letup. To satisfy himself all was ready to perform at peak efficiency, Lyachin would have personally verified the latest compartment status reports. The next task was one every person on board had anticipated.
Warning klaxons would have reverberated throughout the vessel. The enormous black shape that had plowed so ponderously through the waves gently slipped under the dark sea. Once fully submerged, the behemoth found a new life.
More than twice as long as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, she handled with the agility of a fighter plane. That analogy is fitting, because the
Kursk
was “flown” through the ocean depths using controls much like those on an aircraft. Vertical and horizontal stabilizers, set at the extreme rear of the boat, made the sleek vessel turn, climb, and dive. Gliding at maximum speed, she was capable of maneuvers few other submarines could equal.
In Compartment 1, far forward in the bow, the two Dagdizel experts probably wasted little time before beginning their work. Mamed Gadzhiyev, chief of the Dagdizel torpedo design office at the plant in Kaspiysk, Dagestan, was assisted by his deputy, Senior Lieutenant Arnold Borisov. They had been enthusiastic about sailing with the
Kursk
, as the short cruise would give them an opportunity to test new ideas. Their first project was to fit an improved battery to one of the older electric-powered torpedoes. Hoping for a major performance enhancement, they unpacked their gear.
Loosening screws and unsealing the various panels that needed to be removed for access to the power-supply module took some time. They had no reason to hurry and behaved in their usual secretive fashion. With this pair, security was a way of life. So it was strange that the two men were openly angry when they discovered the special battery they’d brought with them was too large to fit the allotted space.
Despite attempts to keep it quiet, that news must have brought curious looks to many faces as it spread through the boat. Two top engineers, from a factory with such a high reputation, and they didn’t know what size to build a battery. More than one finger was rubbed against a nose in a knowing manner. Clearly, that pair was along for something else altogether. And that something else obviously had to do with the liquid-propellant torpedoes. Or perhaps it was a secret weapon. Or maybe it involved a major safety modification to the Shkval-model torpedoes. Theories abounded.
What many knew for certain was that in 1998, the
Kursk
had visited the Sevmash Shipyards in Severodvinsk for alterations to some of its torpedo tubes. The military newspaper,
Red Star
, had even printed a story on this conversion. It was also known on board that for the sea maneuvers, the submarine was carrying three types of torpedoes.
First, there were the model 65-76 long-range antisurface ship units designed in 1976. Torpedoes, when first used on submarines, had been called “tin fish” and the name, in shortened form, “fish,” stuck. This 65-76 fish can alter its path through the water, seeking the target it has been deployed to destroy. In case of a miss, it is capable of using its homing sensors in a reattack mode. During a reattack, it recognizes when it has missed its target, turns, and initiates a new assault to deliver a 450-kg warhead. This model is driven by a liquid High Test Peroxide (HTP) system that produces highly volatile and explosive hydrogen gas. The gas drives a turbine that furnishes quiet power to twin screws. Once loosed, the projectile makes excellent speed and has a more than adequate range. Safety tests indicate this torpedo could resist exposure to fire for a little over two minutes before exploding. Two minutes does not give fire suppression teams much time to act before disaster strikes.
The far safer USET-80 weapon, also stored on board, dated back to 1980. It relies on a silver-magnesium battery that utilizes water to produce electricity. The driving propeller is then turned by an
Warning klaxons would have reverberated throughout the vessel. The enormous black shape that had plowed so ponderously through the waves gently slipped under the dark sea. Once fully submerged, the behemoth found a new life.
More than twice as long as a Boeing 747 jumbo jet, she handled with the agility of a fighter plane. That analogy is fitting, because the
Kursk
was “flown” through the ocean depths using controls much like those on an aircraft. Vertical and horizontal stabilizers, set at the extreme rear of the boat, made the sleek vessel turn, climb, and dive. Gliding at maximum speed, she was capable of maneuvers few other submarines could equal.
In Compartment 1, far forward in the bow, the two Dagdizel experts probably wasted little time before beginning their work. Mamed Gadzhiyev, chief of the Dagdizel torpedo design office at the plant in Kaspiysk, Dagestan, was assisted by his deputy, Senior Lieutenant Arnold Borisov. They had been enthusiastic about sailing with the
Kursk
, as the short cruise would give them an opportunity to test new ideas. Their first project was to fit an improved battery to one of the older electric-powered torpedoes. Hoping for a major performance enhancement, they unpacked their gear.
Loosening screws and unsealing the various panels that needed to be removed for access to the power-supply module took some time. They had no reason to hurry and behaved in their usual secretive fashion. With this pair, security was a way of life. So it was strange that the two men were openly angry when they discovered the special battery they’d brought with them was too large to fit the allotted space.
Despite attempts to keep it quiet, that news must have brought curious looks to many faces as it spread through the boat. Two top engineers, from a factory with such a high reputation, and they didn’t know what size to build a battery. More than one finger was rubbed against a nose in a knowing manner. Clearly, that pair was along for something else altogether. And that something else obviously had to do with the liquid-propellant torpedoes. Or perhaps it was a secret weapon. Or maybe it involved a major safety modification to the Shkval-model torpedoes. Theories abounded.
What many knew for certain was that in 1998, the
Kursk
had visited the Sevmash Shipyards in Severodvinsk for alterations to some of its torpedo tubes. The military newspaper,
Red Star
, had even printed a story on this conversion. It was also known on board that for the sea maneuvers, the submarine was carrying three types of torpedoes.
First, there were the model 65-76 long-range antisurface ship units designed in 1976. Torpedoes, when first used on submarines, had been called “tin fish” and the name, in shortened form, “fish,” stuck. This 65-76 fish can alter its path through the water, seeking the target it has been deployed to destroy. In case of a miss, it is capable of using its homing sensors in a reattack mode. During a reattack, it recognizes when it has missed its target, turns, and initiates a new assault to deliver a 450-kg warhead. This model is driven by a liquid High Test Peroxide (HTP) system that produces highly volatile and explosive hydrogen gas. The gas drives a turbine that furnishes quiet power to twin screws. Once loosed, the projectile makes excellent speed and has a more than adequate range. Safety tests indicate this torpedo could resist exposure to fire for a little over two minutes before exploding. Two minutes does not give fire suppression teams much time to act before disaster strikes.
The far safer USET-80 weapon, also stored on board, dated back to 1980. It relies on a silver-magnesium battery that utilizes water to produce electricity. The driving propeller is then turned by an
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