1/350 K-141 Kursk (HobbyBoss)
|
by Christian Dagorn |
1/350 K-141 Kursk (HobbyBoss)
K-141 *Kursk* was a Project 949A class *Antey* submarine of the Oscar-class, known as the Oscar II by its NATO reporting name, and was the penultimate submarine of the Oscar II class designed and approved in the Soviet Union. On the morning of 12 August 2000, *Kursk* prepared to fire dummy torpedoes at the Kirov-class battlecruiser Pyotr Velikiy (*Peter The Great*). These practice torpedoes had no explosive warheads and were manufactured and tested at a much lower quality standard. On 12 August 2000, at 11:28 local time (07:28 UTC), there was an explosion while preparing to fire. The Russian Navy's final report on the disaster concluded the explosion was due to the failure of one of *Kursk'*s hydrogen peroxide-fueled Type 65 torpedoes...The submarine sank in relatively shallow water, bottoming at 108 metres (354 ft) about 135 km (84 mi) off Severomosk. A second explosion 135 seconds after the initial event was equivalent to 3-7 tons of TNT. The explosions blew a large hole in the hull and collapsed the first three compartments of the sub, killing or incapacitating all but 23 of the 118 personnel on board.
