ad info

 
CNN.comTranscripts
 
Editions | myCNN | Video | Audio | Headline News Brief | Feedback  

 

  Search
 
 

 

TOP STORIES

Bush signs order opening 'faith-based' charity office for business

Rescues continue 4 days after devastating India earthquake

DaimlerChrysler employees join rapidly swelling ranks of laid-off U.S. workers

Disney's GO.com is a goner

(MORE)

MARKETS
4:30pm ET, 4/16
144.70
8257.60
3.71
1394.72
10.90
879.91
 


WORLD

U.S.

POLITICS

LAW

TECHNOLOGY

ENTERTAINMENT

 
TRAVEL

ARTS & STYLE



(MORE HEADLINES)
 
CNN Websites
Networks image


Morning News

Russian Submarine Accident: Navy Analyst Discusses Rescue Efforts

Aired August 18, 2000 - 9:42 a.m. ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: The very latest on that Russian sub, we continue to track and monitor things throughout the weekend here.

Let's talk now with a Navy analyst and a military historian. Norman Polmar is with us now live this morning on CNN's MORNING NEWS. He comes to us from our bureau in Washington.

Sir, good morning to you.

NORMAN POLMAR, NAVY ANALYST: Good morning.

HEMMER: Let's pick up on this report that came out overnight when we were sleeping here in the U.S. Apparently, the Russian navy is saying a terrifying hole has been discovered on the starboard side, the right side; that would not portend to be good news. What do you make of it?

POLMAR: Obviously, the submarine went down very quickly, a catastrophic rupture of the hull. Apparently, the hole is right in this area; it could have been caused by a collision, but from the sources I've been listening to, it's more likely one of the -- or more of the torpedoes in the bowel of the submarine detonated -- the exact cause unknown, of course, and we may never know -- which blew a tremendous hole in the side of the submarine on the left side or port side.

HEMMER: How many compartments could that flood serve, if, indeed, that would be the case?

POLMAR: It could easily flood two, three, four, or five. It also explains why the large escape capsule in the sail of the submarine -- and I stress, this is not a model of the Kursk, but of another Russian nuclear submarine -- but there's an escape pod here, which could of carried the survivors to the surface very quickly, very safely. But, apparently, the damage was so catastrophic that it either destroyed the capsule, damaged it, or flooded the control room, which provides the access to the escape pod.

HEMMER: Is there another way out other than the escape route you're point to there?

POLMAR: Yes. There's a hatch in the forward part, an escape hatch, which obviously is destroyed. There's another one in the back of the submarine at the stern, which comes out of the engineering spaces. Any survivors would have come back here to this part of the submarine, in part to get away from the damaged areas, in part to have access to this escape hatch.

However, it's unlikely, in my opinion, at this time, there are any survivors.

HEMMER: Is that what your conclusion is? You've research this thing as well as anybody. Is anyone alive?

POLMAR: Yes -- I doubt it at this stage. It's horrifying to say, but I doubt if there are any people alive from the Kursk at this time.

HEMMER: One final comment here: Why is it that so many Cold War themes keep emerging on this story, especially when it comes to the issue of notifying families as to who was indeed on board that sub? Apparently, it hasn't taken place in an official manner, anyway.

POLMAR: I think it's just part of the Russian system. I think it's the basic Russian bureaucracy, which you can trace back to the czarist era, throughout the Soviet era, and now. They just don't handle things of this type -- when you say notification of families, to the Russian mentality of leadership, that's just a secondary or tertiary matter, they're not bothered with it.

HEMMER: A difference in culture clearly.

POLMAR: Very much so.

HEMMER: Norman Polmar, live in Washington, thanks for coming back, OK.

POLMAR: Thanks.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com

 Search   


Back to the top  © 2001 Cable News Network. All Rights Reserved.
Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.