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2000-2002 / Kursk Rescue and Salvage

Kursk Rescue and Salvage

Kursk Proportional Scale

Kursk – Proportional Scale

This is an abridged video about the Kursk Rescue and Salvage attempt taken from the black box recordings of the very first, and the two following bell runs. FIRST DIVE: (Team 1 – first dive) with Tony Scott Diver 1; Paal S. Dinessen Diver 2; Jimmy Mallen Diver 3 (Remained in the Bell as Bellman/safety diver). SECOND DIVE: (Team 2 – first dive) with Alistair Clark Diver 1; Jon Are Hvalby Diver 2; Stuart Bain Diver 3 (Remained in the Bell as Bellman/safety diver). THIRD & FINAL DIVE: (Team 1 – Second dive) with Paal S. Dinessen Diver 1; Jimmy Mallen Diver 2; Tony Scott (remained in the Bell as Bellman/safety diver).

Originally fifteen hours long, the video has been heavily edited. Divers have distorted voices due to breathing Helium at 104m. The seafloor was 116m, top of the conning tower approx 97m. You can hear the dive supervisors talking with non-distorted voices. Dive Supervisors were Mark Nankivell, Graham Legg and Garry Ball.

The supervisor coordinates the dive and is the only contact divers have with the surface. You will hear the supervisors also talking with other departments on the ship by radio and phone and other people in the Dive Control, including translators (and the Russian advisors). When the supervisor doesn’t want his conversation heard, he covers his headset mike.


Kursk Rescue Task plan


DSV Seaway Eagle Saturation Diving System – 1 x HRC (Hyperbaric Rescue Chamber) – 3 x TUP (Wet Pot) – 3 x 4 men Living chambers + 1 x 6 men Decompression Chamber

Statement by the Kremlin in August 2000 about the Kursk Rescue and Salvage:

For courage and heroism shown during the performance of a sailor’s duty, the Kursk commanding officer Captain G. P. Lyachin has been given the rank of Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously) on August 26, 2000. All 118 crew members are awarded the Courage Order (posthumously) and are inscribed forever in the memory of the Division of the 1st Submarine Flotilla of the Northern Fleet. The crew was comprised of: 111 crew members, 5 officers of 7th SSGN Division headquarters and 2 designers. When the submarine operated in a submerged position, the crew was stationed with 7 members in compartment I, 36 in compartment II, 24 in compartment III, 12 in compartment IV, 11 in compartment IV-B, 4 in compartment V, 5 in compartment VI, 9 in compartment VII, 7 in compartment VIII and 3 in compartment IX (Note: Crew in compartments IV-B and V were combined and jointly designated as compartment V. (Leonid A. Kharitonov)

Below is a dropdown listing by name and rank of all the brave crew who died in this tragic accident.

u003cstrongu003eKursk Crew List – Click to Viewu003c/strongu003e

I: Torpedo room.

II: Control room.

III: Combat station and radio room

IV: Living quarters.

IV-B: Different stations.

V: Different stations. 

VI: Reactors.

VII: Main propulsion turbine.

VIII: Main propulsion turbine.  IX Electric motors.


1st COMPARTMENT

  1. Senior Midshipman Abdulkhadur Ildarov (Dagestan Republic)
  2. Midshipman Alexei Zubov (Ukraine)
  3. Seaman Ivan Nefedkov (Sverdlovsk Region)
  4. Seaman Maxim Borzhov (Vladimir Region)
  5. Seaman Alexei Shulgin (Arkhangel Region)
  6. Senior Lieutenant Arnold Borisov (Dagestan Republic)
  7. Mamed Gadjiev (Dagestan Republic)

2nd COMPARTMENT

Visiting from the Submarine Division Headquarters:

  1. Captain First Rank Vladimir Bagriantsev (Crimea)
  2. Captain Second Rank Yury Shepetnov (Crimea)
  3. Captain Second Rank Viktor Belogun (Ukraine)
  4. Captain Second Rank Vasily Isaenko (Crimea)
  5. Captain Third Rank Marat Baygarin (St. Petersburg)

Crew:

  1. Captain First Rank Gennady Lyachin (Volgograd Region)
  2. Captain Second Rank Sergei Dudko (Belorussia)
  3. Captain Second Rank Alexander Shubin (Crimea)
  4. Captain-Lieutenant Maxim Safonov (Moscow)
  5. Senior Lieutenant Sergei Tylik (Murmansk)
  6. Senior Lieutenant Vadim Bubniv (Ulyanovsk Region)
  7. Captain Third Rank Andrei Silogava (Crimea)
  8. Captain-Lieutenant Alexei Shevchuk (Murmansk)
  9. Senior Lieutenant Andrei Ponarin (St. Petersburg)
  10. Senior Lieutenant Boris Geletin (Murmansk)
  11. Senior Lieutenant Sergei Uzky (Arkhangel Region)
  12. Captain Second Rank Yury Sablin (Crimea)
  13. Captain Third Rank Andrei Milutin (St. Petersburg)
  14. Captain-Lieutenant Sergei Kokurin (Voronezh Region)
  15. Midshipman Vladimir Khivuk (Kursk)
  16. Captain Third Rank Alexander Sadkov (Anur Region)
  17. Captain-Lieutenant Mikhail Rodionov (Crimea)
  18. Senior Lieutenant Sergei Yerakhtin (Murmansk)
  19. Midshipman Yakov Samovarov (Arkhangel)
  20. Senior Midshipman Alexander Ruzlev (Murmansk)
  21. Midshipman Konstantin Kozyrev (Murmansk)
  22. Senior Midshipman Vladimir Fesak (Ukraine)
  23. Midshipman Andrei Poliansky (Krasnodar Region)
  24. Midshipman Sergei Keslinsky (Kostroma Region)
  25. Midshipman Sergei Griaznykh (Arkhangel Region)
  26. Seaman Dmitri Mirtov (Komi Republic)
  27. Petty Officer Dmitri Leonov (Moscow)
  28. Senior Lieutenant Maxim Rvanin (Arkhangel Region)
  29. Seaman Andrei Driuchenko (Arkhangel Region)
  30. Senior Lieutenant Alexei Ivanov-Pavlov (Ukraine)
  31. Midshipman Viktor Paramonenko (Ukraine

3rd COMPARTMENT

  1. Captain-Lieutenant Dmitri Repnikov (Crimea)
  2. Captain Third Rank Andrei Rudakov (Moscow)
  3. Captain-Lieutenant Sergei Fiterer (Kaliningrad Region)
  4. Captain-Lieutenant Oleg Nasikovsky (Kaliningrad Region)
  5. Captain-Lieutenant Vitaly Solorev (Bryansk Region)
  6. Captain-Lieutenant Sergei Loginov (Ukraine)
  7. Captain-Lieutenant Andrei Koroviakov (St. Petersburg)
  8. Captain-Lieutenant Alexei Korobkov (Murmansk)
  9. Captain-Lieutenant Alexander Gudkov (Kaliningrad Region)
  10. Captain Third Rank Viacheslav Bezsokirny (Ukraine)
  11. Senior Midshipman Igor Yerasov (Voronezh)
  12. Senior Midshipman Vladimir Svechkarev (Nizhny Novgorod Region)
  13. Senior Midshipman Sergei Kalinin (Ukraine)
  14. Senior Midshipman Igor Fedorichev (Tula Region)
  15. Midshipman Maxim Vishniakov (Ukraine)
  16. Midshipman Sergei Chernyshov (Crimea)
  17. Midshipman Mikhail Belov (Nizhny Novgorod Region)
  18. Midshipman Pavel Tavolzhansky (Belgorod Region)
  19. Senior Midshipman Sergei Vlasov (Murmansk)
  20. Midshipman Sergei Rychkov (Uzbekistan)
  21. Petty Officer Yuri Annenkov (Kursk Region)
  22. Seaman Dmitri Kolkov (Vologda Region)
  23. Dubbing Seaman Nikolai Pavlov (Voronezh Region)
  24. Seaman Ruslan Trianichev (Vologda Region)

4th COMPARTMENT

  1. Senior Lieutenant Denis Kirichenko (Ulyanovsk Region)
  2. Captain of Medical Service Alexei Stankevich (Ukraine, St. Petersburg)
  3. Midshipman Vitaly Romaniuk (Crimea)
  4. Senior Midshipman Vasily Kichkiruk (Ukraine)
  5. Senior Midshipman Anatoly Beliaev (Ryazan Region)
  6. Chief Ship’s Petty Officer Salovat Yansanov (Bashkortostan Republic)
  7. Seaman Sergei Vitchenko (St. Petersburg Region)
  8. Seaman Oleg Yevdokimov (Kursk Region)
  9. Seaman Dmitri Staruseltsev (Kursk Region)
  10. Seaman Alexander Khalepo (Komi Republic)
  11. Seaman Alexei Kolomiytsev (Komi Republic)
  12. Seaman Igor Loginov (Komi Republic)

4th (B) COMPARTMENT

  1. Captain Third Rank Dmitri Murachev (Crimea)
  2. Captain-Lieutenant Denis Pshenichnikov (Crimea)
  3. Captain-Lieutenant Sergei Lybushkin (Nizhny Novgorod Region)
  4. Captain Third Rank Ilya Shchavinsky (St. Petersburg)
  5. Captain-Lieutenant Alexander Vasiliev (Crimea Republic)
  6. Captain Third Rank Nikolai Belozorov (Voronezh Region)
  7. Senior Midshipman Ivan Tsymbal (Ukraine)
  8. Midshipman Oleg Troyan (Azerbaijan)
  9. Chief Petty Officer Alexander Neustroev (Tomsk Region)
  10. Seaman Alexei Larionov (Komi Republic)
  11. Midshipman Vladimir Shablatov

5th COMPARTMENT

  1. Senior Lieutenant Vitaly Kuznetsov
  2. Senior Midshipman Nailkh Khafizov (Bashkortostan Republic)
  3. Senior Midshipman Yevgeny Gorbunov
  4. Midshipman Valery Baybarin (Chelyabinsk Region)

6th COMPARTMENT

  1. Captain-Lieutenant Rashid Ariapov (Uzbekistan)
  2. Midshipman Alexei Balanov (Chuvash Republic)
  3. Senior Lieutenant Alexei Mitiaev (St. Petersburg)
  4. Chief Petty Officer Viacheslav Maynagashev (Khakass Republic)
  5. Seaman Alexei Korkin (Arkhangel Region)

7th COMPARTMENT

  1. Captain-Lieutenant Dmitri Kolesnikov (St. Petersburg)
  2. Midshipman Fanis Ishmudatov (Bashkortostan Republic)
  3. Petty Officer Second Class Vladimir Sadovoi (Nizhny Novgorod Region)
  4. Seaman Roman Kubikov (Kursk Region)
  5. Seaman Alexei Nekrasov (Kursk Region)
  6. Petty Officer First Class Rishat Zubaydullin (Ulyanovsk Region)
  7. Seaman Ilya Naletov (Vologda Region)
  8. Petty Officer Second Class Roman Anikiev (Murmansk)
  9. Senior Midshipman Vladimir Kozaderov (Lipetsk Region)

8th COMPARTMENT

  1. Captain-Lieutenant Sergei Sadilenko (Ukraine)
  2. Senior Midshipman Viktor Kuznetsov (Kursk Region)
  3. Chief Ship’s Petty Officer Robert Gessler (Bashkortostan Republic)
  4. Senior Midshipman Andrei Borisov (Ryazan Republic)
  5. Seaman Roman Martynov (Komi Republic)
  6. Seaman Viktor Sidukhin (Komi Republic)
  7. Seaman Yury Borisov (Komi Republic)

9th COMPARTMENT

  1. Senior Lieutenant Alexander Brazhkin (Crimea Republic)
  2. Midshipman Vasily Ivanov
  3. Midshipman Mikhail Bochkov (Crimea Republic)


Raising the Kursk

Kursk - Cutting Lifting Holes and Removing Bow Section - 2001
Kursk – Cutting Lifting Holes and Removing Bow Section – 2001
Kursk – Raising – 2001

The seafarers’ hymn by William Whiting, a British writer from Winchester, England.

The hymn has a long tradition in civilian maritime contexts as well, being regularly invoked by ship’s chaplains and sung during services on ocean crossings.

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who bid’st the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.

O Christ, Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy word,
Who walkedst on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
O hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea.

Most Holy Spirit, Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
O hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power,
Our brethren shield in danger’s hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect them wheresoe’er they go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.