“the middle of the hull you could see a nearly perfectly round hole, about a meter in diameter”
More like 1,5 meters if you ask me but even at 1 meter it is hardly indicative of ‘a small diameter projectile’ (if at all of a projectile), particularly considering the fact that naval artillery hasn’t gone beyond 45cm and torpedoes don’t currently come in diameters over 65cm.
“right there in the middle of the hull, that round hole, whose diameter corresponds exactly to the impact point of our new weaponry”
And we know this how? Secret weapon details somehow suddenly became available?
What functional railguns are there, and where? Aren’t they all experimental rigs only? Only last year did the USN get funding for development of a prototype for a surface ship railgun to be developed for DDX (expected 2010). How big would a railgun capable of firing a 1m projectile be? Would it fit into a LA class sub and where? Would a submarine of the LA class be able to generate sufficient electrical power to fire a rail gun? Does electromagnetic railgun technology even work under water? Does any any gun technology work underwater (i.e. how do projectiles – not torpedo’s – behave underwater)?
Turning to motive and opportunity: Supposedly (according to the articles quoted by WC), the Kursk incident was used as a pretext for re-examining Russia’s whole naval doctrine and for the abandonment of all means of countering American carrier might, notably 650mm torpedo’s. The 650mm torpedo first appeared together with the 949 Granit/Oscar I cruisemissile sub in 1982, and followed by 971 Bars/Akula class in 1985. In 1989 USS Memphis (SSN-691) was withdrawn from active service to become a research platform to test advanced submarine technology such as optronic non-hull-penetrating masts, Unmanned Underwater Vehicles (UUV), and large diameter torpedoes. Although the USS MEMPHIS was modified to serve as a test and evaluation platform for advanced submarine systems and equipment, she retained her combat capability. In January 1994 MEMPHIS entered Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for RCOH and modifications to support her Research and Development role. Upon completion of the shipyard availability she was assigned to Submarine Development Squadron TWELVE in Groton, CT. Assuming it was fitted with a functional railgun in 1989, and considering the threat from 650mm torpedos to US carrier groups, why did the US wait no less than 11 years untill August 2000 to kill the Kursk (or another sub) and create the incident that would lead to withdrawal of 650mm torpedos from russian active service? Even is the railgun was fitted only in 1994, you can ask the question as to why wait for 6 years given an accute threat?
Kursk on seabed: where’s that hole again?
Double hull, with 3,5-4m space and equipement between outer and inner hulls. (Just the outer is 2,5 inch steel plate)
688 class fast attack submarine diagram: where can we put a railgun that fires a 1m projectile?
But there is obviously a hole in the Kursk, bar the man made possibility to fool the French dude, what else could it be then if the Kursk hull is designed to withstand a hit from a mk-50?
Also if the Kursk was designed to withstand an mk-50, would distance from sub make a difference at all or any denotation before impact?
Any possibility wherein an mk-50 type torp would be able to penetrate a double hull?
As far as the debt cancellation, I have checked the IMF website and I can confirm that there was a large transfer of payment that month by Russsia but as per reports on the Russian transaction with the IMF, such repayments had been planned and expected by the IMF already….
It’s not that this sub’s outer hull would withstand a Mk50 hit. Indeed, quite the contrary, the Mk50 would penetrate it. However, penetration of the outer hull by a Mk50 would not be sufficient to sink the sub.
“The Oscar-class nuclear-powered cruise missile attack submarine, which displaces more than 18,000 tons when under water, is one of Russia’s largest and most capable submarines. As with earlier cruise-missile submarine, the Oscar was designed primarily to attack American aircraft carrier battle groups.
As with other Russian submarines, the Oscar features a double hull — and inner pressure hull and an outer hydrodynamic hull, with eight inches of rubber between them to muffle sounds. American submarines have a single pressure hull, with additional hydrodynamic fairings, such as the cap that encloses the bow sonar dome. The 3.5 meter separation between the inner and outter hulls on the Oscar provides significant reserve buoyancy, and improved survivability against conventional torpedoes.
…
The Project 949A submarines have a total of at least ten separate compartments, which can be sealed off from each other in the event of accidents. “
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