The cause of the sunken Russian nuclear submarine the Kursk is still unknown. However, there are many theories that address the issue. Miniature submersible cameras have shown us the extent of damage the Kursk has undertook. The damage included a shattered bow, a buckled foredeck, a battered conning tower, and worst of all, a gaping tear in the vessel's hull that would have permitted massive flooding. One theory is that an explosion may have ripped through the torpedo compartments in the bow flooding the entire forward sections of the sub ( Bout ). Those in this region of the ship most likely died an instantaneous death while others who escap

Fennell, Tom. "Tragedy and Anger." Maclean's 113 (2000) : 18. Canadian MAS

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Another element of an irresponsible government was that Putin and his government tried to cover up the incident saving any embarrassment and shame. After the cover-up and the lying came the attempt to blame the West. A Russian admiral was found to claim falsely that a British submarine had collided with the Kursk. It was put forth as sinister that two American submarines were within 70 miles ( Fennell ). Defence Minister Igor Sergeyev continued to suggest that the tragedy was a result of a collision with either an American or British submarine. But if that was so then were is the other damaged vessel? Washington and London angrily dismissed the allegation. The Norwegian and British divers who were attempting the rescues found no signs or evidence of a collision. The USS Memphis, an American submarine that was in the vicinity as he Kursk recorded two large explosions at the time of the disaster on their sonar (Fennell ). They recorded that the initial explosions was not as intense and big as the second. They claimed the second explosion could have been recorded as 3.2 on the Richter scale ( Bout ). Putin's response to all the blame was that if the liberals didn't cut military funds the Russian military would have had a way of dealing with the crisis including a successful rescue mission. The Russian government was quite insistent on blaming others for the catastrophe rather than taking the blame themselves. This is an example of a typical Cold War mentality still gripping Russian forces.

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