http://www.stavropol.net/kirill/aplguest.htm По поводу версии о столкновении с подлодкой. На http://www.csg9.navy.mil/html/ussfo.htm имеется схема организации подводного флота США по состоянию на 1 марта 1999. Среди подразделений имеется SUBDEVRON-12, капитан Dave Glove. Подразделение квартируется в Groton, штат Connecticut. В этом подразделении имеется лодка Seawolf SSN-21 класса Memphis (примерно соответствует Курску). Так вот, эта подлодка неожиданно прервала свои 6-месячные испытания и вернулась в сухой док "из-за проблем со сваркой воздушных цистерн, обеспечивающих плавучесть лодки" Вот что о ней говорится в сообщении Associated Press: http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20000819_395.html 08/19/2000 03:19:00 ET GROTON, Conn. (AP) - The Navy has suspended testing of the USS Seawolf while engineers investigate a welding problem on the $2.4 billion attack submarine. The problem affects the sub's air flasks, which provide the buoyancy that allows the submarine to dive and surface, officials said. There's enough of an issue here that we think the safe thing to do is to keep the submarine in port, Cmdr. Bob Ross, a spokesman for the submarine force at the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, said Friday. Capt. Keith G. Arterburn, a spokesman for Naval Sea Systems Command in Arlington, Va., said the problem was discovered while examining two air flasks that were purchased for testing and were never installed on the submarine. ``The flaws they found were large enough to cause concern, but they could be repaired by cutting them out or grinding them and re-welding,'' Arterburn said. Ross said the problem is limited to the USS Seawolf and will not affect the second ship of the class, USS Connecticut, which is in a scheduled repair period, or the USS Jimmy Carter, which is under construction and scheduled to be commissioned in 2002. The Navy has said the Seawolf submarines, the newest attack subs in its fleet, are the quietest, fastest and most complex ever built. The USS Seawolf was supposed to be in the middle of a six-month operational evaluation, a series of tests to determine the range of its capabilities, prior to its first scheduled deployment later this year. Ross said it is too soon to say whether the Seawolf's schedule might be affected. The USS Seawolf will return to the Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, where it was built, and be put into a dry-dock for inspection and any needed repairs, Arterburn said. Много интересного об американских подлодках можно найти по линкам на http://www.unclesam.net/cny/link-1.htm
