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Soviet Oscar II Class -
Kursk Submarine Ship Model

About the Kursk
From the severity of the Cold War Era arms race, Russia came to emerge as the world's second largest naval power. Meant to oppose the Aircraft Carriers of the powerful U.S. Navy, the Russian Navy created a new type of Guided-Missile Nuclear Submarine known as the Oscar class. Massive Oscar-I Class submarines were first employed in 1982. Later, the Oscar-I submarine would evolve into the even more massive Oscar-II Class, with an awesome displacement tonnage of 18,300 tons and total length of 154 meters. Despite their gargantuan size, Oscar-II Class submarines were capable of high-maneuverability and silenced movement. In January 1995 the 10th submarine of the Oscar-II series, the K.141 Kursk, went into commission with Russia's Northern Fleet and was assigned to defend the country's northern borders. Like other Oscar-II Class nuclear submarines the Kursk had two-layer construction consisting of an 8.5 diameter pressure-resistant inner hull as well as an external hull. The approximately 3.5meter space between these two hull layers housed twelve 550km-range SS-N-19 anti-ship cruise missile launch tubes on each side. To accommodate these missile launchers the 154m-long Kursk was built extra-wide, and this behemoth of a nuclear submarine became known for its total girth of 18.2meters. The Kursk sank five years later on August 12th, 2000. This incident would mark the most tragic episode in all of Russian submarine history. At 11:30 am, 140km off the naval port of Severomorsk (Northern Fleet Headquarters), an explosion of unknown cause sent the Kursk 100m underwater to the bottom of the Barents Sea. Despite efforts of the Russian Navy, as well as British and Norwegian rescue crews, the 118 men on-board, including the captain, could not be saved.