Kursk

by Peter Truscott

"In the worst peacetime disaster experienced by the Russian Navy, on 12 August 2000 the state-of-the-art nuclear-powered Kursk submarine sank with the loss of 118 officers and crew. The sinking was a humanitarian, environmental, military and political catastrophe for Russia, and a powerful reversal for President Putin's standing both at home and abroad." "But what really happened? Did, as the Russians initially claimed, a British or American submarine actually collide with the Kursk, causing the fatal explosion in the bow? Or was an outmoded fuel type to blame, igniting disastrously when one of the torpedoes started dry-running in its tube? And why, hours after the initial explosion, did the Russians prevaricate catastrophically when there was still a chance to rescue some of the crew?"--Jacket.