In mid-August 2000 much of the world's attention was riveted on the Barents Sea as reports came in of the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk. Were there survivors? everyone was asking. Ramsey Flynn, an award-winning magazine journalist, was so drawn in that he knew he had to write about it.
Some 75 days later, Flynn set foot in Russia for the first time in his life. Four more trips, some three and a half years, and more than 300 interviews later, he completed work for Cry from the Deep, a worthy addition to the English-language books that examine the tragedy.
Recently released in paperback, the book is an absorbing look at the calamity from both personal and institutional perspectives. The personal takes the reader not only aboard the Kursk and other military vessels, but also into the lives and families of several of the 118 sailors who perished. The institutional looks at how the Russian leadership responded – or failed to respond – and how remnants of Cold War mentality contributed to delays in offers to help from NATO countries and acceptance of those offers.
Flynn begins the story largely from the personal aspect. We learn not only about the commander of the submarine but particularly three close friends, two of whom were among the 23 sailors who survived long enough to seek refuge in the rearmost compartment of the submarine. Using interviews and access to a variety of documents, Flynn takes us inside the families and the submarine up to and immediately after the explosion that led to the Kursk’s demise. With his examination of that explosion, Flynn rebuffs claims that the Kursk sank because it was struck by a western submarine. He contends the evidence is clear that a torpedo fueled by high-test hydrogen peroxide exploded in the torpedo room, killing or stunning everyone in the adjacent control compartment and sparking a fire that caused other warheads to explode with even greater force just more than two minutes later.
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