Northern Fleet Commemorates Wrecked SSN Kursk

13.08.2012 Memorial activities related to 12-th anniversary of tragedy happened to the crew of nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN) Kursk were held on Aug 12 in Murmansk and Northern Fleet (NF) bases Vidyaevo, Gadzhievo, Zaozersk (Murmansk region), and Severodvinsk (Arkhangelsk region).

In Murmansk and Vidyaevo, the activities started early in the morning with memorial service in honor of died submariners. Then numerous meetings took place in all NF bases and finished at 11.28 am, just at the time when SSN Kursk perished. Participants paid honors to the lost submariners by minute of silence and laid wreaths to memorials.

Traditionally, the ceremonies were attended by NF commanding officers, representatives of Murmansk regional administration, public organizations, residents and guests of polar regions.

Shortly before the 12-th anniversary of the tragedy, NF salvage tug Nikolai Chiker sailed to the Barents Sea with relatives of died submariners on board. An Orthodox cross was planted on the seabed at the site where SSN Kursk sank. Inside the cross, there is a capsule with soil brought fr om the Kiev Monastery of the Caves.

Parents of the Kursk crewmembers put wreaths with names of all submariners on the water and threw into waves soil brought from Arkhangelsk, Voronezh, Kursk, St. Petersburg, Severomorsk, Syzran, and other cities wh ere submariners were buried.

SSN Kursk sank in the Barents Sea 175 km away from Severomorsk at the depth of 108 meters as a result of an accident happened on Aug 12, 2000. All 118 crewmembers died.