From mysterious disappearances to massive explosions, here are 7 of the worst submarine
disasters: Number 7 K-8
The K-8 was a nuclear-powered attack submarine that sank on April 12, 1970.
During an exercise, fires broke out in two of the sub’s compartments.
They were caused by oil, which had come into contact with the air regeneration system.
As the fire spread through the air-conditioning systems, the nuclear reactors were shut down
and the crew was ordered to abandon the ship.
The order was countermanded, when a towing vessel arrived.
By that time, 8 crewmembers had died in countermeasures to prevent flooding and the spreading of the
fire.
Seeing that help had arrived, 52 crewmen, including the commander re-boarded the surfaced
submarine.
In a tragic twist of fate, the submarine later sank in rough seas as it was being towed,
killing everyone on board.
As it sank in the Bay of Biscay, where it still lies at a depth of over 15,000 feet,
four nuclear torpedoes remained on board.
Number 6 K-19 Soviet nuclear attack submarine K-19 was destined
to have a bad run ever since it’s christening, when the champagne bottle didn’t break.
Despite the bad omen, it went to sea, where the maritime superstition came true.
In 1961, while the sub was in the Norwegian Sea it had a problem with its nuclear reactor
that kept heating up.
Nine brave men ventured into ‘Boa’s Mouth’.
This was the nickname for the sub’s highly radioactive reactor compartment.
For two hours, the nine volunteers were blasted with 100 times the lethal dose of radiation.
Eventually, 22-year-old chief petty officer Ivan Kulakov managed to save the sub by jury-rigging
its cooling systems.
Kulakov survived the incident with severe burns, but, within weeks, the nine men that
had entered the reactor compartment died of radiation poisoning.
From that point on the K-19 would be known to Soviet soldiers by the nickname ‘Hiroshima’.
That wasn’t the end for the unluckiest submarine in the Soviet Navy.
In 1969 it collided with a US reconnaissance sub and in 1972, a fire broke out, claiming
the lives of 26 crew members.
It would seem that K-19 had been claiming lives even before it ever went to sea, as
10 people reportedly died during its construction.
Number 5 K-278 Komsomolets The design of the 8,000-ton K-278 Komsomolets
was highly advanced for its time.
The inner hull of the nuclear-powered attack sub was made from titanium, which allowed
it to go to greater depths than its US counterparts.
The Komsomolets could also carry a mix of cruise missiles and torpedoes along with nuclear
warheads.
On August 4, 1984, it dove to a record-breaking 3,350 feet.
Five years later magically struck when a fire broke out into one of the sub’s engineering
compartments.
It triggered a sequence of malfunctions that eventually lead to the sinking of the submarine
in the Barents Sea.
Only 27 out of the sub’s crew of 69 survived the disaster.
After the fire broke out, the Komsomolets was able to resurface for about 5 hours.
An investigation revealed that only 4 people had died as a direct result of the fire and
smoke.
34 had succumbed to hypothermia or drowned in the icy waters because help didn’t arrive
in time.
The submarine currently rests about one-mile deep in the Barents Sea, with its nuclear
reactor and two nuclear warheads still inside.
Number 4 INS Dakar 69 crewmembers were on board the INS Dakar
when it disappeared on January 25, 1968.
Three other submarines were lost that same year, the USS Scorpion, the French submarine
Minerve and Soviet submarine K-129.
They all perished under mysterious circumstances.
The INS Dakar was a diesel-electric submarine operating in the Israeli Navy.
Despite extensive search efforts, the wreckage of the sub was located three decades after
its disappearance.
During that time, the Israeli government even offered a $300,000 reward for any information
regarding the fate of the Dakar.
Eventually, a joint US-Israeli search team found the submarine in 1999, on the seabed
between Cyprus and Crete, at a depth of 9,834 feet.
Interestingly enough, Vice Admiral Abraham Botzer, commander of the Israeli Navy at the
time, stated that the submarine sank due to ‘technical or human malfunctioning’ two
days before it was reported missing.
Nobody knows what happened but, apparently, as Dakar rapidly plunged through its crush
depth, no emergency measures were initiated.
The emergency buoy was only released by the sheer force of the hull collapse.
The Israeli government denied allegations of foul play from an Egyptian war ship.
One of the various conspiracy theories that emerged throughout the years claimed that
the crewmembers were all actually alive and being held by Arab or Soviet forces.
Number 3 USS Scorpion According to recent reports, the USS Scorpion
rests on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean, in around 9,800 feet of water, around 400
miles southwest of the Azores.
It’s the second nuclear sub lost by the US Navy, the first being USS Thresher.
To make sure that no radioactive material seeps from the sub, the US Navy periodically
performs radioactive testing on site.
The cause behind the sinking of the Scorpion is still a mystery.
Nobody knows for sure what happened after the submarine was declared ‘presumed lost’
in June, 1968.
Later that year, it was found by a research ship.
Various investigations by the US Navy into the loss of the submarine produced inconclusive
results.
The leading theory is the explosion of a torpedo inside the sub.
Other theories include a hydrogen explosion during battery charge or even a Soviet attack.
All of the Scorpion’s 99 crewmen lost their lives in the incident.
Number 2 USS Thresher On April 10, 1963, nuclear-powered attack
submarine USS Thresher sank in the Atlantic Ocean, killing everyone on board.
As the submarine unexpectedly plunged to the sea floor, about 300 miles off the coast of
New England, it took 129 crew and civilians with it.
It’s the deadliest submarine disaster in history when it comes to direct loss of life.
Launched from Portsmouth Naval Yard, in April, 1960, the Thresher was the crown jewel of
the US Navy’s submarine force.
It was the first in a new class of submarines, built with technology that enabled it to dive
deeper and operate considerably quieter.
On April 10, 1963, the submarine was conducting drills off the coast of Cape Cod.
Around 9:30 am, another ship taking part in the drills, the USS Skylark, received communication
from the Thresher which said that the submarine was facing some minor problems.
Efforts were made to re-establish communication, but produced no results.
Five minutes later, the Thresher appeared on sonar as it was breaking apart while falling
to the ocean’s floor.
17 civilians, 96 sailors and 16 officers lost their lives.
An investigation conducted following the incident revealed the cause.
A leak in the engine room’s silver-brazed joint had caused a short circuit which lead
to the failure of critical electrical systems.
From that point on the submarine was gradually compromised and the equipment that would have
allowed the crew to resurface it became inoperable.
In the aftermath of the disaster, President John F. Kennedy ordered that flags be flown
at half mast across the country in memory of those lost.
The incident brought about significant improvements in submarine design, safety and quality control.
Number 1 Kursk Submarine Disaster Built in 1994, the Kursk was an Oscar 2-class
submarine, the largest cruise missile submarine in the Russian Navy at the time.
It sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea on August 12 2000.
Prior to the incident, Kursk was performing a naval drill in the Arctic Circle.
It was the first major Russian naval exercise in more than 10 years.
The first signs of the Kursk submarine disaster occurred when nearby ships detected two explosions,
about two minutes apart.
The second explosion was much more powerful than the first and it was picked up by seismographs
as far as Alaska.
It took the Russian Navy 16 hours to find the Kursk wreckage.
Over the next four days, the Navy attempted a rescue operation but stormy weather, icy
waters and poor underwater visibility hindered their efforts.
The government was criticized for its slow reaction to the incident and the Russian Navy
was subsequently considered to have been completely unprepared for such a disaster.
On the fifth day, President Vladimir Putin accepted offers of assistance from Norway
and Great Britain.
An investigation revealed that, as the crew was attempting to load a the me torpedo, bad
welding in the torpedo’s casing had caused high-test peroxide to leak.
This ignited the kerosene and caused an explosion.
The intense fire resulting from the first blast triggered several torpedo warheads when
the submarine hit the bottom.
This produced the second explosion which was equivalent to the detonation of 2 to 3 million
tons of TNT.
None of the 118 on board the Kursk survived.
An alternative theory to the faulty welding was that the crew hadn’t been trained in
operating high-test peroxide torpedoes and had followed the loading procedures for a
different torpedo type.
Analysts looked at the salvage and concluded that 23 sailors had survived the two explosions
and took refuge in the sub’s small ninth compartment.
Officer Dmitry Kolesnikov wrote a message during this time, which read ‘15:45.
It’s too dark to write, but I’ll try by touch.
It seems there’s no chance, 10-20%.
We hope that at least someone will read this.’
As the survivors were attempting to change a volatile oxygen cartridge, oily sea water
that had seeped in produced a reaction which triggered an explosion.
Several crew members were killed instantly and the flash fire consumed the oxygen in
the compartment, leaving the others to suffocate.