Kursk

On August 10, 2000, Kursk — a submarine twice the size of a jumbo jet and longer than two football fields, the “unsinkable” pride of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet — embarked upon a naval exercise. It was their first exercise in a decade and the maneuvers entailed 30 ships and three submarines. Two days later, two internal explosions, powerful enough to register on seismographs as far away as Alaska, sent the ship to the bottom of the Arctic waters of the Barents Sea. At least 23 of the 118 sailors aboard survived the explosions. Over the next nine days, the entire world was on tenterhooks, as rescue operations faltered and foreign assistance was refused. The fate of the men aboard hung in the balance.