The Russian Navy has begun removing bodies, missiles, and equipment from the submarine Kursk. Following her remarkable salvage in early October, the Kursk, suspended under the heavy-lift ship Giant 4 and supported by the large pontoons Gon and Mar, entered the Russian Navy's largest floating dry dock at Roslyanko, near Murmansk, on 21 October. Five days later the lifting craft had departed and the dry dock was pumped out, revealing the submarine's shattered hulk.
Work began immediately to check the state of the ship's two nuclear reactors and to remove bodies and missiles. Within a week 55 bodies and most of the Granit antiship missiles had been lifted from the submarine. (Of the 118 men on board when she sank in August 2000, 12 bodies were removed by divers from the after compartments last November.) Reportedly, none of the 22 large Granit (NATO SS-N-19 Shipwreck) missiles in the submarine was damaged.
Also located were recorders in the Kursk's control room that may provide data on the events of the last minutes of the submarine. Yuri Yakovley, assistant to the chief military prosecutor, said the inquiry still is probing three possibilities for the cause of the disaster: an undersea collision, striking a mine, and an emergency in the torpedo compartment. He said there is "no reason to give preference to any one of them." Other Russian officials have admitted that the most likely cause of the disaster was an explosion of torpedo fuel.
Meanwhile, preparations are being made to raise the bow section of the Kursk, which was severed from the hulk immediately before the salvage was undertaken. According to Igor Spassky, head of the Rubin bureau that designed the submarine, next summer's lift of the bow section will be undertaken by Russian specialists, without foreign help. However, the Dutch salvage firm Mammoet, which lifted the Kursk in collaboration with Smit International, plans to submit a proposal to the Rubin bureau in the event foreign companies are allowed to participate.
The Mammoet-Smith salvage of the submarine from a depth of some 350 feet was a remarkable accomplishment in view of the size of the Kursk and the normal seaweather conditions in the Barents Sea during October.