The Russian submarine Kursk sank in the Barents Sea after explosions during a naval exercise in August 2000.
Kursk was a Project 949A Antey cruise-missile submarine, known in NATO terminology as an Oscar II-class boat. On 12 August 2000, a torpedo malfunction caused an initial explosion, followed by a much larger blast that destroyed the forward part of the submarine. All 118 people aboard died.
The wreck came to rest on the seabed at a depth of about 108 metres. Rescue efforts failed to reach survivors in time, and the disaster prompted intense criticism of Russia’s naval readiness and official communication. The submarine was later raised in a major salvage operation in 2001.
Kursk is often confused with Komsomolets, another Soviet submarine lost at sea, but Komsomolets sank in 1989 after a fire in the Norwegian Sea. The two disasters occurred more than a decade apart.