Grounded submarine photographed with sonar

[Wxman]

:o

Grounded submarine photographed with sonar

By João Medeiros|01 April 2010

This article was taken from the May issue of Wired magazine.
http://img.wired.co.uk.s3.amazonaws.com/674x281/a_c/B159_Bow_V2%20ALT.jpg

This eerie wreck image is not computer generated. It's the sonar image of Russian nuclear submarine B-159 (called K-159 before decommissioning), which has been lying 248m down in the Barents Sea, between Norway and Russia, since 2003. The Russian Federation hired Adus, a Scottish company that specialises in high-resolution sonar surveying, to evaluate if it would be possible to recover the wreck.

[snip]

Excerpted: read entire article here (http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1tLqZO/www.wired.co.uk/wired-magazine/archive/2010/05/start/grounded-submarine-photographed-with-sonar.aspx)

[Wxman]

commentary deleted

[Sung]

This boat is a grave - 9 seamen died 2003. Please don't make any jokes about this sub.

[Wxman]

Roger that.

[msxyz]

The infamous K-159 shortly before sinking

http://makettinfo.hu/forum/upload_20060501/227.375.1_K-159.jpg

http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/85AD4600-C747-42DA-B4E7-44248D67A2D3/0/k159_32.jpg

The four rusted tanks were floaters needed to keep the boat from sinking. One of them ruptured (or broke free) during a transfer dooming the vessel and its crew.

Look at the state of the outer skin! How could the Russian navvy let this giant piece of rust containaing two fully fueled nuclear reactors stay in the water and rot for years! :stare:

Not to mention the skeleton crew attending to the boat. I can only imagine the dreadful conditions aboard this wreck.

[JIMMY_232]

30 miles away from london the is a cold war era hunter/killer class its serial number is U475-Black Widow

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2519/4019157232_9741e5e466.jpg

[msxyz]

But that is not a nuclear boat, just an old, dilapidated and poorly maintained relic of the past. And nobody will force 10 poor sailors to stay inside if it will be ever moved again.

K-159 reactors were shut down in the the late 80's. It was supposed to remain docked there just enough time so that the nuclear fuel inside them cooled down and the most radiactive, short lived isotopes would decompose into something less dangerous. Just the standard procedure before any refeulling or maintenance operation involving the reactors.

Instead, it remained docked to that pier for 14 long years. Its hull rotting to the point that external pumps had to be rigged to fight the leaks. Afterwards, four giant pontoons (those rusty cylinders seen in the photos) had to be welded to the submarine because the boat was no longer able to stay afloat on its own.

When it was finally decided to move K-159 to the scrap yard, it was already too late and 10 men (its last crew) had to give their lives trying to keep the boat en route while being towed. A sad tale of human foolishness.

[Jankowski]

its good to know that russia is comming up in the world order. those nuclear subs idnt disappear, they are still there waiting.

[TLAM Strike]

The Russians are not the only ones who have let their old nucs sit and rust. Check out these photos of the USS Triton SSN 586...

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/7119/0858622.jpg
http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/6000/0858608.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4374/0858609.jpg

[msxyz]

I've read the story of the Triton.

One thing I did not understand is if the boat was defuelled before being left to rot outside for all that years.