Operation To Attach Hydraulic Lifting Devices To Kursk Submarine Almost Over

The effort to attach hydraulic lifting devices to the Kursk nuclear submarine is almost over. On Sunday, divers are expected to attach the remaining two lifting devices in the area of the vessel's seventh compartment, reported head of the Northern Fleet press service Vladimir Navrotsky. As of this moment, divers have already attached 24 of the 26 hydraulic lifting devices and are trying to attach the remaining two. However, there's a problem with the 25th device, which, according to Navrotsky, "has warped inside the fairlead" and will take two or three hours to get straight. Commander of the Special Task Expedition Vice-Admiral Mikhail Motsak, on his part, stressed that the operation to attach the 25th lifting device had been completed 85% and the last of the lifting devices was expected to be attached by 5:00 p.m., Moscow time. The devices attached, divers shall proceed to dismantle the equipment used during the deep-sea works on the hull of the submarine and hoist it aboard the special ships waiting nearby, reported the press service of the Russian Navy Sunday. After that, the entire set of 26 lifting devices shall be burdened. According to the press service, the Special Task Expedition headed by Vice-Admiral Motsak consists of "the heavy nuclear-powered guided-missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, which serves as the headquarters of the Expedition; the small anti-submarine ship Brest that guards the Kursk disaster area; the survey ship Romuald Muklevich responsible for hydro- and meteo-monitoring of the area; the marine science research vessel Dezhnyov engaged in radiation monitoring of the aqueous medium; the special tug Pamir, the seagoing tugboat MB-38, and the floating hospital Svir, all of them responsible for support." Apart from that, there is the Giant 4 barge with two accompanying tugs, and the ship Mayo that conducts deep-sea works. At this moment, the wind force in the area reaches 8 metres per second. The sea is slight, the radiation is well within the norm.