Faulty weld on a 65-76 "Kit" practice torpedo, leading to an explosion of high-test peroxide and secondary detonation of 5 to 7 torpedo warheads The Kursk was declared to be in trouble only at 23:30," Kuznetsov says. "That is, 12 hours had passed. Those 12 hours were lost time."

Robert Moore's book, A Time to Die: The Kursk Disaster , was an acclaimed account of the failed attempt to rescue the sailors trapped aboard the Russian nuclear-powered submarine. But there is no evidence that there were any Shkval torpedos on board, and some experts doubt their very existence. More credible was the theory being pushed until recently by senior officers in the Russian navy that the Kursk had collided with a British or American submarine spying on the manoeuvres in the Barents Sea. vessels' ability to detect the submarine. The inner pressure hull was made of high-quality 50mm (2in) steel plate. The two hulls were separated by a 1-to-2m (3-to-7ft) gap. The inner hull was divided into nine water-tight compartments. The boat was 155m (509ft), about as long as two jumbo jets. [9] [10] Rosenberg, Debra, et al. "A Mystery In The Deep." Newsweek 136.9 (2000): 34. Academic Search Premier. Web. 7 December 2011.The submarine sank after two blasts and sank only 350 feet below the surface. 23 crew were able to take refuge in the rear compartment and waited for help. However, it was too late. When the Norwegian divers opened the compartment, they were found dead, probably due to carbon monoxide poisoning.

The Kursk, which had been named after the July 1943 Battle of Kursk, the largest tank engagement in history, was one of eleven nuclear-powered Project 949A Antey ( Oscar II) boats built at Seveorvinsk, and was one of the five assigned to the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet. The other six were assigned to the Pacific Fleet, and while three more were planned, construction was eventually halted.

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The front of the submarine, the Sidon, had been blown apart by an experimental torpedo containing HTP while the men on board were loading it; 13 men died in the blast from the casing of the torpedo. Now, with the help of documents from the original inquiry discovered by the BBC's science programme Horizon, Stradling believes he may have found the explanation for both disasters. Marshall, Geoff (July 2008), "The Loss of HMS Sidon", In Depth, Submarines Association Australia, vol.28, no.4, archived from the original on 16 February 2011 , retrieved 2 September 2010 In raising the Kursk - an operation led by the Dutch Mammoet-Smit international consortium - the navy also hopes to determine the cause of its sinking, which remains unknown.