Akula?

This is coolbert:

Well, you would know that this headline piques my interest right away:

"Russian navy: Poison kills 20 in sub accident 21 others reportedly injured on nuclear-powered submarine in Pacific "

This, only from today. Another Russian submarine accident, with loss of life, but not catastrophic as with the ill-fated Kursk.

"MOSCOW - The fire safety system on a new Russian nuclear-powered submarine malfunctioned on a test run in the Sea of Japan, spewing chemicals that killed at least 20 people and injured 21 others, officials said Sunday."

Freon chemicals, from the fire-extinguisher system aboard the vessel, poisoned and killed many of the persons on board the sub! An inadvertent release of chemicals from A SAFETY SYSTEM CAUSING A LOT OF DEATHS!! ONE HAS TO WONDER ABOUT SUCH A SAFETY SYSTEM!!

From the wiki entry:

"On October 27, 2008, it was reported that the Akula-II submarine Nerpa had begun her sea trials . . . On November 8, 2008, while conducting one of these trials, an accidental activation of the freon-based fire-extinguishing system took place in the fore section of the vessel. Within seconds the freon gas had displaced all breathable air from the compartment. As a result, 20 people (14 civilians and 6 seamen were killed by asphyxiation. Dozens of others suffered freon-related injuries and were evacuated to an unknown port"

"Seventeen civilians and three seamen died in the accident and 21 others were hospitalized"

"the submarine had 208 people aboard, including 81 servicemen"

That is a LOT OF PERSONNEL ON BOARD THE VESSEL ALL AT ONCE. My guess would be that many are representatives from the shipyard, technical experts, the remainder potential crew members for when the ship is commissioned and put into service.

"the submarine . . . is called the Nerpa."

"Construction of the Nerpa, an Akula II class attack submarine, started in 1991 but was suspended for years because of a shortage of funding, they said. Testing on the submarine began last month and it submerged for the first time last week."

And advanced version of the Akula class sub. Those original Akula scared the wits out of the U.S. Navy. Reputed to have all manner of extraordinary capabilities. WERE found out much after the fact to be more or less a TEST-BED for advanced technologies.

NOW the Akula is being resurrected? NOT just a TEST-BED this time? Time will tell!

coolbert.