Other Post The Sinking of the Kursk

[Bombardier]

There have been numerous ideas of why the Kursk sank, and it is the topic of a lot of conversation. So I thought I would start a thread about this fascinating yet tragic subject.
I watched a program today that was suggesting that the Kursk sank due to a problem with a torpedo in the bow area of the Submarine. It was suggested that the engine of one of the torpedos was started within the submarine which resulted in a fuel system malfunction. The fuel system contains Hydrogen peroxide (HTP)which provides Oxygen to the engines,this HTP apparently started to leak and started to react with certain metals inside the torpedo, the resulting reaction makes the fuel expand upto 5000 times its original mass causing a build up of pressure within the sealed torpedo casing and the of course an explosion, the warhead did not explode initially however when the heat within the compartment was high enough the warhead did explode which finished the Kursk.

Just wondered if anybody had any theories or other information of interest?.

PS HTP is apparently very safe in normal conditions.

 

[Zofo]

When the vessel was lost the Russian authorities tried blaming the sinking on a collision with either or a US or Brit hunter/killer sub. Both governments denied it of course. The Russians then went on to accuse an anti submarine drill with live torpedos from Pyotr Veliki (Peter the Great) which was shadowing the exercise.

There are the usual conspiracy theories, mostly from 2000 blaming collison with a US sub (USS Memphis & USS Toledo being on site and nearest to the blame). A report came out that Norwegian divers had found the sailplane of a US sub on the bottom next to the Kursk. This was never recovered. Interestingly, USS Toledo went into Norway to emergency repairs shortly after the incident. This was retracted and then admitted again by the Norwegian government.

The prosecutor General Ustinov stated later that the foreign object in the water was probably large jellyfish! Amazing stuff so far!

The investigation results were published and the blame was as bomber has mentioned. The blast was caused by highly volatile hydrogen peroxide seeping out of cracks in the torpedo and exploding upon contact with kerosene and metal. The weapons in the bow then exploded. The torpedo which exploded was in a bad state of repair. Some of the components were in some cases in use, 6 years after the end of their shelf life. They also found that the torpedo that exploded on the Kursk was checked and loaded on the submarine by navy staff who were not authorised for the job. It also established that the Kursk crew had never used such torpedoes and lacked the proper training to handle them.