Texts for Translation 2007:
  Tom Heron

Tom Heron

Job Title; Senior Pilot and Rescue Team Manager of the LR 5.
The LR 5, being named after Leonard Redshaw, the former chief of Vickers Shipbuilding.

Tom had been in the diving industry since the 1970’s and had been a submariner for the last 25years.

Tom and his crew first heard about The Kursk on the Monday morning after a rather hectic weekend and were told to get ready.

The Kursk was a Russian submarine, a fully armed NUCLEAR submarine.

Tom thought the crew of the Kursk numbered around 110. Including a very unlucky competition winner, whose prize “the trip of a lifetime” was indeed that.

Some of their colleagues were already heading for France as Tom and his men were given the orders to mobilise and an Antinov 124 heavy aircraft was sent to Prestwick. At Prestwick they were too busy to speak to the press. In any case, at this time, the UK government did not have the necessary permission to assist and the Russians were still reluctant.

Now Tom and his team were all assembled at Prestwick where they waited and waited and waited. Eventually their plane arrived the next day and they said farewell to their loved ones. There was still no permission from the Russians allowing them to go but finally, they were off.

Tom’s team was helped immensely by the Royal Navy who tiptoed around the diplomatic stuff as well as providing the necessary interpreters. Arrival at first was via Norway – at this point communication with the Russian rescue force was still on the other side of what appeared to be a political brick wall.

Tom and his men mobilised to a ship and steamed at full speed towards the Kursk, during this time information was scanty and contradictory. The vessel was a British registered ship called the Normand Pioneer, and it was chartered to Stenna Offshore. Tom was glad and relieved to have a North Sea ship to work with, not least, that it was crewed by friends and life time colleagues.

They worked and sailed and sailed and worked as the Captain and crew pulled out all the stops and the Normand Pioneer gave all she had.

It took three more days to reach the accident site and right over the top of the whole area there hung a huge pall of smoke – it came from the funnel of the (to be inserted) and among the many other vessels was Peter The Great.
Just then a disembodied voice every bit as dramatic as that in any spy movie, filled the radio room of the Normand Pioneer and in basso profundo Russian it ordered;

STOP – NOW – STAY WERE YOU ARE

A missile destroyer was now positioned alongside, chaperoning them the whole time. A helicopter arrived, from either the carrier or Peter the Great. It carried Admiral Burtsev who was commander of the first submarine flotilla and was the first positive response the UK rescue team had from the Russian Rescue Forces .A meeting was held, after which the team thought they had a way forward .Then, they waited – more endless waiting – the interpreter put on his Russian head and explained that the cold war mentality was still entrenched in their blood.

They worked with the Russian planners orders were given and obeyed only to be countermanded and changed within an hour or so. In the meantime air and life support was ebbing away in the Kursk.

After this series of orders and testing and steaming here and there none of the team could understand what the real problem was. They were supposed to be there to aid the rescue effort. Meanwhile a ship called the Seaway Eagle joined the fray and she had divers from UK and Norway. Permission was given to allow divers to go below accompanied by an R.O.V. (remotely operated vehicle). They had to be very careful to steer away from the bow of the submarine as this was deemed to be the most secretive and consequently sensitive area. We need to remember that the Kursk was deemed to have been invincible – if the West had any idea of how this vessel had been constructed all would be lost

At one am the next day the team flew over to the Seaway Eagle in real high tech style using night vision and every kind of navigation aide. They were ushered into an operations meeting with the Russian team headed by Admiral Verich.
The meeting started with their side of the story – The Kursk was flooded and by now, as there was no viable life what was the point of rescuing them. Tom’s team explained that there may well be pockets, were some (even one) could be saved. If this was the case it would be worth it.

During this series of discussion Tom met Dmitry … Dmitry was the Russian rescue pilot who had been trying in vain for several days to lock on to the Kursk rescue seat. The meeting continued in a slightly negative vein with a series of questions – why do you want to continue to try to rescue? – Until a piece of paper was handed to the Admiral by a tall guy with a grey polo neck.

He left the room for five minutes and returned.
The admiral turned to the men and told them that they could dive in a few hours, a sense of relief but definite mixed emotions. During this time the divers were asked to attach a lifting device, a kind of big balloon; this balloon had a lifting power of 250 kilograms. This was to try and open the hatch, as instructed by the Russian rescue commander. The team then had further technical discussions with their technical team and for the first time they were allowed to see real time video of the Kursk rescue scene.
Visibility was in excess of four meters which was really very good considering they had been told otherwise. They then decided on a plan and returned to the Norman Pioneer and rested in preparation for the work ahead.

During breakfast they received the news that the hatch had opened due to an equalisation of the pressures, even the least experienced of the men knew the crew were dead. It was devastating – they were all numb – all the expectation hope and rescue had gone…

All life on board the Kursk was lost, a bad outcome.

The natural and automatic response occurred as the team adopted an operational profile and somewhere inside they all know that the next job is only a phone call away.

The Kursk work however was not over, and only with consultation between the Russian commanders, and the UK team leaders were the UK rescue forces released from the rescue site. Before the teams left, a short service was held on the stern of the Normand Pioneer and a wreath of flowers hastily constructed from galley supplies thanks to the Chef’s kindness and generosity was tossed on the seas above the wreck.

As we were turning to sail away the Russian missile destroyer that had chaperoned us - and we have to remember how hostile they appeared initially - steamed flat out past us with the whole crew on the starboard side and at a given signal they all together, threw their hats in the air.

The ultimate naval gesture of admiration and thanks!

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