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.
"deny terrorism as a cause for ANYthing."
I guess they are immitating the Europeans.
...on the balance of probabilities? This isn't even a reach. It's a fantasy. Does this guy do cold war entrigue books?
How about the physical evidence, now in sorted custody. Do you really think if an international event of this level happened where the US was criminal, if even in this questionable custody, was in any way suspect, that there would not have been a serious outcry of emmense proportion by now?
Good estimate. The actual size of the three diver access holes cut in the hull with the abrasive water jet was 48":
"In all 11 cuts were made on the ‘Kursk’ using the Abrasive Water Jet cutting system, 3 pressure release holes in the 400 bar (5800psi) ballast air piping system, 4 through the outer super structure, and 1 pressure release hole and 3 diver entry holes in the pressure hull."
"...the 1.2m (48”) diameter access hole through the 50mm (2”) thick pressure hull being completed within an hour"
" but would dive down beneath the hull, and explode underneath the ship"
I have seen some photos of several sinkex's, one being a Spruance class DD sunk by a Mk-48. The anti-surface mode appears to be how you described, since in the photo sequence the ship is lifted out of the water about amidships, settles back in, then breaks in two. The torpedo "hit" literally breaks the ship's back, or in this case the keel. As to what happened during the CV America sinkex, well, that's classified, and will remain so for years if not decades.
See comment #36.
"The HTP torpedos were a disaster. They leaked and were subsequently subject to "cooking off". "
Nothing new at all. The Soviets lost a Yankee class SSBN off the course of North Carolina due to a chain failure. What started the chain? The missiles in that Yankee boat were fueled at the time by liquid propellant, dimethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. Nasty stuff to handle. The birds were in the launch tubes fueled, the Red Navy tried storing the fuel separately in the past (I would assume on their Hotel, Golf, and Zulu IV boats) and ran into too many problems fueling the bird at sea before launch. In this particular Yankee boat, seawater got into one of the launch tubes via a leak, mixed with the nitrogen tetroxide from another leak, flooding the boat with nitric acid fumes and other stuff. How the leaks? Remember the old saying in the Soviet Union, "They pretend to pay us, and we pretend to work", in addition to many shipyard welders fueled by vodka.
How abour "Responsible Journalism"
Thanks! :)
Of course, I do kinda like the part about the Frogs blaming Clinton... LOL!!!
What are You a freepin kill joy.?...
Col. Kurtz of Apolypse Now is more relevant than the Kursk..
A little tongue in cheek is needed here.. d;-)~
Doc
LOL!! Like I said to Laz...I like the part aboout blaming Clinton! :-)
But I Do believe that FR has succeeded in sinking the Frenchies and their stupid conspiracy-theory flick...
LoL..
This documentary shall eventually air and will become the new "Farenheit" movie for the anti American hordes to rally around.
I think it is important for this country to understand that these strategically timed media events are a little bit more than just a bunch of coincidental happenings.
I seriously believe that the terror factions out there now realize that they probably don't need to blow things up and fly airplanes into buildings anymore, (I mean that is so 2001 in the terror circles).
They now know that there are now enough liberal and socialist flakes on this emerald planet that are so easily swayed by a few nicely placed political images and staged and trumped up media events. They actually know that perception is reality with these people. Unfortunately in the political arena..............Perception realy does become reality.
Evidence: The Qur'an in the toilet media event/story.
This documentary shall eventually air and will become the new "Farenheit" movie for the anti American hordes to rally around.
I think it is important for this country to understand that these strategically timed media events are a little bit more than just a bunch of coincidental happenings.
I seriously believe that the terror factions out there now realize that they probably don't need to blow things up and fly airplanes into buildings anymore, (I mean that is so 2001 in the terror circles).
They now know that there are now enough liberal and socialist flakes on this emerald planet that are so easily swayed by a few nicely placed political images and staged and trumped up media events. They actually know that perception is reality with these people. Unfortunately in the political arena..............Perception realy does become reality.
Evidence: The Qur'an in the toilet media event/story.
Would the Germans have attacked the US, or sued for peace so that they could defeat the USSR? Just wondering..
Was this $12.5 billion debt cancelled after the accident?
The DU should be deported to france.
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