Posted on 07/04/2019 11:47:00 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Russian President Vladimir Putin disclosed on Thursday for the first time that a secret military submarine hit by a fatal fire three days ago was nuclear-powered, prompting Russia's defense minister to assure him its reactor had been safely contained.
Russian officials have faced accusations of trying to cover up the full details of the accident that killed 14 sailors as they were carrying out what the defense ministry called a survey of the sea floor near the Arctic.
Moscow's slow release of information about the incident has drawn comparisons with the opaque way the Soviet Union handled the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear power station disaster, and another deadly submarine accident — the 2000 sinking of the nuclear-powered Kursk, which claimed 118 lives.
Russia, which says the details of the submarine involved in the latest accident are classified, said the fire took place on Monday, although it was only officially disclosed late on Tuesday.
Until Thursday there was no official word either on whether the vessel had a nuclear reactor, despite intense interest from authorities in neighboring Norway.
Putin, in a Kremlin meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, disclosed the fact that the submarine had been nuclear-powered by asking Shoigu about the reactor's condition after the deadly fire.
"The nuclear reactor on the vessel is completely isolated," Shoigu told Putin, according to a Kremlin transcript. "All the necessary measures were taken by the crew to protect the reactor which is in complete working order," he added.
(Excerpt) Read more at themoscowtimes.com ...
"There has not been any formal communication from Russia to us about this," Per Strand, a director at the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, told Reuters when asked if it had been informed that the submarine was nuclear-powered.
"We understand that they brought the situation under control quickly, under difficult conditions, and there was, as such, no nuclear incident that they were obligated to tell us about," he added.
"Still, we would have been happy to have been informed of such incidents."
Shoigu, a close Putin ally, told the Russian leader that the secretive submarine, which authorities said had been operating in the Barents Sea area, could and would be fully repaired.
"In our case, this is not just possible but obligatory," Shoigu said of the submarine's repair. "Right now, we are assessing how long it will take, how much work there is, and how we can carry it out."
A photograph of the deceased sailors circulated on social media on Wednesday. Its authenticity could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters, but it appeared to have been hung on the wall of a Russian military facility.
A tribute to the men accompanying the photograph called them heroes and said they had served on board a nuclear-powered deep-sea submersible known by the designation AS-31.
Russian media have previously reported, without official confirmation, that the vessel is designed to carry out special operations at depths where regular submarines cannot operate.
Made out of a series of inter-connected spheres, which are stronger than the conventional submarine construction and allow it to resist water pressure at great depths, Western military experts have suggested it is capable of probing and possibly even severing undersea communications cables.
Shoigu told Putin that the families of the dead sailors would be fully provided for, while the Russian leader, the commander-in-chief of the country's armed forces, ordered him to draw up proposals to posthumously grant those who were killed state awards.
An official investigation into the accident, likely to be shrouded in secrecy, is already underway.
The Kommersant business daily, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation, has reported that it looks like the deadly fire was started by a powerful electrical short circuit.
You would think they would mention any readings from radiation detectors in Europe. Now dont tell us they all went inoperable lol. A simple, no abnormal levels have been detected in the region, would suffice.
At first I’ve read at DebkaFile Russian spy submarine inside Alaska’s U.S. territorial waters in firefight with a U.S. submarine the Russian submarine fired some Balkan torpedoe and dunk sunk the U.S. submarine, it said 14 Russian sailors killed bla-bla-blah... The Navy Times only mentioned 14 Russian sailors perished but didn’t say a U.S. submarine sunk. I speculated if 14 Russian sailors killed, U.S. submarine might had torpedoed the Russian submarine instead.
The torpedo mentioned in that article is a Swedish export model which would not be on a Russian sub. So it did not happen and all US subs are accounted for.
Here is the “hair on fire” thread from a couple days ago.
“Urgent consultations in Washington, Moscow on reported US-Russian submarines in firefight”
http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3761147/posts
Most FReepers figured “Ah, it’s Debka. Not likely much accuracy here.”
A couple did the ususal “This sounds bad!!!!” or “Well, Debka is right at least 20% of the time! Could be big!” nonsense.
Thank you for that report. I can only imagine in my worst nightmares what those men must have gone through. And then to be able to save the boat - and the majority of the crew.
RIP.
Otto fuel? Runaway torpedo?
You are supposed to load the fish in the tube before it tries to swim.
The only good thing perhaps of all the crew dying on the Kursk is that the Captain (or whoever) doesn’t have to live with the fact that they gave the order to isolate the section with the fire and 12 men in it.
Based on my vast knowledge of war movies, I suppose something like that may have happened? Of course he can also live with the fact that he helped save the majority of the crew.
Pretty amazing really. To have a fire on a submarine (submersed I presume) and to fight it, contain it, and still be able to surface and most of the men survive.
At one time, I read Israel accidentally hit the sub thinking it was an Iranian sub.
This interweb instant news cycle is so much fun
The fun of fires is visibility drops to zero.
Air too.
I am surprised Moscow admitted this.
The story went dark fast.
“We understand that they brought the situation under control quickly, under difficult conditions, and there was, as such, no nuclear incident that they were obligated to tell us about,” he added.
OK, sure. I’m pretty sure nearly those exact phrases were spoken at Chernobyl.
No nuke boat ever was a problem.
When I first heard this story I suspected a diesel boat had a battery well explosion. My buddy was on an American boat that lost 6.
Sure Ivans reactors suck, but they have a clue.
That’s why Rooskie sub sailors are issued lead lined jock straps, or so I’ve been told.
Let’s just hope the reactor was contained.
Yeah - fires are pretty scary. They have stuff on youtube - it is pretty amazing how fast they can get out of control. (And how long 4 minutes is when the fire department hasn't arrived yet!)
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