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Monday, January 06, 2014

Submarine Accidents - an overview

Below: The Russian Submarine Kursk, K-141

I want to start a series of posts on submarine accidents (and incidents) in the modern era.  This will for the most part be about Cold War and post-Cold War incidents and sinkings. 

I don't want to re-hash World War II submarine combat events for a couple of reasons:  1) There were too many of them to cover, and 2) They are already made famous by being told about in movies and books.  The events I am interested in have been either actively concealed or forgotten, rather than being trumpeted and made into movies.

I intend to do some detailed posts about the following submarine sinkings:  NOTE: 11 March 2023 - Finished posts now have links below.
The sinking and loss of all hands of the USS Thresher
The sinking and loss of all hands of the USS Scorpion
The reactor accident and scuttling of the K-27
The reactor accicent on K-431
Fire and sinking of the K-8
Explosion and sinking of the K-219
Fire and sinking of K-278 Komsomelets
The sinking and loss of all hands of K-141 Kursk

Addtitionally I might at some point make posts on a few spooky submarine incidents.
The humiliation of USS Gudgeon being depth-charged and forced to surface by the Soviet surface Navy
USS Tautog and K-108 collision
USS Baltimore witnessing a Soviet undersea spy operation end in a drowning.
USS Barbel inadvertently ramming and sinking North Vietnam's largest freighter.
Grounding of the S-363  (aka U-137) in Sweden.
The B-59 Submarine incident during the Cuban Missile Crisis

I won't bother with the K-19 Widowmaker reactor accident, since there is already a movie about it.

There have also been a large number of collisions with friendly vessels and submerged objects.  Also there are many documented fires and flooding events that are available to post about.  A rich subject!

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