In August 2000 the world watched the horror when lack of rescue equipment ebbed away the last chances of survival for the 118 submariners onboard the sunken Kursk submarine. Moscow was heavily critizised after the failed rescue operation in the Barents Sea outside the Kola Peninsula.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin likely had the Kursk disaster in mind when he in Severodvinsk last week overviewed the signing of the contract for payment to the construction of new naval rescue vessel.
Construction of the vessel “Igor Belousov” started at the Admirality shipyard outside St. Petersburg in 2005. The construction period was supposed to be less than four years, but due to problems with sub-suppliers delays occurred. After the final price-tag for the vessel now is agreed the progress will speed up.
The rescue vessel will be put on water in 2012 and handed over to the navy in 2014, reports Itar-Tass, quoting Chief Engineer at the Admirality shipyard, Andrey Veselov.
The magazine Korabley writes that the vessel will belong to the Northern fleet, the largest of the four Russian navies.
Onboard, there will be mini-submarines that can dive to 700 metres. These mini-submarines will have the ability to dock to any type of submarine. NATO and Russia have over the latest years cooperated on joint exercises simulating rescue of submarines.
The first submarine rescue exercise took place in the waters outside southern Norway in 2008.
