Russian SSGN Kursk (Oscar II Class)

From the fierce arms race of the Cold War era, Russia emerged as the world's second largest naval power. To counter the US Navy's aircraft carriers, the Russian Navy developed a new type of guided-missile nuclear submarine, the so-called Oscar class. Oscar I class submarines were first deployed in 1982. The Oscar-I submarine later evolved into the even larger Oscar-II class with an impressive displacement tonnage of 18,300 tons and a total length of 154 meters. Despite their gigantic size, Oscar II class submarines had high maneuverability and silent movements. In January 1995, the 10th submarine of the Oscar II series, the K.141 Kursk, entered service with the Russian Northern Fleet and was tasked with defending the country's northern borders. Like other Oscar II-class nuclear submarines, the Kursk featured a two-layer construction consisting of an 8.5 diameter pressure-resistant inner hull and an outer hull. The approximately 3.5 meter space between these two hull layers housed twelve launch tubes on each side for SS-N-19 anti-ship cruise missiles with a range of 550 km. To accommodate these missile launchers, the 154-meter-long Kursk was built extra wide, and this behemoth of a nuclear submarine had an overall circumference of 18.2 meters. Five years later, on August 12, 2000, the Kursk sank. This incident would represent the most tragic episode in the entire Russian submarine history. At 11:30 a.m., 140 km from the Severomorsk naval port (headquarters of the Northern Fleet), the Kursk fell 100 m underwater to the bottom of the Barents Sea due to an explosion of unknown cause. Despite the efforts of the Russian Navy and British and Norwegian rescue teams, the 118 men on board could not be saved.

Plastic model kit
 

• In addition to the Kursk (K-141), the kit also contains markings for the Omsk (K-186) and the Tomsk (K-512)
   

Scale 1:700

unbuilt / unpainted