Modern Day Submarine Disasters

When you think of a submarine disaster, perhaps your mind goes back to the Kursk or even the Second World War. But In the last 24 years since the sinking of the Kursk there have been a number of accidents and disasters that have cost lives at sea and called into question the safety of some of those that are allowed to dive to depths that perhaps they are not meant to go. Here is a catalogue of some of those accidents (Image left shows a decommissioned Russian submarine).

9 February 2001 – Off the coast of Hawaii, the USS Greeneville surfaced underneath high school training vessel Ehime Maru causing the vessel to sink killing nine of the 35 people on board. The submarine was damaged and the captain took full responsibility. Just months later on 27 August the Greeneville ran aground in Saipan causing minor damage. 

27 January 2002 – In the third incident in a year, USS Greeneville collided with the amphibious transport dock USS Ogden off the coast of Oman causing damage to the Ogden.

May 2003 – Chinese submarine numbered 361 had an incident on board that ended up having the entire crew of 70 killed by suffocation. The submarine was towed to port and a number of senior officers were dismissed from the navy as a result of the inquiry.  

5 October 2004 – During her first voyage since being purchased from the Royal Navy, the Canadian submarine HMCS Chicoutimi (below) was running on the surface in bad weather when water came in through open hatches causing an electrical fire. Several of her crew were airlifted off for medical attention, one of whom died on the way to hospital.

8 January 2005 – Los Angeles Class nuclear submarine USS San Francisco collides with an undersea mountain off Guam with the impact so severe the submarine was almost lost. One sailor was killed and a further 98 others were injured, the bow of the submarine completely wrecked, evident by photos released to the media upon her arrival in Guam two days later which showed the extent of the disaster and an embarrassment to the US Navy.

5 August 2005 – The rescue submersible Priz AS-28 was carrying out operations off the Kamchatka Peninsula when the craft became entangled in netting on the seabed. A huge rescue operation was mounted and Russia accepted the help to rescue the seven crew in response to the disastrous refusal five years earlier during the Kursk disaster. The submarine was freed with very little time to spare and the crew rescued successfully by the Royal Navy (image below shows the Priz surfacing).

6 September 2006 – Russian submarine Daniil Mosokovsky was anchored near the Norwegian border when a fire broke out on board killing two of the crew.

29 December 2006 – The nuclear submarine USS Minneapolis-St Paul was leaving Plymouth, UK, in rough seas after a port visit over the Christmas period. Three crew were helping the pilot to disembark to his boat and were swept overboard as the submarine passed the breakwater, two of them later pronounced dead.

21 March 2007 – The Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless (below) was carrying out duties near the North Pole when an oxygen explosion in the forward section of the submarine killed two members of the crew.

8 November 2008 – 20 crew of the Russian submarine Nerpa are killed in a gas leak in the Sea of Japan.

11 April 2010 - A shooting on board HMS Astute while on a visit to Southampton leaves one crew member dead and several others injured. The gunman was a crew member and is tackled and later jailed for life. 

14 August 2013 – The Indian submarine Sindhurakshak suffered a fire alongside her berth at Mumbai and explosions caused the loss of the submarine and caused the deaths of 18 of the crew. The submarine was salvaged from her position and later towed out to sea and sunk in deep water (the image below shows the submarine just a few months before the disaster).

11 March 2016 – North Korean submarine is reportedly lost in the Sea of Japan with no further information released other than what US military observations found.

11 August 2017 – In a bizarre case, the home-made submarine UC3 Nautilus sank off Denmark with two people on board, the single survivor, owner Peter Madsen (below) later being found to have murdered the journalist Kim Wall and dismembered her body before deliberately sinking the Nautilus to cover his tracks. He was later jailed for life.

15 November 2017 – The Argentine Navy submarine ARA San Juan vanishes in the South Atlantic with 44 crew on board. A huge search and rescue operation was carried out but the wreck of the submarine was not found until a year and a day later when it was announced that the submarine had imploded and was now laying broken up on the seabed.

1 July 2019 – Russian submarine Losharik suffers a fire on board which kills 14 crew.

21 April 2021 – The forty-year-old Indonesian diesel-electric submarine KRI Nanggala 402 was on a general exercise with 52 people on board when she went missing in the Bali Sea. A search of the area found that she had been found on the seabed in three pieces just 12 miles from where she had reported her last position.

2 October 2021 – US Navy nuclear submarine USS Connecticut collides with an undersea mountain mid-Pacific leaving eleven crew with minor injuries.

18 June 2023 – The commercial submersible Titan (right), owned by exploration company Oceangate was on an expedition to the wreck of the liner Titanic when all contact was lost with the craft. Carrying five crew on board, the international search carried out mid-Atlantic captured the world’s attention as questions were asked about the suitability of the submarine for not only carrying passengers but diving full stop. The wreckage of the submersible was located four days later around 1,600 feet from the Titanic wreck.

20 September 2023 – The South African navy submarine SAS Manthatisi was carrying out a vertical transfer of supplies off Cape Town when seven personnel were swept overboard in rough seas. All the crew were recovered but three of them had died in the accident.

These are submarine disasters are are rarely on any memorial, but the losses of crew and passengers are felt just as much long after the headlines have forgotten them and their memories held by the families of those who are on eternal patrol.