mmmm, submarine innards.

It has all the markings of an attack from one of those creatures from the [sadly] cancelled tv-show "Surface".

Also, even though the submarine remains might double as a cool setting for a scary sci-fi, I'm betting it's never going to be as scary as slowly suffocating/freezing to death, in total darkness, 12 thousand leagues under the sea, in a room full of scared sailors.
The Russian government really handled that situation with clarity and finesse :(

That is so cool. I would be interested in seeing how they brought that up from the bottom of the ocean.

Well then...

You must have missed the 2 hour show on how they raised the Kursk then...

It was all over the History Channel years ago

@xrikazen: You should check out the Glomar Explorer then.

Old Book Note; There was a hard hat diver and author, Edward Ellsberg between the world wars that specialized in undersea adventure. He was head of the Navy's submarine salvage team, and had some horrifying tales to tell, all true. "On The Bottom" was his masterpiece.

You can still get copies for a few dollars.

Wow...I wonder if the launch tubes still had active warheads when they dredged it up. That would be a bit nervewracking.

I served onboard a US Sub, nuclear fast attack, believe me those suckers are SMALL. What you're seeing is a cut out view with all the decks removed, plus the Kursk was a missle sub.

@frankenpc, @dmarcus48:
The Kursk was an Oscar-II class attack submarine, not a ballistic-missile sub. To split hairs - it was designated as a cruise-missile capable attack sub. That doesn't mean is wasn't carrying nuclear warheads on it (afaik, the Russian Navy never confirmed one way or the other). She was certainly capable of carrying, and launching, nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. Just not ballistic ICBM type ordinance.

Aww, my first io9 shoutout! *wuv*

@wishnevsky:

Thanks for the tip, off to Powell's!

thats insane I've Been in a few submarines but you don't realize how big they are.....those are cool pictures

Oh yeah, there are big, and they pull a huge amount of power when tied up to a pier. But you have to realize that there are ballast tanks and inner decks that you're not seeing in those pics.

They might have found the Source of the Bloop.

@FrankenPC: That was in part why the rest of the world (except the Russians) think it sunk. They where doing live fire battle drills and one of their torps blew up in the tube.

What a hideous way to die.

@Falconfire:

Ahhh! So that's why the entire front section was blown clean off. WOW...what a horrible accident!

@Seth L: You're welcome.. I'm an Ellsberg freak.. He was a real Richard Seaton charcter, in real life. A Jew from Denver, (i think) who got into the Naval Academy by sheer balls, got stuck with sub salvage because it was hopeless, wrote a best selling book after he got the job done, went on to kill himself with over work in WWII, saved the Normandy invasion, by salvaging the Mulberry flaoting docks and was a real decent writer..

I like "Under the Red Sea Sun" and "Hell on Ice, the Story of the Jeanette Expedition" There is also a modern bio "Salvage Man."

@FrankenPC:
I'm not sure you and Falconfire are talking about the same thing (maybe you are and I'm missing it).

The Kursk wasn't a ballistic-missile sub. She didn't carry ICBM's or anything. So those aren't what blew and sunk her. She had cruise missiles, as well as torpedos and the other standard submarie weaponry.
My understanding is that, in short, a chemical-reaction caused by concentrated hydrogen-peroxide in the propulsion section of one of the torpedos caused the torpedo to pressurize, which resulted in that torpedo eventually blowing apart. The front of that torp ripped a hole in the bow of the Kursk, and the explosion itself may have caused a fire. The Kursk hit bottom, the impact and the fire seems to have caused other torpedos to explode. This second explosion is what truely ripped her apart. And just in case you have any suspicions: no nukes were involved. This was all conventional explosives (albeit a shload of it).
There's a decent wiki entry on this if you care: [en.wikipedia.org]

Ratspit... We all know it was the the Kraken what done 'er in. Grabbed the front of that boat with its massive tentacles and ripped its bow clean off, it did. Slurped up the bubbleheads like so many chewy morsels. Argh.

Ummmm yes and no about the front section...

In the show you can see how badly blown apart the front is while its still underwater.

To bring up the sub safely they had to cut off the nose with a specialized chain saw device, mainly because the nose was full of live warheads.

The side launch tubes weren't a problem because those weren't active when the Kursk sank, but all of the torpedos were.

You now, the irony is that the sub was only 350 feet down - while it was 450 feet long. All they had to do was raise up the rear to near the surface to save the men.