A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy

by Robert Moore

On a quiet Saturday morning in August 2000, two explosions--one so massive it was detected by seismologists around the world--shot through the shallow Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. Russia’s prized submarine, the Kursk, began her fatal plunge to the ocean floor.

Award-winning journalist Robert Moore presents a riveting, brilliantly researched account of the deadliest submarine disaster in history. Journey down into the heart of the Kursk to witness the last hours of the twenty-three young men who survived the initial blasts. Visit the highly restricted Arctic submarine base to which Moore obtained secret admission, where the families of the crew clamored for news of their loved ones.

Drawing on exclusive access to top Russian military figures, Moore tells the inside story of the Kursk disaster with factual depth and the compelling moment-by-moment tension of a thriller.


From the Trade Paperback edition.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Russia, Politics, War, Russian History, Military History

272 pages, Hardcover

First published August 5, 2002

About the author

Chief U.S. correspondent for the British ITN News.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The shock waves [from the exploding torpedo] raced through the ocean, hammering into the seabed. Into a compartment that had been devasted by fire and explosion now roared icy Arctic waters, just a few degrees above freezing and under sufficient pressure to cut a man in two. Had the boat been close to the surface, the torpedo compartment, with its twenty-one-square-foot hole in the hull, would have filled up at a rate of 24,000 gallons a second; at a depth of nearly 375 feet, under the additional water pressure, the compartment filled up much faster. In just sixteen seconds, it was entirely flooded. The sailors and officers in the command center who had survived the first explosion stood no chance now. With the bulkhead destroyed between the torpedo room and the second compartment, they faced a crushing wall of water…”
- Robert Moore, A Time to Die: The Untold Story of the Kursk Tragedy

Imagine your worst fears. Darkness. Cramped, claustrophobic spaces. Bone piercing cold. The feeling of being buried alive.

Now imagine some of the worst ways to die. Drowning. Slow suffocation. Fire.

Combine all those ghastly elements.

That’s what you get when you are on the bottom of the ocean in a crippled submarine.

Robert Moore’s A Time to Die is the true story of the Russian Federation’s Oscar II-class nuclear submarine Kursk. On August 12, 2000, while on a training exercise in the Barents Sea, a training torpedo exploded inside the Kursk, sending her to the seafloor. Ultimately, all 118 crewmembers onboard perished. But they did not die all at once. And some of them likely would have survived, had the Russian Navy not taken sixteen hours to locate the sunken boat, and then proceeded to drag their feet when asking for help with the rescue.

A Time to Die is a real-life techno thriller with a tragic ending. It is fast-paced, well-reported, and a meticulous forensic analysis of failed technology and failed systems. There are also parts that make you want to step outside and take deep breaths of fresh air, it is that nightmarish.

Moore, a journalist, structures his real-life tale in a manner not dissimilar to the novels of the late Tom Clancy, complete with rapid cutting between locations, bold-lettered datelines, and a fondness for explaining how machines work. A Time to Die starts aboard an American submarine, which is observing Russian naval exercises. The sonar operator picks up a massive underwater explosion. From there, Moore circles back in time, to quickly introduce us to the crew of the Kursk, as well as the doomed boat within which they would spend the last moments of their lives.

Russia in 2000 was a very different place from the second-coming of a powerful tsarist empire it is today. Vladimir Putin had just been inaugurated as president. Infrastructure was crumbling. Budgets were so tight that sailors could go months without pay. Though the Oscar II was the pride of the fleet, it was beset by faulty equipment – including a rescue buoy that had been disabled – and loaded with poorly-maintained weaponry. When disaster struck, it took six hours for the Russians to catch on that something horrible had happened, despite the fact that the Kursk explosion was an unmissable seismological event.

Once Russia knew, things did not get better, as those aforementioned budgets had greatly lessened the effectiveness of their submarine rescue apparatus. Due to the sensitivity of the Oscar II – and for reasons of national pride – the Russians were hesitant to ask for outside help, though it was offered by Great Britain and Norway. Though such sensitivity may have cost human lives, it is not entirely illogical, as the navies of the world are always looking for a chance to snoop at the other side’s subs (the CIA, for example, recruited Howard Hughes to find the K-129 in the Pacific in 1974).

While the Russian Navy dithered, blundered, and sent mixed messages, the survivors of the Kursk waited while their chances slipped away. The best, most gripping parts of A Time to Die consist of Moore piecing together what must have happened in the downed boat, based on the few scraps of writing that survived. Throughout, Moore is excellent at explaining how a submarine’s rescue features work, and the countless dangers facing the crewmen as they pondered their best chance at life. This is one of those rare books that didn’t force me to stop and head to the internet to fill in some gap. The best praise I can give is that it answered my questions as they popped into my head. For instance, Moore provides a solid description of the workings of the escape hatch, since the Kursk was in shallow enough water for such an attempt to be made:

The tower above the hatch is ten feet high and just wide enough for a man to enter while wearing a full escape suit. The technique for evacuating is designed to be simple. One sailor at a time opens the bottom hatch and enters the tower. He closes the hatch behind him, sealing himself in the escape chamber, and switches on his individual breathing system. He then flicks open an equalization valve inside the tower, allowing ocean water to pour in and fill the chamber until the pressure inside the tower is equal to that of the water outside. He begins breathing, using his respirator, before pushing up against the upper hatch, swinging it open. He then kicks upward into the open ocean, his lifejacket helping to bring him rapidly to the surface…That is the theory. In practice, the engineering of the hatches presents a daunting challenge. By definition, the escape system is only used by people under extreme stress, in deteriorating mental and physical condition…

When I wondered about the bends, Moore explained that. When I wondered about breathing conditions and pressure aboard the sub, Moore explained that too.

Moore also covers the political angle that loomed large in the background of the Kursk disaster. While obviously not as dramatically gripping, it provides an interesting look at Putin’s coming out party. According to Moore, Putin did a really good job with the grieving and outspoken families of the Kursk crewmembers, even as some of those family members were forcibly sedated.

A Time to Die was published in 2002, meaning a lot of time has gone by since the Kursk went down with all hands. When she sank, the world was in that strange, hopeful interregnum following the end of the Cold War. Just over a year after the Kursk sank, that period ended in New York City, and a new age began, an age of terror and endless wars, capped by a pandemic. Since 2000, Russia has emerged again as a world power. Her relations with other powers – such as the United States – has worsened commensurately.

Obviously, Moore could not have known all this when he wrote A Time to Die. (And if he did know all this, he really should have told someone). Yet, I don’t think it would have changed a word of his story. Moore writes from a very humanistic perspective. To him, it does not matter that the sailors were Russian, or part of a navy that a short time before (and soon to be again) were at odds with much of the rest of the globe. He cares only that they were humans in dire straits, hoping for a miracle that never came.

[Eric_W · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Kursk's brief life spanned a revolutionary period. She had been planned under Gorbachev, the keel had been "laid down" under Yeltsin, but when finally commissioned, the Soviet Union had self-destructed and she was commissioned into the Russian Northern Fleet, prepared for a war that seemed less and less likely. Huge -- there is a drawing of a 747 superimposed on a schematic of the Kursk that dwarfs the airplane,-- the Kursk and her sister ship were the pride of the increasingly destitute Russian navy: the captain of the Kursk took home less than $1,000 per year and often a paymaster would be left behind a cruise to stand at the bank to make sure the crew's salaries were collected before the money disappeared from the bank. In fact, one of the officers on board was suing the government and Navy for pay for the sailors. The Kursk 's final voyage was part of a very ambitious -- a word used advisedly because it was not sure that money would be available to pay for the fuel --war game intended to impress Putin who had suggested he wanted to restore the Russian military to its former glory. The plan was also to use the cover of the war games to sneak one of the Russian boomers under the summer ice of the Arctic past watching American submarines proving they could deploy a nuclear sub without the United State knowing about it. Things began to go wrong from the start. Several missile launches failed spectacularly and the pressure to send good news to the Defense Ministry was pushing crews to take risks. In the final phase of the war games four submarines were to elude discovery and fire a test torpedo at the Peter the Great a large cruiser.

I suspect most of us have some hydrogen peroxide lying around the house. Simple stuff, just water with an extra oxygen atom. But bring it into contact with copper and you have the recipe for a serious disaster as the peroxide tries to eject the extra oxygen atom creating immense heat. Once started, nothing will stop the process until all the combustible material is gone. The practice torpedo that blew up had never been used in practice and the HTP used in the propulsion system had leaked on to the casing, made of copper and brass. It exploded with immense heat and force. In the forward torpedo room of the Kursk, there were live torpedoes with real TNT in them. When they cooked off in a secondary explosion, it registered on the Richter scale as 3.5 magnitude. It blew a huge hole in the pressure hull of the sub. The blast was halted only by the nuclear vessel shielding. This prevented the controls rods from being knocked out of alignment and a potential runaway reactor. Instead of a submarine accident it might have been an ecological disaster.

The British had known of the dangers of HTP. The Sidon had a torpedo explode without warning while at the dock in 1955. Twelve men were killed and an investigation revealed the HTP (high-test peroxide) had leaked out of chamber in the torpedo on to some metal and combusted.
They never again carried HTP on a British submarine.

To make matters worse, the emergency buoy that was supposed to release and send emergency signals if any number of serious conditions arose, had been disabled while on a patrol in the Mediterranean the summer previous, because they were terrified it would deploy accidentally and alert American or British forces to the subs presence. By 1999, the fleet was suffering from neglect and lack of funds. Of seventy cranes at the home port, only twenty worked, meaning that torpedoes could only be loaded on a few of the boats. Sailors were paid only six months out of the year and some of the subs were reduced to hauling food. One commander connected his nuclear power plant to the town's electrical grid so at least some of the navy families could be warm and have light during the long winter.

By a quirk of fate, after the explosion, which blew an immense hole in the side, the sub settled to the floor of the sea in a rather even fashion. Had it sunk nose first, some 130 feet would have extended above the surface, since the depth of water where she sank was only 350 feet deep, much less than the length of the vessel. 23 sailors survived the sinking initially, but remained entombed in the stern of the sub. We have a pretty good idea of what happened to the men marooned in the rear of the sub. A twenty-eight-year-old officer, Lt. Kolesnikov, began writing a precise journal of who was there and events as long as he could. There must have had some makeshift light at the beginning and adequate oxygen for his writing is precise. There were 23 men, all doing reasonably well who could have been saved had the Russians acted with haste, understood what was happening accepted the aid of foreign experts. As the author notes, making this an international rescue should not have been embarrassing since no one nation could martial all the technology and forces needed. But the idea that Russians would let Americans or NATO forces anywhere near their premiere sub was anathema.

Russian communications failures being rather common coupled with a distinct desire not to be the bearer of bad tidings, the double explosion on a sub in the midst of the Russian fleet and during a simulated wartime exercise, went unmentioned if not unnoticed. There was no reward for being curious. Everyone else in the world was very curious as seismic registration needles around the globe measured something. They and the entire US intelligence apparatus were at complete loss to understand what had happened. Communication to the outside world was abysmal at best. The Russians, always eager to put the best foot forward made it seem like everything was great. World interest was accordingly peaked and now they had figurative floodlights on the Kursk . Problem was that Norwegian seismologists had registered the explosions on Saturday, not on Sunday as the Russians had claimed. So the world knew they were lying from the git-go. And they also uttered the word "collision." This was the worst possible scenario from a political standpoint. There had been several very embarrassing and potential deadly collisions in these waters and the new quieting technologies made them even more likely. In one instance a Russia sub surfaced right underneath and American spy sub. And the Cold War was supposed to be over! Both subs limped back to base. But it was a close thing.

Ironic, because the Russians had suffered the loss of the S-80 more than thirty years before in almost exactly the same location. It disappeared without a trace, but the Russians were determined to find it and discover what might have gone wrong as it was the first of its type. They never gave up and 8(!) years after it disappeared it was discovered and the cause of the sinking identified. During a storm, water began to slosh into the vessel through an open hatch. A sailor was ordered to shut it, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't. The reason was simple. He had been trained on a different model of submarine in which the hatch handle was screwed shut in the opposite direction. He had tried so hard to close it the threads on the screw mechanism had been completely stripped. Another irony was that precisely the characteristics that made the sub so difficult to find, i.e. its design to suppress noise and not reflect sonar signals, worked against saving the sailors trapped in section nine.


I also intend to read .
Cry from the Deep: The Sinking of the Kursk, the Submarine Disaster That Riveted the World and Put the New Russia to the Ultimate Test

[Namera [The Literary Invertebrate] · Rating 3 out of 5]

⤅ Nonfiction Book of the Month: October 2025

A few weeks ago on YouTube, I watched a video by Business Insider (which, to my surprise, has a whole line of videos covering various kinds of military/law enforcement boot camp) showing how future submariners in the US Navy get their training. I'll be honest, I cannot imagine why anyone would willingly do this to themselves. You spend weeks, if not months, underwater with minimal exposure to fresh oxygen and sunlight; you're slotted into a small space with 100+ other people as your reserves of fresh food and drink run out; and of course you're liable to die at almost any moment from a whole host of causes, ranging from suffocation to drowning to - ironically enough - fire.

What happened to the sailors on board the Russian submarine Kursk 25 years ago this year is basically the perfect encapsulation of this. In August 2000, a fault with the nuclear submarine caused an explosion that killed most of the sailors instantly. They were the lucky ones, it turns out. The remaining handful of men were trapped in several chambers with water rising around their feet, the oxygen rapidly depleting itself, and (maybe the most psychologically traumatising aspect) in total darkness. The subsist like this for days, while above them the badly underfunded and underequipped Russian navy wastes time haggling over official niceties, instead of accepting the foreign help that might have saved the crew.

Through the chaos emerges the figure of a single officer who keeps his head and actually maintains something of a diary while he's down there. Dimitri Kolesnikov starts a register of men and keeps a record of the deteriorating situation, even writing a farewell note for his wife. It's found on his remains after the submarine is finally levered up from the ocean. Moore captures this sense of tragedy well, switching from the disaster (about which not much is known following the first hours) to the political wrangling occurring above water. Ultimately the book gets 3 stars however because it lacks a certain something, a compulsion of writing that would have kept me hooked. It's a decent enough read but I feel that in someone else's hands (e.g. Erik Larson or Adam Higginbotham), it could have been spectacular.

[Keen Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Why did I raise my son? For what? You probably don’t have children of your own, so you don’t understand. You don’t understand anything. You eat so well, and now you’re just sitting here-and our boys have nothing. This is no way to live. I cannot say anything else. I’m so fed up with all this chaos. I’ve had enough. My husband served for twenty-five years. For what? What was it all for? Tell me, for what? Just for me to bury my son? I’ll never forgive you for this! Tear off your medals and shoulder boards!”

These were the words shouted out by the mother of one of the victims to IIya Klebanov, the deputy prime minister, as he evaded issue after issue, before a stranger crept up behind her, and plunged a syringe into her thigh. She eventually collapsed, as she was carried away from the meeting. This is how Russian authorities choose to deal with the victims of national disasters in the 21st century.

The Kursk was the largest attack submarine ever built. She was the height of a four storey building and longer than two football pitches. Submerged she displaced 23’000 tons. Moore explains the ultimate cause of the disaster was down to an HTP 65-76 torpedo (manufactured in Kazakhstan), suffering from corrosion and inadequate servicing, it exploded in tube number four and unleashed hell. “The torpedo exploded in a massive fireball at exactly 11.28:27, with a force equivalent to 100 kg of TNT. The blast registered 1.5 on the Richter scale…with the torpedo doors still shut, the energy burst backwards into the compartment, travelling at more than a thousand metres a second, engulfing all seven men in a rush of flames.” It had taken a decade to design, three years to build, and just 135 seconds to destroy.

We learn about various previous incidents, involving intrusive US submarines in Russian waters, like the USS Baton Rouge colliding with a Russian submarine in 1992 and badly damaging it, forcing the Pentagon to issue a public apology. Then only one year later, in 1993, the USS Grayling caused a similar farce. It begs the question, could you imagine the level of uproar and outrage if the circumstances were reversed?... Other submarine disasters are spoken of, in particular the case of the Soviet S-80 which disappeared in 1961 and wasn’t discovered until 1968. Though the details surrounding it where suppressed by the Soviets for decades. Apparently the disaster was caused by accidental flooding.

Moore paints a grim picture of Vidyayevo, where many of the sailors were based and where the Kursk set sail from. He also gives us the details surrounding the history and founding of the Kola Peninsula as a port and its role in the Barents Sea and the Arctic. We get some gritty background on the history, decline and state of the Northern Fleet. “The Russian Navy seeks to hide the statistics, but in 1999, on Northern Fleet bases alone, at least twelve sailors committed suicide. In the year 2000, eighteen men took their own lives, most shooting themselves in the head with their service pistols.”

The facts and stats, Moore has managed to compile in relation to so many factors surrounding the disaster are exceptional. Deep below the waves we enter a hidden world of wonderful new terminology, one that speaks of ‘thermal scarring’, ‘face squeeze’ and ‘acoustic tiles’. We even get a fascinating glimpse into the curious and little known world of deep sea divers. He explains that, “So many survival issue flow from an underwater accident that it’s been compared to being caught in an avalanche, trapped in a blaze, adrift in outer space and lost at sea-all at the same time.” “Most of the submarines operating today have a crush depth of around 1000 metres. If a submarine sinks in deeper water, the boat will collapse as if squeezed by a giant fist and the crew has no chance of survival.”

The full horror and the dilemma facing the crew members of the Kursk, who had survived the initial blast, is captured and related with forensic detail. Captain-Lieutenant Kolesnikov’s recovered hand written accounts are spine chilling in their simplicity and understatement. Elsewhere he tells us that, “The human body can tolerate a far greater depletion of oxygen than it can an increase in carbon dioxide. A build-up of CO2 will kill long before a shortage of oxygen. As the CO2 reaches a level above 3% of the atmosphere, the human body begins to experience what doctors call, ‘respiratory distress’. ‘Distress’ is a medical euphemism, however, and considerably understates what the body undergoes. The body craves fresh air. And breathing becomes deeper and faster. As the levels of CO2 continues to build. The body loses the ability to get rid of the carbon dioxide it is producing. The mind cannot understand why inhaling more air is not providing relief, and breathing becomes more and more desperate. With every breath comes a more intense craving for oxygen. Finally, the realisation hits that it is impossible to achieve the intake of air. The torture is psychological as well as physical: there is a constant cycle of the expectation of relief followed by the hope being dashed.”

This is a truly riveting and gripping account of a largely avoidable disaster, burdened with primitive rescue resources nowhere near fit for purpose. Their so called rescue services inadequacies were cruelly exposed to the world. The Rudnitsky, the main rescue vessel was fighting a losing battle from the start. In spite of the many brave and enduring attempts to rescue the sailors, the operation was doomed, hindered by ineptitude of poor chain of command, and ultimately strangled by increasing budget cuts.

Military bureaucracy would do what it always does in any part of the world, lie, deceive and evade and do anything in its power to maintain self-preservation. Through a combination of pride and paranoia the Russians had left it at least 48 hours too late to accept foreign help. When the Norwegians and the Brits eventually did arrive, it didn’t help when the Russians continued to stall, delay and obstruct in any way they could. Losing more vital and precious hours on top of the days they’d already wasted.

Putin had only been in power a matter of months, when the disaster happened. This was an opportunity to act and show his mettle and capabilities. For five days he chose to remain on holiday and say nothing to the press. It took Vladimir Putin ten days before he decided to visit the families and victims at the port where the Kursk had left from. He also showed up to meet them four hours late. Little did the people know that this cold and ruthless behaviour would be a chilling and ominous sign of what was to come during his lengthy and punishing presidency.

So overall this is a truly exceptional piece of work. I was hooked from the opening pages and found myself rationing it, to savour the unfolding story longer. Moore teases out the tension and builds the drama, giving it the feel of a fast paced, paperback thriller. The sheer scale of research involved is something special and overall this is a truly remarkable achievement.

[Nancy Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

A heartbreaking and infuriating book. Another fatal reminder of the inhumanity of bureaucracies and the evil of governments. The pride and "honor" of the Russian Navy, plus fear of revealing technical secrets, cost many lives. During most of the disaster Putin partied and politicked thousands of miles away. Offers of help from far better equipped foreign rescue teams, both military and private, were rebuffed and when finally accepted, stifled and delayed.
The confrontation described by the author between a professional civilian diver and a paranoid, foot dragging Russian admiral is powerful.
The frustrations of Russian officers who tried to facilitate rescue in the face of bureaurocratic obstacles is palpable, as are the agonies of the trapped sailors` families.
Extremely well written, and I learned a lot about these amazing submarines. Couldn't put it down.

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Time to Die the Kursk Disaster, by Robert Moore. On reflection world headlines focused on some of the crew surviving many days after the incident but evidence points to no one surviving the first 24 hours. Heroism shown by the Russian sailors who bravely attempted rescue with outdated equipment, all this set against the complete shambles by Russian officials who tried to cover up their mess. Felt real sorrow for the grieving families and friends that were left behind. Interesting technical details about the Kursk was for myself great, but really using nuclear powered submarines isn't mankind's greatest idea, a technical achievement that needs to be replaced with something that wouldn't cause a huge unprecedented environmental disaster. Robert Moore delivered it all in an easy to follow manner.

[Cav · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one was really good. Author Robert Moore writes with a captivating style, and the book is long enough to tell the reader the relevant details of the disaster, but not too long that it leaves you bored to tears...
The ill-fated Kursk:

The book opens with Moore setting the scene, and giving some historical context. The Kursk sailed out of the once-secret port city of Vidyaevo, built on the Kola peninsula and inhabited strictly by submariners, and their immediate families.
The Kursk was an enormous double-hulled sub, with a displacement of ~23,000 tonnes. Naval service aboard her in the post Cold War climate of 2000-era Russia didn't sound very appealing at all: cramped quarters, long stays at sea, and lousy or absent pay.
A Time to Die tells the full story of the accident that led to two large explosions which ultimately sealed the fate of this vessel, and took the lives of all her 118 crewmen. It also covers the rescue efforts, the politics around the effort, and the aftermath of the disaster as well.

The writing here is excellent, and I really enjoyed this one.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested.
5 stars.

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book concerning the tragedy of the sinking of the unsinkable cruise missile submarine the Kursk caused by a faulty torpedo that exploded on-board.

Many of the requirements for a successful rescue existed- it sank during a major naval exercise settling upright in calm, shallow and clear water and there were no radiation leaks from the nuclear reactors. However as Moore explains an underwater accident has been compared to, "being caught in an avalanche, trapped in a blaze, adrift in outer space and lost at sea all at the same time". To make matters worse he outlines in detail the, "Kremiln's stumbling an inept response to the crisis."

Reading this book has given me a new respect for the submariners who potentially put their lives at risk on a daily basis. Sadly this won’t be the last submarine disaster - for example the loss of 44 lives when an Argentine submarine sank in 2017.

[Connie Curtis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The subject was interesting, but it took a very long time to get into this book. Too much detail, too long.

In my opinion, the story could have been told in half the pages.

It was obvious the Russians cared more about their reputation than the lives of those sailors at the bottom of the Bering Sea. It was inexcusable that they waited so long to agree to offers of help from other nations. The lies and misdirections may have caused the deaths of the sailors.

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

From IMDb:
The film follows the 2000 K-141 Kursk submarine disaster and the governmental negligence that followed. As the sailors fight for survival, their families desperately battle political obstacles and impossible odds to save them.

[Denis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rode US submarines for over 20 years and you do not think about what can happen. This book would make me rethink my career path.

[Annoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

THAT WAS ACTUALLY A REALLY GOOD BOOK!!!
Although quite technical in the beginning, the author clearly has done extensive research about the submarine accident and clearly highlights the flaws as well as subtly criticising the Russian government on how they handled the case.
As well as depicting the facts of the situation, the author also brought out the difficulties and emotional aspects that families of the deceased faced, and overall made the book a very interesting read.

[Darryl Tomo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audiobook of this over two days while renovating a caravan. It's a good narrative account of the Kursk disaster. Reading this feels very reminiscent of the Chernobyl disaster - the mistakes, lies and Russian obfuscation are very similar.
It perhaps lacks a bit of the narrative flair that makes something like 'A Night To Remember' so riveting, but this is an otherwise good read.

[Janus Schaltin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Achter de film gezien te hebben sprak dit boek mij enorm aan. Het leest vlot en geeft heel wat meer info mee over de reddingsactie, waar je in de film meer de kant van de vastzittende bemanning ziet krijg je hier een interessante boterham aan gegevens over de reddingsactie en technische moeilijkheden. Zeker een aanrader voor duikboot liefhebbers

[Fred Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent story and very well written account of tragedy, politics and the human element.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fast moving account of the Russian submarine Kursk which sunk in the Barents Sea in 2000, due to its own torpedo explosion.

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Análisis detallado del suceso, pero con un claro sesgo occidental.
Sin embargo, la descripción del accidente es genial.
Aconsejable.

[Lorna Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a tragedy!
I’m not going to slam Russian politicians and leaders because I’m not well informed enough to comment, but come on!!!! The British and Norwegians were right there! They were right there offering to help, and with all the right equipment too, but Russian pride and it seems more than just a sprinkling of paranoia, potentially prevented lives being saved.
Such a terrible waste, and such a wonderful tribute at the end of the book by reading out all of the 118 lives lost in this most tragic event.

[ivelived1000lives · Rating 5 out of 5]

My interest in the Kursk tragedy started with a series of “We recommend you watch next” videos. That particular rabbit hole led me a few months back to a documentary about it which left me slightly stunned. I had to learn more about it, did a little research and decided to get A Time To Die for a more detailed account of the events of that fateful month of August, 2000.
And as usual Goodreads didn't lead me astray, and this book was excellent.
Previous to watching the aforementioned documentary, I had but a vague idea of what happened to the Kursk. I vaguely remember it being mentioned on the news at the time, but I was too young to really pay attention. Then I remember asking my dad about it after hearing it mentioned somewhere, and him saying what a horrible fate those sailors met. That was the extent of my knowledge pre-A Time To Die. I knew a submarine had sunk, I knew the Russian military had to keep it all so hush-hush that men were left to die in there (I thought that it had something to do with their nuclear reactor being damaged though). That was it. I knew a bit more after watching the documentary, and even though some info contradicted what is said in the book (I distinctly remember some expert or other saying the sailors had communicated with rescuers via tapping at some point, which A Time To Die discredits), I still felt that this book provided me with the definitive account of this tragedy (no small task, considering the sensitive subject matter and the Russian propensity for secrecy).
The whole story is horribly depressing, and the feeling one cannot help but be left with is one of utter waste. The author, in a relatively short book, masterfully explains the context that led to leaving 23 young men to die when a rescue was not only possible but would likely have succeeded at such shallow depth. There are so many insights to be gained from this book. Indeed, the Kursk sailors fell victim to many factors, which the author goes into at depth: the dilapited state of the Russian military post-USSR collapse (the way these men were treated and the conditions they lived in were eye-opening and infuriating), the ego wars amongst military chiefs and government officials, the misguided pride of the elite who refused Western help for way too long, the deep distrust between East and West inherited from the Cold War and the belief by the old guard that military secrets were more valuable than human lives.
There is a lot of context in this book (all of it interesting), but the human factor is by no means omitted. The author never lets us forget that while this international game of diplomatic chess was being played, 23 men were left to rot in a submerged submarine in rapidly deteriorating conditions. They had to live through such an awful agony for such a long time that you end up wishing that they had died from the blast with their crewmates. That would have been a far more merciful fate, as you realize thanks to Robert Moore, who talks candidly about what happened, not shielding us from horrifying but necessary details about the crewmen's last moments and the body recovery effort. I for one appreciated that some morbid yet important questions I had about the state of the recovered men, and the way they were recovered, were answered.
I learned a lot, not only about the Kursk, but about submarines and diving in general. I always appreciate learning something I did not expect to learn in a book (without The Feather Thief, how could I have possibly known how interesting fly-fishing was???) and the parts about deep-sea diving were fascinating. (Side note: Did you know that “submerged treasure hunter” was actually a job??) I certainly hope that Russian leaders learned some lessons from this awful disaster as well.
This one story highlights a bigger historical and geographical context, but I felt that it also honored the sailors' memory, through the figure of Dmitri Kolesnikov in particular, who under immense pressure and the worst conditions imaginable, displayed impressive self-control and strength of character. If I had to write a short blurb for this book, it would be “informative, sensitive, grade-A nonfiction which almost reads like a thriller”. I highly recommend this to pretty much anybody interested in military history, or history in general.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robert Moore has written a compelling yarn about what might be considered the most famous submarine disaster of all time. Written with the verve and insights one might expect from a veteran journalist, and more specifically a correspondent who served in Moscow during the collapse of the Soviet Union, 'Kursk: A Time to Die' is a highly engaging book that will have its readers eager to turn each page. However it is not just an attempt to create a gripping narrative about the specific events of the sinking of the Kursk. This is a book that also makes some solid attempts at exploring the culture of submariners and those who work under the water. It is also a worthy examination of the Russian military and political mindset, and in the process this is a book that offers some valuable insights into what is happening today during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finally, this is a book that tries to detail the human dimension of what happened to all those who were affected by the tragedy, whether they be Russian or not, whether they be sailors or civilians. This is a quality read.

The narrative of the book is fairly straightforward in that it follows in a broadly chronological structure the events that predated the sinking of the Kursk, the confused and dare one say criminally mismanaged rescue attempts (at least from the Russian side), and the aftermath of the disaster. Moore brings the reader into the story through his ability to bring each of the hey characters of his history to life, in part through their own words, in part through using his journalistic skills to position the reader into the situation through his writing.

This can be seen rather early in the text when Moore describes the initial events of the fatal explosion that doomed the Kursk. In Chapter Two the author takes the reader into the sub, first describing how the boat's commander, Captain Lyachin, was about to launch a practice torpedo during the naval exercise in which it was participating. Then Moore discusses in brief the history and mechanics of torpedos, focusing on the Russian weapons that equipped the Kursk. He writes in short dot points on the firing procedure, and then speaks of the manufacturing process that had lead to the fatal flaw within the torpedo that would explode before it could be fired. Moore offers more asides to give even more contextual information, whilst also helping the reader find a personal connection with the crewmen who were killed in the initial explosion. He names each one and in the process the reader is reminded that this tragedy had a human face. It is compelling writing and whilst it does offer plenty of historical and technical detail it retains an immediacy of connection with the sailors who died during the fateful events Moore describes.

Moore's account of the Kursk's sinking is dominated by two key themes; these being the failures of the Russian system that led to, mismanaged and then inadequately responded to the disaster, and the bravery and initiative of some individuals when faced with what had transpired 100 metres below the surface of the Barents Sea. In the background is the complex political climate of a time when the Cold War was nominally over, yet there were still residual concerns and antagonisms, whilst there is the concurrent rise of a new force, ex-KGB officer and (then) freshly inaugurated Russian president Vladimir Putin.

'Kursk: A Time to Die' is studded with examples of Russian incompetence, failures and criminal neglect, and it is fascinating to read this book and its account in the context of what is happening right now in the Russia-Ukraine war. It would appear, based on reading this book and reports that are circulating about the blunders made by Russian forces, that not much has changed in that country's military and political administration in the more than twenty years since the Kursk sank. The higher command of Russia's Navy seemed to be just as incompetent, just as focused on political benefit rather than their personnel and their equipment, as the generals and admirals of today's forces seem. The inability to admit failure, to adapt and learn from these, and to in the process develop initiative appears to be as systemically embedded in the Russian way of managing its armed forces now as it was back in 2020. There may be individuals that have an amazing capacity for personal bravery and patriotism, however they are but minor bit players in a structure that engenders incompetence, that facilitates personal ambition and greed before efficiency, before care for those on the front line. There is lots to take away from Moore's book when it comes to the Russian approach to military and naval matters, and to then correlate these observations, these insights, into how badly Putin's Russia has waged its war against Ukraine.

That Putin is also focal to this book is an important reason to read this book, though in retrospect Moore doesn't quite do enough in this area as one might hoped. It could be that this is due to the continuing lack of firm information on the man. Also, the original text of this book was published long before Putin became who we think of him today, and especially what has been seen of his regime and leadership since last year's invasion of Ukraine. There's no doubt that Moore captures the beginning of dictatorial imperative, vis-a-vis his underwhelming response to the Kursk disaster and the following criticism he received. It is shown in the closing chapters of the book that Putin's regime has seen a significant curtailing of almost all press freedoms, especially those that were exploited to good effect by those trying to get to the truth of what happened to the Kursk. Moore also notes, rather pointedly, that anecdotally Putin prefers to 'poison' his opposition and those he sees as enemies. The insights offered by Moore include Putin's actions that staved off East German protesters during the fall of the DDR in 1989; his brazen and highly effective lies back then have become emblematic of his modus operandi since he became Russian president.

Where Moore's book is perhaps most relatable is his efforts in bringing to the fore those who felt the immediate impact of the Kursk's sinking, including the sailors on the sub, their families, and those who did their best to rescue them. He does an excellent job of restoring the voice and experiences of the women who lost their husbands and sons in the Kursk, and through his account he reminds the readers that the victims of such a disaster are left with a traumatic legacy that goes on way beyond the immediate grief of their loss. Moore makes some effort to also demonstrate that these women were perhaps the most exposed to losing out, even before the Kursk was lost, and that they were the most strident in trying to sheet home blame to those that were culpable.

There is plenty said in this book about the bravery of specific individuals, and much credit is given to the British and Norwegian divers and sailors who did their best to try and help. That they shared a bond with those who were nominally on 'the other side' is stressed by Moore, and whilst he notes that they were superior in equipment, training and initiative, they were matched in their desire to do what they could by their Russian counterparts. Moore doesn't hide his admiration for the Russian rescue sub pilots; they are seen to be just as heroic in their efforts to rescue their fellow Russians and the western sailors and divers were.

There is lots to like about 'Kursk: A Time to Die', and it is a book that will be eagerly read by anyone interested in either the specific incident it explores and/or any type of dramatic history where men and women try to respond to a disaster. There is lots to chew over for the naval history geek and the student of Soviet and Russian affairs. It's a bloody good read and I have no qualms whatsoever in recommending it to anyone who wants to dive into its pages.

[Hans Brienesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good account and well written. It describes intensely the reactions and inactions of a multitude of persons from the sailors lost at sea to the hesitancy of some of the Russian naval hierachy and the eagerness and frustrations of the civilian and naval would-be rescuers. The writing is descriptive without embellishment and it appears that every effort has been made to present this as an account rather than a story. Who were the heroes? those who stood up to the Russian politics in spite of their personal consequences, those who made ready internationally at a moments notice to obey the unwritten law of the sea to save all regardless of political creed, and finally those who went to sea in substandard machines and conditions and were let down by their masters.
All in all an enjoyable and accurate read.

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's an excellent book about the Kursk tragedy. The Kursk was a Russian submarine, more than 600 feet in length, which had a torpedo explode during war games in the Barents Sea in August 2000. The torpedo exploded because it was old and it's gaskets had become hard and shrunk which allowed the two components of the fuel to mix and blow up. Many of the other torpedoes in the sub also exploded basically blowing the front end off. The book is mostly about the rescue effort as it's believed 23 sailors survived the blast but it's unknown how long they may have lived. In the end no one survived. Last month I watched the Chernobyl mini-series (excellent) and there are many similarities. Russian paranoia, lies and denial most likely cost some of the sailors their lives. Quite a story and very well written. A very high recommendation.

[Jenny · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a well written story of a Russian Submarine accident and a rescue that was much too late.

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep, another submarine disaster book with another unimaginative title. What a weird kick. This one started slow and then about halfway through became a page turner. Moore did his homework. He was able to get interviews with many of those involved in the rescue operation.

You may remember that the Kursk was a Russian nuclear submarine that sank in August 2000 with over 100 men on board in the Barrents Sea. It was interesting to contrast this one with my recent reading of The Terrible Hours about the rescue in 1939 of the sailors from the US submarine Squalus.

[Geve_ · Rating 5 out of 5]

The story of the Kursk disaster, the accidental sinking of one of Russia's greatest nuclear subs. The story goes into GREAT detail about the history of the sub, as well as Russia's navy at the time, the crew on the sub and the theories about what actually happened. I found these details quite interesting, and they really help to set the stage for how this tragedy occurred.
It was, of course, a series of multiple failures that led to the sinking, as well as the event going unacknowledged for quite a while after, which of course likely led to the deaths of all the survivors of the original explosions.
This also happened during Putin's first 3 months as president, and he was a major fucking bitch about it all. He didn't do shit about it, until long after the crew was dead, but it really showed his skill as a politician in how he finally did handle it.
If I have a complaint about the book, it is in the formatting. Although it's a common technique, the book starts with an exciting chapter of the event, then backtracks to all the history, then near the end, it calls back to some of the things that were introduced in the beginning. It wasn't terrible, but had it taken me longer to read this, I may not have been as fresh on the details.
Overall, this is a great read, highly recommend.

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

A horrifying chapter in submarine history is detailed here from all points of view--most of them the dubious and criminal mindsets of the Russian military. Unmaintained, deadly torpedoes explode inside a massive craft, reducing the surviving crew of sailors to prisoners inside one compartment. All of this taking place only 350 feet below the surface of the freezing Russian Arctic ocean. What develops outside this tragedy is hard to fathom, as national security distrust, botched rescue equipment, miscommunications, disharmony at the top, and, most of all, godless politics prevent the already neglected men in the sub the dignity of a prompt and professional rescue. And all 22 sailors perish. Moore's information is consistently fascinating, whether he's profiling the poverty-stricken, barren community of the Kola Peninsula Naval base, the infighting amongst pompous generals, the relationships between the rescue operations. But most of all, the book is a profile of the Russian military; its profound fear of the truth, and the belief that deceit pays. Here, the idea that bad news is best un-delivered is flattened. Once Putin actually faces the grieving families, it's fortunate, for both the author and historical record, that a hidden tape recorder was also in attendance.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

It can’t be this hard. At least not for the “experts” you’d think that would be on standby to counteract any underwater accident in any country’s naval fleet. Well like with most things, the Russians are the gold standard for setting the bar low. The book itself is extremely well told and goes into appropriate detail around not just the disaster but the rescue teams themselves, how difficult diving is under these circumstances, the background on the Russian navy leading up to this point, etc etc. The author just does a fantastic job contextualizing the event and all factors that led up and contributed to the avoidable disaster. The book was published in 2007, so I’m definitely curious now what later facts have come to light. At the end of the day though this book gets the job done and nothing changes the fact that 120+ men lost their lives due to the incredible negligence of a morally corrupt Russian chain of command. Highly recommended, but beware the tragedy within. Frustrating how much the deck was stacked against these poor men.

[Davide Redini · Rating 4 out of 5]

La ricostruzione dell’affondamento del Kursk. Fiore all’occhiello della Marina Russa per tecnologia e potenza di fuoco.. ma la legge di Murphy è ineluttabile... se qualcosa può andare storto sicuramente andrà storto.
Dopo il crollo dell’ex URSS le forze armate Russe subirono una drammatica riduzione dei budgets.. gli armamenti, gli equipaggiamenti e i sistemi, con il tempo, diventarono obsoleti conseguentemente la sicurezza (safety) nel gestire, nel mantenere in servizio attivo tutto ciò, crollò ad un livello inaccettabile (chi conosce il SMS potrà farsene un idea).
Le alte sfere dello stato e delle forze armate non riuscirono a riconoscere la gravità della situazione a causa della negligenza, del tornaconto personale nonché politico.
La vita umana anche questa volta passa in secondo piano..
Show must go on..

[Geoff Boxell · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my sons, who is not a big reader, gave me this book to read as he couldn't put it down.
I have had an interest in submarines and those who crew them since I was 14 and read "Periscope Patrol" about the Royal Navy's Malta based subs and have a number of books around subs and submariners of all nations.
This is a harrowing tale of heroism and incompetence; openness and secrecy, where so much time was lost - time that may have saved the few crew who survived the explosions. It is also a warning tale to those who would scrimp on their defence forces, especially where safety is concerned.
The author is an award winning television reporter and he does a thorough job in telling the tale from all sides and perspectives.

[South Brunswick High School Library · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the summer of 2000, the Russian nuclear submarine, the Kursk was crippled during a routine military exercise as the result of a defective torpedo. The secrecy with which submarines travel and the poor state of the Russian navy resulted in a series of delays that ultimately erased the posibility of rescue. Initially refusing help from outside governments, the Russian admirals continued to deny the facts of the accident only allowing Norway and Great Britian to help with a rescue operation after repeated attempts to reach the submarine had failed. In this history readers follow the journey of the submariners from their departure from their base through their final moments under the sea in addition to the desparate rescue operation that attempted to save them.