Read Online Kursk Down by Clyde Burleson - Free Book Online
Authors: Clyde Burleson
Tags: HIS027000
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tracing turned into a solid black smudge. The location was identical to the earlier disturbance.
11:28:27 Hours—Aboard the USS Memphis
Sonar operators in the sonar shack had no difficulty detecting or holding the acoustic picture that was being painted on their glowing screens. First was an undersea explosion. Then, a sub was blowing ballast for what seemed to be an emergency main ballast maneuver to surface the boat in the shortest possible time. Next came a jumble of sounds. Then, another explosion. The second was a blast of such magnitude the men on duty must have been thankful for the recordings that were being made, otherwise many might have believed they were exaggerating.
11:29:35 Hours—Aboard the Peter the Great
The sonar watch officer stared at the lines zigzagging up and down on the screen, stunned by their height and frequency. He’d never seen anything like this. To a trained eye, the tracings were as readable as a TV picture. He was viewing an explosion. And from the size of the blast, he knew everyone else in the area was receiving the same signals. Seismic waves from an incident this big were being recorded halfway around the world.
The precise location was easy to fix by using the reports from a number of ships and triangulation. Working together with the others, he quickly transferred the coordinates to a map, plotted a rough position, and marked it. The assessment of the several reporting sites was the same. It had been a small explosion followed by an enormous second blast.
NORSAR Observatory
A quick analysis of the data indicated an initial blast at 11:28:27, which registered 1.5 on the Richter scale. This was judged to be the equivalent of 220 pounds of explosives. A second, far more violent incident occurred at 11:30:42, resulting in a 3.5 Richter scale reading. Best estimates were that one to two tons of TNT detonated underwater would be needed to create an event of such magnitude.
For the experts gathered at the observatory, those facts presented a bleak picture. They were about to discover their instruments had recorded the death knell of one of the world’s most deadly undersea weapons.
Later, after a detailed report was developed, Frode Ringdair, a scientific adviser, was quoted as saying, “This was the single most powerful explosion we have ever registered in this area.”
1131 Hours—Aboard the Kursk
Commander Lyachin’s desperate effort to surface had momentarily appeared successful. The downward slant of the deck leveled, then slowly began to tilt in the other direction. They were coming up. The boat was sluggish but was answering the helm.
There was no time for elation. Action was their only salvation. Then, in one tick of a clock, action was not enough.
Reports on experiments by engineers at Dagdizel had indicated that the liquid-fueled torpedoes could withstand exposure to fire a little over two minutes. Continued heating beyond that point caused the fuel to boil, vaporize, and release large quantities of hydrogen gas. The resulting explosion would pack tremendous power.
Apparently, their engineering estimate was accurate. About 135 seconds after the first explosion, which started savage fires in Compartment 1, a second torpedo blew up. This blast initiated a chain reaction of explosions, recorded by surrounding vessels and NORSAR.
The force of this exploding arsenal was horrific. A gaping hole was blown in one side of the
Kursk
, lifting back a large flap of steel like a fish opening its mouth to strike. Through this fissure hot gas burst forth into the sea. Water adjacent to the hull turned to instant steam from the explosive heat. The resulting “bubble” shot to the surface, erupting in a geyser hundreds of feet high. Cooling almost as soon as it boiled, seawater flooded into the submarine and was stopped by the emergency watertight sealing systems.
No one in the first five compartments was alive to respond to this devastation.
As before, when the torpedo tube
11:28:27 Hours—Aboard the USS Memphis
Sonar operators in the sonar shack had no difficulty detecting or holding the acoustic picture that was being painted on their glowing screens. First was an undersea explosion. Then, a sub was blowing ballast for what seemed to be an emergency main ballast maneuver to surface the boat in the shortest possible time. Next came a jumble of sounds. Then, another explosion. The second was a blast of such magnitude the men on duty must have been thankful for the recordings that were being made, otherwise many might have believed they were exaggerating.
11:29:35 Hours—Aboard the Peter the Great
The sonar watch officer stared at the lines zigzagging up and down on the screen, stunned by their height and frequency. He’d never seen anything like this. To a trained eye, the tracings were as readable as a TV picture. He was viewing an explosion. And from the size of the blast, he knew everyone else in the area was receiving the same signals. Seismic waves from an incident this big were being recorded halfway around the world.
The precise location was easy to fix by using the reports from a number of ships and triangulation. Working together with the others, he quickly transferred the coordinates to a map, plotted a rough position, and marked it. The assessment of the several reporting sites was the same. It had been a small explosion followed by an enormous second blast.
NORSAR Observatory
A quick analysis of the data indicated an initial blast at 11:28:27, which registered 1.5 on the Richter scale. This was judged to be the equivalent of 220 pounds of explosives. A second, far more violent incident occurred at 11:30:42, resulting in a 3.5 Richter scale reading. Best estimates were that one to two tons of TNT detonated underwater would be needed to create an event of such magnitude.
For the experts gathered at the observatory, those facts presented a bleak picture. They were about to discover their instruments had recorded the death knell of one of the world’s most deadly undersea weapons.
Later, after a detailed report was developed, Frode Ringdair, a scientific adviser, was quoted as saying, “This was the single most powerful explosion we have ever registered in this area.”
1131 Hours—Aboard the Kursk
Commander Lyachin’s desperate effort to surface had momentarily appeared successful. The downward slant of the deck leveled, then slowly began to tilt in the other direction. They were coming up. The boat was sluggish but was answering the helm.
There was no time for elation. Action was their only salvation. Then, in one tick of a clock, action was not enough.
Reports on experiments by engineers at Dagdizel had indicated that the liquid-fueled torpedoes could withstand exposure to fire a little over two minutes. Continued heating beyond that point caused the fuel to boil, vaporize, and release large quantities of hydrogen gas. The resulting explosion would pack tremendous power.
Apparently, their engineering estimate was accurate. About 135 seconds after the first explosion, which started savage fires in Compartment 1, a second torpedo blew up. This blast initiated a chain reaction of explosions, recorded by surrounding vessels and NORSAR.
The force of this exploding arsenal was horrific. A gaping hole was blown in one side of the
Kursk
, lifting back a large flap of steel like a fish opening its mouth to strike. Through this fissure hot gas burst forth into the sea. Water adjacent to the hull turned to instant steam from the explosive heat. The resulting “bubble” shot to the surface, erupting in a geyser hundreds of feet high. Cooling almost as soon as it boiled, seawater flooded into the submarine and was stopped by the emergency watertight sealing systems.
No one in the first five compartments was alive to respond to this devastation.
As before, when the torpedo tube
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