Submarines are exceptionally intricate and demanding vessels that any navy would be proud of having. Being under the ocean deep below the surface leaves you with almost no space for mistakes, and when something is not going right, the results can be very harmful. These are five of the worst submarine disasters in modern history, with each one recapitulating the bravery of the sailors as well as the sad lessons learned from the cataclysm.
5. Russia, Nerpa (K-152): A Fatal Oversight
The Russian submarine Nerpa was in the middle of its last offshore tests in 2008 when both the sailors and civilian technicians were checking the equipment of the boat before it took its first official trip in the fleet. A disaster occurred when the fire suppression system was unintentionally triggered, and the forward compartments were filled with a deadly substance.
Nothing was done, and 20 people lost their lives, while a dozen were injured, at once, from the explosion. The root cause was just a minor mishap in the tightly confined, high-tension atmosphere of a submarine, which can escalate to fatal consequences in a flash. The submarine Nerpa, although it is under another navy, is still reminding the incident as a warning of the dangers of ignoring safety protocols.
4. Argentina, ARA San Juan (S-42): Disappeared Without a Trace
The Argentine submarine ARA San Juan went missing during a routine patrol with a total crew of 44 in 2017. It was an unexpected disappearance that shocked the whole country, and thus an extensive international search was initiated. Families, with no information about their dear ones, were waiting painfully for months.
Eventually, the hull was found on the seabed, but the cause was still unknown. The catastrophe caused not only the challenge of recovering submarines hidden in deep or faraway seas but also the psychological suffering of relatives and co-workers.
3. Indonesia, KRI Nanggala-402: Sinks During Exercise, April 2021
Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala-402 disappeared during a deep dive before a multinational drill. Later, it was found that the submarine was fragmented into three pieces. All 53 drowned crew members were confirmed dead.
The Navy report says the ship was undergoing a simulated live-fire drill, sadly demonstrating that no matter how routine, training always entails extreme risks. The accident highlighted the very little space for a mistake in submarining and the cruel character of life underwater.
2. Russia, Kursk (K-141): Explosions That Shocked the World
While a training drill was taking place in the Barents Sea, there was an explosion of a torpedo in front of the Kursk submarine, immediately followed by a much bigger secondary blast. So most of the crew sheltered in the aft section, twenty-three were left alive briefly until the rescue attempts were made too late, and the first foreign aid was declined.
At the end, everyone who was on board, 118 people, died. The catastrophe, along with the technical dangers of submariners, has made hard and fast coordinated rescues to be really essential in such emergencies.
1. USS Thresher: Deadliest U.S. Submarine (1963)
Deep diving experiments with uncontrollable water ingress led to the USS Thresher, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, being driven down under its collapse depth, and therefore, it went missing with a crew of 129 people. As a consequence, the SUBSAFE program, a security and prevention initiative, was designed to avoid such disasters.
Due to SUBSAFE, U.S. submarines are almost flawless in the matter of safety. The Thresher disaster is an extreme example that keeps reminding us that hindsight lessons could save many lives by stressing attentiveness, perfection in technology, and unyielding safety efforts.