Feature Focus: Offshore Innovations: Raising the Kursk

This article reviews the 10,000-metric-ton Russian nuclear submarine Kursk, with two nuclear reactors and 20 missiles aboard, had gone down in August 2000 following a pair of explosions approximately two minutes apart. Explosions had left the bow so deformed it was impossible to attach lifting devices, and there were serious doubts about the structural integrity of what remained. At Roslyakovo, the 21-tonne Giant was lifted clear of the water by two auxiliary pontoons. The pontoons, 100 meters long with a 15-meter beam, were sunk below the barge, winched into position beneath it, and then pumped out in order to raise the Giant-Kursk combination. This extra lift, in addition to deballasting of the drydock, provided the clearance the strand jacks needed to lower the sub on the stocks. Once the Kursk was positioned, the Giant 4 released its load and was withdrawn from the drydock.