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Kursk Finally Lifted

Posted by timothy on from the long-way-back dept.

Michiel writes: "This site, dedicated to the salvage of the Kursk by Mammoet Smit, announced today that the Kursk has been lifted from the seabed and is currently on it's way towards surface. The Giant 4 (which is lifting the Kursk) is at the same time already heading to Murmansk. Mamoet Smit expects to reach Murmansk Monday morning. More information about the Kursk (and its salvage) can be found at Strana" You might to revisit this post about just how the lifting is done as well.

15 of 118 comments (clear)

  1. It's not lifted yet... by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Interesting

    It may be out of the mud at the bottom, but until it is actually on the tender boat, it ain't lifted yet. The cables could snap, the sub could break apart, any number of really bad things could happen.

    I saw that Yahoo (the online service, not the Aussy actor) had made the same mistake.

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    1. Re:It's not lifted yet... by Jburkholder · · Score: 3, Informative

      Lifted, yes. Raised, not yet. The last story on this had a little slideshow on how it was going to go. The sub isn't going to be raised out of the water while at sea at all.

      The plan, IIRC, was to lift the vessel from the bottom to the underside of the Giant 4 which will carry it to port where floats will be attached (submerged, filled with water) and then the floats will be "blown" to raise both the Giant and Kursk higher in the water so that both can sail into a dry-dock. The Giant will then deposit the sub in the dock and sail out. From there you pump out the dry-dock and you can start slavage or whatever.

  2. Wondering.. by tcc · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If the real intentions behind lifting that sub was to get the crew back (at least not abandonning them in the bottom of the sea) or because they were affraid others might get their torpedo technology... makes you wonder...

    If it would have been the first case, why wasn't it done before? If it's the second case, doesn't it sound like "coincidence" that since war is grooming, they didn't want to leave anything that could give an edge to someone else? (not that the taliban have subs but..)

    Makes me wonder... Anyhow, I'm sure it's a "good" thing for the families of the people that got trapped in there, at least they will get a proper ceremony and burial place, that doesn't change much, but if my brother/sister or dad would have been caught in there, it would have made one for me knowing he's not resting undersea (but I'd still be pissed at how much time it took them to do this).

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    1. Re:Wondering.. by zyklone · · Score: 5, Insightful

      If they were terribly worried about the torpedo technology they would not have left the torpedo section on the bottom of the sea.

      It was cut off to remove the risk of a second explosion.

    2. Re:Wondering.. by Jburkholder · · Score: 3, Informative

      Exactly. Seems like if your only concern was keeping the weapons tech out of anyone else's hands, you needn't go to the trouble of raising her.

      This is a nuclear sub, right?

      "We have experience of sunken Russian reactors," he added, referring to the Komsomolets nuclear submarine which lies at a depth of 4,500ft off north west Norway.

      The Komsomolets, which sank in 1989 following a fire which killed 42 crewmen, is slowly leaking plutonium, although the depth of the water means it is less of a threat to marine life than the Kursk.

      But Greenpeace says any possibility of radiation leakage was too much, and has demanded the Kursk be raised to the surface as soon as possible rather than just contained as other vessels have been.

      Recovering human remains may be an important part of this mission, but I would think recovering the reactor would be the primary motivation.

  3. Videos by mnordstr · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check out the videos. They are really awesome.

  4. BBC Coverage by pallotta · · Score: 3, Informative

    The BBC has some good info on the practical aspects of the operation.

    Low-tech, but still nice.

  5. Olive will be happy! by gosand · · Score: 5, Funny
    Ay, the kursk has been lifted, eh? That'll teachk me to eats me spinach and go punckin mummies. I needs to go find Olive Oyl, I tolds her it didn't happen to every guy, that I was kursked.

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  6. more information by Orlando · · Score: 3, Informative

    Mammoet's site on the salvage which has some nice simulations and technical details of the lifting mechanisms. also slightly OT but interesting none the less is information on the building of Mammoet's new office (flash), a 10 storey steel and concrete building that will be built off site, and transported lock stock to it's final resting place by canal. these guys don't do things by half measures!

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  7. Hmm... by RareHeintz · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Are the Dutch members of NATO? Just curious... I mean, even a few pictures of the interior (bridge, sonar room, engine spaces, etc.) could be a major intelligence win if one were of that disposition.



    OK,

    - B

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    1. Re:Hmm... by Galvatron · · Score: 3, Informative

      There were some preliminary talks about them joining NATO or the EU (forgotten which) but these broke down when NATO started bombing Yugoslavia. The majority of the Russian population is Slavic, and so they have historically protected the Slavs in the Balkans. That's how WWI started, when A-H wanted to retaliate against Serbia, Russia stepped in to defend the Slavs (so Germany supported A-H by attacking France, an ally of Russia, in a pre-emptive strike, and the rest is history).

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      "The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting than that of whether a submarine can swim" -EWD
  8. Say that five times fast by sharkey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Murmansk Monday morning

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  9. REALLY NICE VRML simulation of lifting by jgaynor · · Score: 4, Informative

    Got this from the strana site -

    Theres a really well done VRML simulation of how it was all done. Its really just a series of still environment snapshots from various stages of the salvage operation but someone took ALOT of time on it. Good job -

    http://www.parallelgraphics.com/vrml/kursk/index.h tml?eng

    I usually dismiss VRML as crappy and slow but Im really impressed with this one.

  10. Perhaps more interesting... by Durandel1020 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The torpedoes on the submarine are at least as interesting then the recovery effort. Quite remarkable actually, of course if they dont explode before launch that is. :)

    Here is a very good article about them
    For the goatse.cx weary...

    http://www.janes.com/defence/naval_forces/news/j dw /jdw010910_6_n.shtml

    1. Re:Perhaps more interesting... by darkwhite · · Score: 3, Informative

      You've confused Granit with Shkval.

      What you've linked to are the Granit anti-ship cruise missiles. Those are the vertically-launched ramjet missiles, taken to ramjet speeds by a booster, and capable (or so the military says) of flying under the radar height in formation, then one rises up, turns its radar on, and dispatches the targets to others. Those are supposed to be capable of taking out an entire aircraft carrier battle group.

      What possibly sank Kursk are the Shkval torpedoes - the supercavitating supersonic torpedoes that use jet propulsion and swim in a straight line to their target.

      Both are supposed to be the most advanced missile and torpedo technologies in use by Russians, both have not been fully tested.

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