Those who use the sea share a kinship, even if they have at times crossed swords, or stood ready to. The news of a mishap aboard a Russian submarine is therefore sad enough news for any mariner:
At least 20 people have died in an incident involving the failure of a fire extinguishing system on a Russian nuclear submarine, local media report.
Russian Pacific Fleet spokesman Igor Dygalo said both sailors and shipyard workers died in the incident, which occurred during sea trials.
He said the submarine itself had not been damaged and there had been no radiation leaks.
It’s the worst disaster aboard a Russian submarine since the Kursk went down with all hands in August, 2000.
Many shipboard firefighting systems are designed to remove oxygen from the space, and although I’m no submariner, it seems possible that automated isolation systems could close off a suspected fire, sealing off the affected site, as well as those trapped in the space. Or perhaps it was done manually. Or perhaps there’s more here than meets the eye.
Here’s a strange twist on the tragedy
There were 208 people on board at the time, 81 of whom were servicemen.
According to Wikipedia, the normal complement aboard an Akula is 25 officers and 26 enlisted. Meaning that were four times the boat’s normal roster aboard for Nerpa’s sea trials.
What a tragedy.
Lex, it appears the K-152 Nerpa was being built for the Indian Navy. She was being built at the shipyard at Vladivostok. This in located just above the North Korea border, between Japan and Russia. The Russians are claiming the reactors are safe. The deaths were caused by an unauthorized release of the fire suppression system. The claims are what the Government is telling the Russian people. We will never know what the true “after action report” will actually state on this incident. We shall see. As always, Grumpy
Lex, an interesting personal tale of the Kursk fiasco:
http://thebronzeblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/remember-kursk.html
Sorry to plug my own blog-thingy here, but I figured maybe you guys might be interested…
And freon the agent of death, no less. There’s more than one reason NavAir stopped using the stuff…oxygen displacement not being the least of them.
Of course on a sub just about any fire fighting agent displaces oxygen. Bad thing, that.
Poor devils…
Mark my words: This will trace back to the torpedoes. This is the second fatal accident involving the forward compartment(s) of an attack boat.
The Russians reported that the system used Freon. I had initially wondered about Halon, but the Russian forensic folks say freon was found in the systems of the casualties.
For those questioning the ratio of officer to rating on a boat like this, it has to do with the Russian military system.
Although submariners are volunteers there (like us) an enlisted man can only be advanced to an NCO rate and/or attend a school after his first enlistment. Russia has mandatory service. Everyone goes. For the first enlistment, you are just that: enlisted. Those who choose to reenlist can then go on to train for a specific rate and test for advancement.
Also, the Russians often lump Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers under the same title as “officers” when putting out geberal press releases.
The Akula is one of the Russian Navy’s modern computerized vessels. It seeks to do more with fewer crew. This is a concept the American Navy is also pursuing. It will be interesting to see what results come out of the accident investigation, and whether any of this tragedy was the result of either inexperience or lower-manning levels, or both.
Respects,
We didn’t have Halon suppression systems on my boat, but there was on the moored training ship I went to for prototype training. I’ve heard that Halon is on the way out because it’s bad for the ozone or some such. I’ll bet dollars to donuts that system is installed in the torpedo room to prevent another accicent like the Kursk. Extinguish the fire before the torpedoes cook off. We had two fire hoses on my boat. One to fight the fire, another to keep the weapons cool. LA class fast attacks are an older design though, Seawolf and Virginia class boats might have a Halon system or something similiar. It is standard proceedure for shipyard workers to ride on sea trials as part of the testing programs. I wonder if they didn’t have enough EAB’s (airline fed breathing masks) for everyone. Ventilation systems for the compartment would have to be isolated automatically for a Halon system to work, preventing fresh Oxygen from reaching the fire.
With the boat being so overloaded with people, my guess is they lacked EAB’s for all the folks in the affected space.
Tis a sad day.
Always have lots more people onboard for seatrials. After the THRESHER, we started requiring welder supervisors go on trials with the sub. Your own skin being on the line tends to incentivise the QC.
On initial trials on a T-hull, we had ~350 souls on board. Only about 180 or so were ships company.
Just like the Kursk incident, I read these early reports and feel there are a lot of translation errors as the story passes hands from Russian to English, and from technical speakers to non-technical spokespeople and news writers.
First, “Freon” is a trade name for a DuPont chloroflourocarbon refrigerant. I find it unlikely that a Russian submarine would be using Freon, or that anybody at the source of this story used the word “Freon.”
“Freon” or any other refrigerant would not be used in a fire-suppression system. While it is non-toxic under normal circumstances, when heated above 1200F it generates very toxic phosgene gas.
But I also wonder what kind of fire-suppression system would be on a submarine that would asphyxiate crew members as described. Torpedoes and weapons don’t need oxygen so an oxygen-displacing gas system wouldn’t make any sense. Most fires on a submarine are best attacked with water, which is in plentiful supply.
A refrigeration leak makes more sense. I had a personal experience with one, and I know of some fatal ones in the U.S. Navy. I can’t picture how it could claim 20 lives but I suppose it’s possible.
Gyro gone bezerk on the fish, Tim? A bubblehead buddy of mine once related that it wasn’t terribly uncommon on Ivan’s boats.
Apparently the situation has to be handled very quickly with a hardover turn, or the fish’s brains decide it’s time to go high-order.
MWC, that’s probably a better question for you…
Or for Eric…
Could have simply been a stupid sailor seeing the manual actuator and saying, “Gee, wonder what this does?”. And yes, had a sailor who thought he’d play a joke on the yardbirds one time pull that stunt. Didn’t do it twice, one of them was me.
Let’s remember that, ideology aside, these brave men died in the service of their country doing an honorable job.
The Army Toast; To Absent Companions.
FormerSubGuy,
As I understand it, the Ruskies were playing around with a hydrogen peroxide power system for their torpedoes. Any sort of leak could cause a conflagration on quick order. When you look at the pix of Kursk after she was hauled ashore, what stands out to me most (besides the absolute destruction) is the charred bundles of cable and bulkheads showing that a high-order fire took place.
I, too, am awaiting further news of this disaster. Not trying to sound cold, but I do mourn for their loss, but I am happy it’s them and not us. They have too reckless a government to be playing around with the weapons they currently possess. And want.
Respects,
K-152 “Nerpa” Tragedy – there was fire on board during this fatal accident.
http://www.nr2.ru/incidents/205317.html
The rough translation of the above listed article refers twice to Freon, which, as FSG pointed out, doesn’t make sense in fire suppression. Crew are listed.
Google results show a list of Ivan’s sub mishaps in the last 20-30 years, including the Yankee at the bottom of the Hatteras ditch. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_K-219) What’s up with that?
I’m curious. I thought the Indian Navy was going for the Scorpene sub, and don’t quite get the need for nukes in local waters. Hmm…
Questions notwithstanding, a sad day for them and theirs…
[...] were four times as many people on board as there should have been. And an accidental burst of fire-suppressant gas [...]
Freon 13B1 is also known as Halon 1301 and is used in fire suppression systems. Bubblehead (here) has details on that.
grounded eric – the new VA and Seawolf boats don’t use halon – they go the firehose route just like our stalwart old LA class boats. The US submarine fleet has always been wary of bringing something on board whose purpose is to displace oxygen. The brits, however, have toyed with the halon theory of firefighting.
If it was a suppresion system like Halon setting off on purpose or otherwise, what a horrible way to go…regardless.
b2
From my previous experience as a submariner (and my boat was by no means a totally modern boat – built in the 60s) we always had a oxygen “back-up”-system. Although originally intended for use if there ever was a leak – it could, and was supposed, to be used in case of fires or other causes of “bad air” (not including the natural “blend” which comes from being submerged for an extended period of time). I can see that you wouldn’t work the boat with “normal crew” on a trial but:
- aren’t there similar system on russian subs?
- are they allowed to carry more people than oxygen outlets?
I’ve been onboard when a halon fire supression device was set off – by no means nice, but not fatal…
In my opinion, these toys must be taken away from Russians, or they will one day do something really bad.
Paul says these brave men died doing something honorable.
I don’t believe testing nuclear weapons systems for sale or lease in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty for a few pieces of gold is honorable.
Nuke-powered, not nuke-armed. Unless I’m sorely mistaken, the N-P Treaty deals with arms, not propulsion systems.