Posted on 05/22/2005 2:27:06 PM PDT by demlosers
A FORMER British military official has backed a sensational claim that the Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk, was torpedoed by US forces in August 2000.
An official inquest concluded that the disaster – in which all 118 crew drowned in the Barents Sea, 135km off the Russian coast – was caused by an accidental explosion of an onboard torpedo.
But Maurice Stradling, a former torpedo engineer and a key figure in the original investigation, believes a new French documentary, The Kursk: A Submarine in Troubled Waters, should change world opinion on the sinking.
"On the balance of probabilities, the Kursk was sunk by an American MK-48 torpedo," said Mr Stradling, formerly a senior member of the British Defence Ministry.
BBC editor Nick Fraser called the claim a "pack of lies" and has refused to air the documentary, which attracted a record audience of more than 4 million when it screened on French TV.
he BBC used Mr Stradling as its main authority for a documentary it made in 2001 – What Sank the Kursk?, in which Mr Stradling theorised that the sinking was caused by the malfunctioning of an old-fashioned HTP torpedo.
Mr Stradling, who also appears in the new French documentary, said: "At the time (2001), that was a perfectly reasonable film, given the facts as we knew them then, when there seemed to be no third-party involvement,"
The new explanation for the Kursk's downing is based on film footage of a hole in the side of the vessel, and evidence placing US submarines in the area at the time it was sunk.
The French film shows stills of the Kursk raised above the water after being salvaged, with a precise circular hole in its right side. The hole clearly bends inwards, consistent with an attack from outside the submarine.
A US military source in the documentary declares the hole to be the trademark evidence of an American MK-48 torpedo, which is made to melt cleanly through steel sheet due to a mechanism at its tip that combusts copper.
The film suggests the attack happened while two US submarines, the Toledo and Memphis, were shadowing the Kursk in a routine military exercise.
The documentary says the Toledo accidentally collided with the Kursk, at which point the Russian submarine opened its torpedo tubes, leading to an attack from the Memphis, which was protecting the damaged Toledo while it retreated.
The cause of the sinking was covered up at the time in an act of diplomacy between then US presidents Bill Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin – a deal that included the cancellation of $US10 billion ($12.5 billion) of Russian debt, the film states.
After the documentary received its only public broadcast in Britain, some claimed the Russian navy had drilled the hole and fed doctored footage to the film-makers to create a false impression.
All of europe was talking about what to rename the new Germany, except Germany who were talking about what to rename France.
Precisely. You can't launch a torpedo without everyone on board knowing it.
Personnally, I think we should invade France and and make Germany take it back!
Bow shot? Tricky!
Uh .. excuse me .. the hull of the ship PROVED THE EXPLOSION WAS INTERNAL - NOT EXTERNAL. History Channel or Discovery showed pictures of the hull being removed from the water - the pictures make it obvious the explosion took place inside the hull. The metal was pealed back consistent with an internal explosion.
Seeing as how History and Discovery are both from the liberal camp - I'm quite sure if there was any doubt as to what happened to the Kursk - they would have been sure to point it out. Of course, it did happen under Clinton's watch - but seeing as how the liberals hate the military - I don't think they would have kept it quiet.
This is just pile on to damage America now that Europeans are beginning to see Bush in a good light. I mean .. we can't have the world seeing this cowboy in a good light .. can we ..??
It could well be that the Russian submarine Krusk was sunk by U. S. subs. In the first place, this huge monsterous Russian nuclear sub, calld "Mongo" because of its huge size, was not on a training mission, it was on war patrol. It's mission was to take out U. S. carriers or other major U. S. naval targets if ordered to do so.
Every Russian sub of this type was always trailed by U.S. subs as a defensive measure, just as Russian subs trailed our boomers when they could.
In the world of underwater warfare it is universally understood that the opening of torpedo or missile doors was the signal to trailing subs that a tarpedo or missile was about to be launched.
If the Krusk opened its tarpedo tube doors or missle silo doors it was asking for trouble.
Thats not how a MK-48 Works
We shouldn't dismiss this report so quickly. Bush #41 was actually commanding those American subs, on a top secret mission to plant WMD in Iraq (using a round about course to throw off suspicion), in preparations for an October surprise in that year's elections. The Kursk wold have spilled the beans had it survived. As things turned out, it's sinking forced GHWB to jettison the WMD, forcing GWB to lie about Iraqi WMD. IT'S ALL BUSH'S FAULT!!
Back in the 1980's, I was asked to preview an "exclusive, "explosive and earth shaking","proof positive" French documentory on U.S. POW's in Vietnam.
Biggest load of manure this side of the Chicago stock yards. However, it did have means to be very cruel to POW families. I recommened that the affiliate not run it. The sh@#*heads ran it, anyway. Twice. Want to bet the Russians jump on this?
I was lucky enough to ride Memphis from FL to New London shortly after the Kursk incident. The Captain told us that they were there but were in no way involved with the sinking.
This is a note I received from an retired Naval Officer shortly after this report came out:
"I can tell you that this article is BULL SHIT>>>>>>>>> The warhead on the 48 is a conventional explosive and doesn't melt through any pressure hull material. It kills by over pressure that causes hull failure. I have also seen a lot of other information on the Kursk incident and the most credible is that they had a Weapons Incident similar to that that sunk the Scorpion. We stopped using NAVOL, Hydrogen Peroxide, when we decommissioned the Mk 16 Torpedo in the 60’s due to the instability of the NAVOL. It was fine in Conventional Boats where you ventilated frequently, but in the NUC’s it could be more of a problem , even though I can’t recall anyone ever having a serious NAVOL problem that led to a fire or explosion. The Russians were experimenting with a new long range, high speed, weapon that was powered by a NAVOL-like fuel and they had a weapon problem in the room. All the cover up was the Soviet Cold War Mentality that prevented them from asking for help in a timely manner that would allowed a UK or US DSRV to get on sight."
Or perhaps DU should just rename itself 'france.'
We have a winner. Anyone who thinks everyone of 500 or so in-the-know people will keep their mouths shut for five years is crazy.
Leave it to the Freepers.
Buckhead, this is no "Buckhead Moment" but he sure did your level of homework. :o)
Le French find Jerry Lewis hilariously funny.
The french are also the ones who started the BS about the Pentagon not being hit by a plane.
Correcto-mundo, Bob. The shot is of a Mk-46, designed for launch from surface ships or aircraft. The actual source of FIRM's shot is this site.
The site has a nice comparison of currently used US Navy torpedoes, and you'll note the obvious diameter & length differences between the Mk 48 and all the others. Sub torpedo tubes are 21" bore; surface ship tubes are more like 13" - 15" or so.
Why do I get the feeling that Mr. Strandling was a member of 'another' British Ministry?
Yes, we would. The last thing America and Britain needed was for the Nazis to build all sorts of port facilities on Europe's west coast (or use existing ones) from which to launch attacks on America and Britain.
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