of the pontoon cable caused by wind and waves, it is strange that the submarine, which has been abandoned for many years, does not sink in this sea condition.
Afterwards, the Gremiha submarine base commander and deputy commander responsible for the transfer of the K-159 submarine were suspended. In addition to these, there were also a lot of questions about the transfer process.
▲A newly-built submarine must be transferred under the escort of two ships before and after, let alone a scrap submarine that has been in the base for more than 10 years.
First of all, during the transfer process, two tugboats in tandem should be responsible for the transportation, while the Russian side only sent one. In addition, it is also doubtful whether to arrange personnel on the submarine that has been scrapped for many years.
According to the usual practice, this kind of submarine that has been abandoned for many years should remove all parts including weapons and nuclear fuel before being transferred, and seal all hatches, doors, windows, etc. with welding wires. There should be no on board during the transfer. For any personnel and objects, the observation operations of the entire transfer work should be completed on the tug.
Obviously, there are still some problems with the Russian army's arrangement of 10 officers and mechanics on submarines that have been abandoned for many years and have been seriously damaged. Besides, there were no life-saving equipment such as lifeboats, flares, spare water and food on board except for life jackets. Once an accident happened, the crew could only soak in the cold waters of the north.
However, there is another saying that the boat was equipped with life-saving equipment before departure, but at 2:20 the crew received an order to prepare to abandon the boat, and the sinking of the submarine started about 30 minutes later. It is not done in an instant, and the crew should be able to evacuate calmly if the lifesaving equipment is equipped.
▲The lonely Russian navy after the disintegration of the Soviet Union may be the real reason for the sinking of the K-159 submarine.
In fact, the sinking of the K-159 nuclear submarine exposed many problems within the Russian Navy at that time. First, the transfer of submarines caused by the shortage of funds was repeatedly postponed and not guaranteed. Secondly, the command and decision-making, operation level and combat readiness system were also delayed. There are problems, so the sinking of the K-159 nuclear submarine is really worthy of the Russian navy's introspection and summary.
Sister Harley WeChat
MilitaryGO
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