Russian Nuclear Submarine Accident Kills 20

Accident aboard Russian nuclear submarine kills 20 and injures 22, after a malfunction of the firefighting system sent freon gas into the forward compartments.

The latest in a series of unfortunate submarine accidents in recent years points to a still badly managed and decayed military in desperate need of an overhaul.

With its recent new found oil wealth, and what seems to be a new quest to reassert its dominance the Russians are wiping the dust off its old equipment and using parts piece meal to create working and operable systems.

The sub, an Akula-class attack submarine is the K-152 Nerpa (which means seal). Construction of this submarine started in 1991 but was shelved after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

According to Pavel Felgenhauer, military expert with the independent Novaya Gazeta newspaper in Moscow the Nerpa's patchwork history may have contributed to Saturday's disaster. "They are using bits of Soviet equipment and hardware, brushing off the rust and putting in new stuff," says Mr. Felgenhauer. "That's just not a good way to develop operational equipment."

Moreover, Russia's military establishment has a crushing shortage of qualified experts. "That submarine was being constructed over a period of 15 years, and was the only one being built at the Amur shipyard during that time," says Alexander Goltz, a military expert with the online newspaper Yezhednevnaya Gazeta. "How many of the original specialists and skilled workers would have stayed on during that period? Very few. Everything conspired to make that ship very vulnerable."

This sub, though no one seems to be admitting it publicly was slated for delivery to India, under what was to be a 10 year lease.

Other accidents in recent years on Russian Subs:
A torpedo accident on the Russian submarine Kursk in 2000 claimed the lives of 118 sailors. The accident -- and the botched response -- were a public relations disaster for then-Russian President Vladimir Putin in his first year in office. (Click here for Putin's video appearance on "Larry King Live"; Asked what happened to the Kursk, Putin smirks: "Ona utonula" -- "she sank.") The Nerpa incident comes as Russia reasserts its military power and prepares to overhaul its nuclear forces; Russia is currently sending a naval squadron to Venezuela to take part in a military exercise.

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