![]() The dummy torpedo in question had reportedly far exceeded its service life, posing a serious potential hazard. Government investigators have since identified faulty torpedo welding as the root cause of the initial explosion. A hydrogen peroxide leak caused one of the submarine’s Type 65-76A torpedoes to explode, triggering a fire that quickly spread through the Kursk’s compartments and set off several more torpedo explosions. According to what has since become the Russian government’s official version of events, Kursk sank shortly after being cleared to fire several dummy torpedoes at the Kirov-class battlecruiser Petr Velikiy as part of large-scale Northern Fleet exercises in the Barents Sea. K-141 Kursk was a Project 949A Antey (better known by its NATO reporting name Oscar II) nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine delivered to the Northern Fleet in 1994, Kursk was one of the last Oscar II submarines to be commissioned. It was in nearby waters and collided with the Kursk.” Popov did not clarify the fate of the alleged NATO submarine, nor did he offer any additional details on the purported collision. The retired admiral acknowledged that he lacks concrete proof to back his claims: "I know the name of the submarine with a probability of 90 percent, but in order to name it publicly, one needs to provide evidence, which I can not do," the admiral said. ![]() Popov added that the collision possibly occurred when the NATO submarine somehow lost control and “got too close to the Kursk,” or as a result of unspecified maneuvers conducted by the Kursk’s crew. According to Popov, the NATO submarine was “apparently surveilling” the Kursk. Retired admiral Vyacheslav Popov, who commanded the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet when Kursk sank in the Barents Sea on August 12, 2000, told Russian state news outlet RIA Novosti that the Kursk collided with a North Atlantic Treaty Union (NATO) submarine.
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