Kursk

In the worst peacetime disaster experienced by the Russian Navy, on 12 August 2000 the state-of-the-art nuclear-powered "Kursk" submarine sank with the loss of 118 officers and crew. The sinking was a humanitarian, environmental and military catastrophe for Russia, and a powerful political reversal for President Putin. But what really happened? Peter Truscott, former Foreign Affairs and Defence spokesman in the European Parliament, provides the answers. An expert on Russia who has met the leaders of all Russia's political parties over the past decade, the author has also interviewed relatives of the crew; Russian, British and American nuclear submarine commanders; international torpedo experts; politicians; diplomats; British and Norwegian rescue teams and their leaders; submariners; seismologists and members of the defence and intelligence communities. The result is a fascinating book, vividly re-creating the terrible final hours of the crew as they waited in vain for rescue at the bottom of the Barents Sea; and providing a gripping illustration not just of human courage, but of human failing at the highest levels of government.