The magazine quotes a high-level Russian official as saying that the K-159 was a rusty and old submarine that was being towed to a navy scrap yard, and it is impossible to predict how it would hold up underwater, at a depth of about 240 meters. Although its reactor fuel was expended 15 years ago, the spent nuclear fuel was never unloaded, which poses a serious environmental threat, the Time notes.

The K-159 sank in the Barents Sea, between Russia and Norway, in the routes of many commercial ships and fishing boats. Although Russian authorities promised to lift the submarine as soon as weather conditions allow it, the Time doubts the feasibility of this project. In particular, the magazine points to the financial problems of the Russian Navy.

For its part, the Russian Naval Command said the sunken vessel’s nuclear reactor did not present any environmental threat. According to naval officials, the reactor was in put in a safe condition before the start of the towing operation. There were no weapons on the submarine, which was decommissioned back in 1989. The Command said the K-159 would be raised together with the crew not earlier than in 2004. It stressed the necessity of lifting the sunken submarine.

The K-159 submarine of the North Fleet sank about 3 miles off Kildin Island in the Barents Sea at about 4:00 Moscow time on August 30. The vessel was being towed on four floating hulls from its base in the town of Gremikha to a plant in the town of Polarnye to be scrapped. It became unstable after one of the hulls was torn off in a fierce storm and then sank in waters 170 metres deep. There were ten crew on board. One of the crew was rescued and the bodies of two others were retrieved. The Main Military Prosecutor’s Office, investigating into the sinking of the K-159 nuclear-powered submarine, charged Captain Sergey Zhemchuzhnov, deputy commander of the submarine division of the Ostrovnoy Garrison, with breaking navigation rules (Article 352 of the Russian Criminal Code). He was captain of the vessel that was towing the decommissioned nuclear submarine when it sank in the Barents Sea.

Investigators established that one hour before the tragedy, Sergey Lappa, commander of the K-159’s docking team, asked that the submarine be towed aground to prevent it from sinking, as water filled its stern compartments. However, his request was ignored, and the crew were told to “fight for the viability of the vessel”, which ruined them.

According some reports, water leaked to the stern part of the K-159 through stern shaft seals. Most probably, they sprang a leak during the towing of the submarine. However, the crew did not notice the leak immediately: there were few people on board, and leakage indicators were not powered. The crew first established that the vessel was at a high-pitch angle, using the trim indicator, and after that they checked the ninth compartment and saw water there.

The K-159 crew tried to fight to keep the vessel afloat. First, sailors tried to batten down a partition door between the ninth and eighth compartments. But this did not help, because the partition leaked, and water started leaking to the eighth compartment. After that, the crew tried to create an air cushion in the eighth compartment that would stop the water. But there was not enough high pressure air in the compartment. When it became clear that the crew would not manage to stop the water, the crew called the tow ship and suggested that the submarine be towed aground near Kildin Island. However, this proposal was rejected. The crew was told to continue efforts to keep the vessel viable and wait for rescuers, who were on their way to Kildin Island. They had to implement this order.