I am sorry I missed following this thread through the last ten days or so. It was a terrible tragedy and fed all sorts of demons and angels.

Some comments:

Thanks to IanC for that beautiful tribute to those sailors. I was a surface sailor but was originally supposed to be a nuclear submariner. Only a certain stubborn claustrophobia kept me on the surface. This tragedy touched me too.

Wolfgang provided the list of English submarine accidents. One of the topics played with in the posts was national pride and national security as it touched on these accidents. Has anyone else noticed that there were no submarine accidents in that list between 1939 and 1949? That was a time of extreme activity for submarines. Funny thing, that. I wonder if there are similar gaps in lists for other nations. It wouldn't surprise me at all.

Spit Whistle - Thanks for your contribution. As others have said it is greatly appreciated to hear the voice of experience in times like these. Fair winds and following seas, my friend.

It is easy to point fingers when there is a disaster such as this. We must remember that "those who give the orders won't be among the dead and maimed and on each end of the rifle we're the same." Those sailors who someone pointed out were ready to kill are the same as our new friend Spit Whistle. He is out there doing the job he was trained to do. That job is to defend the country he loves. He has made certain sacrifices for that country. The sailors on the Kursk made sacrifices too. They may not have volunteered for Naval Severice but their sacrifices were as real as if they did. And when they sacrificed their lives they gave their nation the greatest gift they could. We must respect them and honor them, no matter what we think of the poitical system they were defending.