Timeline of events

1990 Work Started

1992 Laid Down

1994 Commissioned










1999 Kursk carried out a successful reconnaissance mission in the Mediterranean, tracking the United States Sixth Fleet during the Kosovo War










12-Aug-00 Sunk

1128 hours 12-Aug-00 there was an explosion while preparing to fire

1130 hours 12-Aug-00 The second explosion ripped a 2-square-metre (22 sq ft) hole in the hull of the craft, which was designed to withstand depths of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft), and also ripped open the third and fourth compartments.The second was 45 to 50 times bigger than the first, suggesting that one or more of the Kursk's own torpedoes had exploded.

That appears to be confirmed by the extent of the damage to the forward part of the submarine, but the cause of the first explosion is still unknown. Water poured into these compartments at 90,000 litres (3,200 cu ft) per second killing all those in the compartments, including five officers from 7th SSGN Division Headquarters.

The fifth compartment contained the ship's two nuclear reactors, encased in 13 centimetres (5.1 in) of steel and resiliently mounted to absorb shocks in excess of 50g. The bulkheads of the fifth compartment withstood the explosion, allowing the two reactors to shut down automatically and preventing nuclear meltdown or contamination

Dmitry Koleznikov

12-Aug-00 Twenty-three men working in the sixth through ninth compartments survived the two blasts. They gathered in the ninth compartment, which contained the secondary escape hatch (the primary hatch having been in the destroyed second compartment).

Captain-lieutenant Dmitri Kolesnikov (one of three surviving officers of that rank) appears to have taken charge, writing down the names of those who were in the ninth compartment.

0840 hours 13-Aug-00 the rescue ship Rudnitsky carrying two submersible rescue vessels, AS-32 and the Priz (AS-34) reached the disaster area at around 8:40 AM the following morning.

14-Aug-00 CBS News reports that the Russian Navy is communicating with the sailors via Morse Code and that 2 Los Angeles class submarines

16-Aug-00 the Russian government accepted the British and Norwegian governments' assistance

17-Aug-00 a rescue ship was dispatched from Norway

18-Aug-00 Nadezhda Tylik, mother of Kursk submariner Lt. Sergei Tylik, produced an intense emotional outburst in the middle of an in-progress news briefing about Kursk's fate. After attempts to quiet her failed, a nurse injected her with a sedative by force from the back, and she was removed from the room, incapacitated. The event, caught on film, caused further criticism of the government's response to both the disaster, and how the government handled public criticism of said response.

19-Aug-00 Norwegian Rescue ship reaches the site

20-Aug-00 British and Norwegian deep-sea divers reached the ninth compartment escape hatch.  They were able to determine that the compartment was flooded, and all hope of finding survivors was lost.