Chapter 1058 Salvaging the Kursk

, Erbing personally sent Masha and Katya back to Russia. Not only because of expressing Liu! ...The second thing that attaches great importance to this matter is also because Russia has begun to officially salvage the Kursk.

In order to ensure that the salvage work of the Kursk nuclear submarine can proceed smoothly, Russia's Ruby Central Navigation Design Bureau formulated a large-scale simulated salvage test plan. Valentin Pashin, an academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the Krylov Central Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg, previously revealed that the simulated salvage test has ended.

Pashin said that experts from the institute had been intensively using a large number of models of the Kursk nuclear submarine to conduct simulated salvage tests. These models, each two to three meters in length, were all made according to the test requirements.

The Krylov Central Scientific Research Institute has its own navigation base, where experts completed a wave simulation operation to salvage the Kursk nuclear submarine. In addition, they have also recently tested whether the traction device and transportation equipment used to salvage the nuclear submarine are strong and reliable.

In May this year, Russia formally signed an agreement with the Dutch company Mamut to salvage nuclear submarines. According to the agreement, the salvage work will be completed before September 20 this year.

Fan Wubing sent Masha and Katya back to Russia this time, and happened to visit the cooperation team of CCTV and New Silk Road Entertainment, which had already launched a team in the Barents Sea, to see what the actual situation of salvaging the Kursk was.

As a major creditor of Russia and the financial sponsor of the salvage of the Kursk, Putin attaches great importance to the arrival of Fan Wubing, especially since Fan Wubing specially sent his two daughters back. This kind of favor It is inevitable to pay it back properly.

Therefore, Putin specially hosted a banquet for Fan Wubing in the Kremlin and sent someone to take him to the salvage site of the Kursk.

Submarines are often remembered because they carry a wealth of advanced military technology, and salvaging a wrecked submarine is definitely a great opportunity to get up close and personal with core military secrets. Therefore, during the process of salvaging a wrecked submarine, overt or covert struggles over the confidentiality and theft of military technology often occur.

Last August. The Junros nuclear submarine Kursk unfortunately sank in the Barents Sea, and none of the 118 people on board survived. In order to recover the remains of the killed officers and soldiers and protect the secrets on board from leaking, Russia decided to salvage the wrecked submarine and announced that the salvage work would be launched through international tenders.

Western countries were overjoyed when they heard the news. The Kursk is Russia's most advanced missile nuclear submarine. They usually don't get a chance to see the true face of Mount Lu. With this salvage, if you are lucky, you can get a lot of valuable information.

Speaking of which, Western countries have been coveting the Kursk for a long time.

One is the details of the sound-absorbing materials on the surface of the hull. A layer of unique sound-absorbing material is laid on the surface of the library boat, which can greatly reduce the noise of the submarine when it is submerged.

Enhance concealment. However, what kind of material this is and what effect it can achieve are unknown to outsiders.

The second is the Granite long-range anti-ship cruise missile. This is the most troublesome aircraft carrier-killing steel weapon for Americans. It can fly across the sea at a cruising speed of more than twice the sound and attack surface ships within a range of 20 to 550 kilometers. Its anti-interference ability and defense penetration ability are unmatched.

The third one is the Storm Torpedo, which is the prototype of the Storm Torpedo that Fan Wubing made before. In the eyes of Westerners, this abnormal weapon is simply an underwater missile, which can fly underwater at an altitude of over a hundred knots. When attacked by it, the ship may not be able to react in time, let alone evade it. No country is immune to such advanced torpedo technology.

In order to keep the secret, Russia went to great lengths.

On Putin's order, the Northern Fleet dispatched a large mixed fleet of more than a dozen ships, including the heavy-duty nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great and the cruiser Marshal Uskinov, as well as five armed helicopters and two transport aircraft of the naval aviation. In the predetermined area, under the invisible water, there are also attack submarines watching eagerly.

Russian President Putin also said that the sea area where the Kursk nuclear submarine crashed is a no-navigation zone, and Russia will not be polite to anyone who dares to trespass. In order to make countries with evil intentions take his words seriously, Russian President Putin also The Northern Fleet was ordered to regularly repeat this message to various countries via radio, and authorized its own warships to carry out preventive blasting in the no-navigation zone on a regular basis, hoping to blow up the Godin area.

Despite Russia's vigorous efforts, uninvited guests still broke into the restricted area.

On one occasion, Russian Navy Chief of Staff Admiral Kravcenk took a helicopter to inspect the salvage work. When the helicopter flew over the Severomorsk anti-submarine ship that was on alert in the operating area, a foreign naval helicopter actually passed by the general's plane.

Obviously, this helicopter was using the general's aircraft as a cover to conduct aerial reconnaissance of the salvage work of the Kurboat. The general was very angry about this. He recalled the daring behavior of a foreign reconnaissance ship and a sonar detection ship at sea not long ago. The two ships ignored the warning and moved closer and closer to the sunken sea area of ​​​​the Kurdish boat. The Russian frigate After repeated expulsion, the two ships reluctantly left until the naval guns were put on their heads.

With these records, Russia has taken a closer look at the Kursk nuclear submarine. Ordinary people cannot approach it at all. Even the joint camera crew of CCTV and Fan Investment Group, which has obtained the right to interview, must strictly abide by the regulations. It depends on Russian regulations, and shooting at close range is obviously not allowed.

Two days after arriving at the destination. The Norwegian deep-sea salvage ship Regalia, which Fan Wubing and the others were on, finally arrived at the site of the sinking of the Kursk submarine.

The weather was good and the sea was calm. For the first time, Fan Wubing and others had the opportunity to see the absolute protagonist of this salvage operation that attracted worldwide attention.

Russian, British and Norwegian divers, in addition to the Russian military security divers, the Norwegian divers are from the Norwegian branch of the American oil company Hrabton Oil Company.

During the interview. Russian diver Petrovsky was the first to express his innermost thoughts, "The difficulties and dangers we face are really too great. Anyone who says they are not afraid is a lie."

According to Petrovsky, divers from Russia, Britain, and Norway dived in batches, with each group of three consisting of two Russian divers and one foreign diver. Their first task was to cut through the thick wall of the Kursk submarine and force a passage to the interior of the submarine.

This is not an easy task. Unlike other modern large nuclear submarines in the West, the Kursk nuclear submarine has two thick hulls filled with twenty centimeters of rubber in between. This kind of facility The purpose is to absorb the mechanical sound emitted by the submarine, making it difficult for the enemy's sonar system to capture it.

However: no plan undoubtedly adds a lot of difficulty to the divers. The divers used high-pressure water cannons and diamond-steel drills to forcefully cut through the hull, and then used a crane on the surface to forcibly tear off the rubber protective layer.

On the surface, the purpose of this salvage operation is of course to recover the bodies of the killed officers and soldiers of the Kursk.

Whenever a diving team is working on the seabed, other divers stay in the pressurized chamber of the Regalia mother ship in order to dive at any time for shifts or to deal with sudden dangerous situations.

When divers work on the seabed, they breathe helium mixed gas. This gas affects people's sound effects, so the sound returned to the surface when the divers work on the seabed is particularly sharp and a bit weird.

However, what the divers fear most is not the difficulty and various dangers of the salvage operation, but the psychological test they face, encountering the dead in the submarine unexpectedly in the dark.

Petrovsky told the reporter, "Think about it, in the darkness where you can't see your fingers, you suddenly come face to face with a deformed body soaked in sea water. How would that feel? Then, you Even if you drag, carry or hold the bodies out of the submarine successfully, it is not over yet, because you need to be careful when bringing these bodies to the surface, and decompress them bit by bit. If they float too fast, then The body will be crushed by the pressure in their body, and you will know what kind of mental endurance the divers need."

British divers said, "There are also some experts who believe that it is impossible for us to find the bodies of the dead officers and soldiers. Why do they say that? Because trying to find the bodies in a dark submarine cabin is like looking for a needle in a haystack. To be specific, every diver has a problem. The lights on the ship can only illuminate a distance of four to five meters, and the volume of the Kursk is a full 10,000 cubic meters. More importantly, one-third of the 118 officers and soldiers on board the Kursk. The second is to stay in Qianwei's weapons room and control room. They were killed on the spot when the explosion occurred, and their bodies were probably blown to pieces, so the divers are most likely to recover only about 20% of the bodies."

Before starting to cut the hull of the Kursk, the most important task for the divers is to try to find out whether the Kursk is safe, that is, whether there is a leak in the two nuclear reactors on the ship.

If there is a radiation mark in the submarine, it means that the plan to salvage the bodies of the dead officers and soldiers has to be completely abandoned.

To this end, the divers drilled a small hole in the strong hull of the Kursk submarine's eighth compartment, which is the nuclear reactor compartment, and then put the camera and radiation detection needle inside.

The scene captured by the camera made the divers and on-site commanders breathe a sigh of relief. The nuclear reactor cabin equipment was intact and there were no abnormal phenomena. The results of the radiation detection needle showed that the radiation level was normal.

A Norwegian on-site spokesman said, "Judging from the preliminary test results, the water sample obtained in the eighth cabin shows that there is no leakage in the nuclear reactor, but it cannot be ruled out whether there are leaks in other cabins."

A Russian on-site spokesman said, "The water sample taken from the eighth cabin shows that the seawater inside is pure seawater and there is no danger."

The divers collected water samples in small containers and handed them over to two Norwegian radiation experts on the mother ship for identification. Judging from the results of the appraisal, it is obvious that drilling operations can be carried out.

According to the operation plan, if you want to explore the 154-meter-long hull of the Kursk, you must drill at least seven holes in the Kursk submarine, with each hole averaging two meters square. , and it takes at least fifteen hours to cut each hole.

However, today's operation of cutting the outer hull went very smoothly. It only took ten hours to cut a two-meter square hole in the outer hull. Due to the impatience of some reporters, media outlets around the world have reported that divers are about to enter the Kursk, but the actual situation is still far from the truth.

The weather was cold and cold the next day, and there was a big storm at sea. The divers had to suspend the operation of cutting the hull. The smooth cutting of the outer hull made the divers and the Russian naval commanders at the scene extremely excited. They were ready to cut through the inner hull of the Kursk in one go.

A Russian naval officer at the scene who had participated in the construction of the Kursk submarine told Fan Wubing while watching the TV pictures coming from the bottom of the sea, "The divers are really amazing. You must know that the inner shell of this submarine is Made of specially reinforced steel, it is difficult to drill through the inner hull in a shipyard under normal circumstances, but they have actually drilled ten centimeters, which is really amazing.”

Fan Wubing smiled and didn't say much. In fact, he was a little dissatisfied in his heart. After all, it is easier to destroy than to build. People always have many ways to destroy.

When it got dark, General Velich, head of the rescue department of the Russian Northern Fleet, announced a temporary suspension of night operations because the wind that had been blowing all day had increased enough to threaten the lives of divers.

So far, the divers have completed one-fifth of the cutting task. It seems that it will take some time to cut a hole that can allow divers to safely enter and exit. The divers left the cutting machine on the submarine shell before returning to the surface. .

Another one on the third day. The weather was cloudy and the sea was stormy, and the Russian naval commander reserved the right to cancel the operation at any time.

However, the suspension of operations provided a joint camera team of CCTV and Fan with an opportunity to interview the commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Kuroyedov, so that they could better understand the extent of the danger faced by the divers.

Due to the violent explosion, most of the internal structure of the Kursk submarine was believed to have been blown to pieces. It is believed that most of the heavy equipment in the stern cabins were also shaken everywhere. This made it difficult for the divers to enter the submarine. Like entering a maze, every step forward may be fatal.

When they are groping forward in the invisible submarine, the fragmented submarine equipment and sharp iron frames may break the divers' pressurized suits or cut off their air supply pipes at any time. Any danger will kill the divers. Life.

For this reason, Admiral Kuroyedov sincerely praised the divers, saying, “This salvage operation is an unprecedented challenge in terms of technical innovation, courage, and psychological factors.