>> NARRATOR: On<i> Mega Movers...</i> Submarines, stealth fighters of the seas. (explosion) When disaster claims these mighty war machines, mega movers are called in. From the untold story of recovering the doomed Russian sub,<i> Kursk.</i> >> It is one of the most remarkable engineering feats of the modern age. >> NARRATOR: To the epic quest to raise the infamous Civil War sub, the<i> H.L. Hunley.</i> >> It was an unprecedented challenge. >> NARRATOR: To the world's first sub rescue, 33 men trapped 243 feet below the surface, their fate in the hands of mega movers. >> They had no assurance that this rescue could be accomplished. >> NARRATOR: Facing deadly radiation, dangerous depths and nuclear warheads, mega movers risk their lives to lift these sunken beasts from the abyss. - So we're coming
up to what looks >> NARRATOR: Charleston, South Carolina. Inside the Warren Lasch Conservatory Center, entombed in a 90,000-gallon tank, sits one of the greatest underwater relics and mega mover salvages of all time. How did mega movers move the Civil War submarine, the<i> H.L.</i> <i>Hunley</i> from the bottom of the ocean to this specially designed tank? This holy grail of shipwrecks eluded archaeologists and mega movers for 130 years. Then on May 3, 1995, a diver with the National Underwater and Marine Agency made a discovery and a phone call. >> CLIVE CUSSLER: I said, "What, are you giving up?" He said, "No, we found it." That took a long time to sink in, "You found it?" Of course, you know, I almost went into cardiac arrest. I couldn't believe it. >> NARRATOR: Best-selling author Clive Cussler had founded the National Underwater and Marine Agency, and spent 15 years-- and more than $200,000 of his own money-- searching for the <i>Hunley.</i> His team of search divers found it less than four miles off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina beneath 27 feet of water, partially buried in the sand. Amazingly, the submarine lay completely intact. >> CUSSLER: It's so unique. There's nothing... There isn't a shipwreck in the world anything like it. They can find a submarine or a U-boat, but it's not the same. >> NARRATOR: February 17, 1864, Charleston, South Carolina. The Civil War raged on. Union ships strangled confederate ports, but to stop the blockade, and hopefully turn the tide of the war, the Confederacy had a secret weapon: the<i> H.L. Hunley.</i> >> GLENN MCCONNELL: The<i> Hunley</i> was unlike anything else. This was the first successful submarine. The<i> Hunley</i> proved that a ship could be attacked from underwater. And<i> Hunley</i> changed for all time the way war would be fought. The Confederates put their plan in motion. The<i> Hunley,</i> 40-feet long and wrapped in 3/8-inch iron plates, set out to sink the battleship, USS<i> Housantonic.</i> Fastened to the end of a 17-foot iron spar on the nose of the submarine was a 90-pound torpedo packed with explosives. The submarine quickly closed in on its target. >> MCCONNELL: And all of a sudden,<i> Hunley</i> hits<i> Housantonic.</i> (explosion) >> NARRATOR: The 1,240-ton battleship quickly sank to the bottom of Charleston Harbor. The<i> Hunley</i> was never seen again. For more than 100 years, divers searched the waters for this famous relic. For Cussler, it became an obsession. >> CUSSLER: I'm stubborn, I suppose, and persistent. You've got to be a little crazy. It's got to be there somewhere. >> NARRATOR: But the question remained: would mega movers be able to salvage this Civil War relic and solve the mystery of how it sank? >> MCCONNELL: The mission was accomplished... >> NARRATOR: South Carolina state senator Glenn McConnell assembled a team of specialized mega movers to recover the <i>Hunley</i> and arranged a deal with the U.S. Navy to allow the <i>Hunley</i> to stay in South Carolina. He knew that the recovery presented a series of enormous challenges. One: fragile. The<i> Hunley</i> could fall apart. Two: air. The sub could deteriorate if allowed to dry out. Three: time. They had to race to finish before hurricane season. >> MCCONNELL: This was a real challenge. How do you get the whole ship up in one piece where you know zero about her internal structure? >> NARRATOR: One of the first surveys of the wreck turned up a troubling discovery. Divers noticed some of the rivets had corroded away. The fear was that while the priceless find was being raised it would break apart. >> MARIA JACOBSEN: Now Humpty Dumpty doesn't come back together again. So you can't just go in there with big grabbers, you know, and just grab the sub with all the sediment around it. Basically, you're destroying your ability to interrupt what happened to these men in the submarine. >> NARRATOR: Senior archaeologist Maria Jacobsen's responsibility was to make sure the recovery plan would not damage the delicate artifact. >> JACOBSEN: So it's really critical to document everything around the sub, and making sure that you're not destroying data that will help you understand what happened here. >> MCCONNELL: We had to step back and say, "We have only one chance to do this, and that is to do it right. How do we make this happen?" >> Pull out. >> Yep, I'm trying to get my footing. >> NARRATOR: To make it happen, recovery experts from Oceaneering International crafted a plan for moving the sub. The plan: first, marine archeological divers would gently excavate the sediment from around the submarine. Then two enormous 18-foot-wide suction pods would be placed at the bow and stern of the submarine to form a stable work platform. Then, a specially designed steel cage, 55-feet long and 10-feet wide, would be lowered down above the<i> Hunley</i> and secured to the suction platforms. Next, they would carefully insert 12-inch-wide fabric lifting straps beneath the hull and connect them to the steel cage. These slings would gently cradle the<i> Hunley</i> and transfer the weight from the seabed one strap at a time. In all, 33 lifting straps would span the length of the sub. When they were finished, the entire 40-foot confederate submarine would rest on the support straps like a giant beached whale. Finally, a platform barge with a crane would be brought in to lift the 8-ton submarine out of the water. >> MCCONNELL: The best gave it their best. Our crew, they were dedicated to what they were doing and they understood what we could lose. >> NARRATOR: On May 13, 2000, the recovery began. >> JACOBSEN: This barrel has filled in so much. I just don't know if I can expose this. It just keeps filing back in. >> NARRATOR: The first task, excavate 20,000 square feet of sediment from around the hull of the submarine. Divers worked slowly, methodically, careful not to damage the sub. A month and a half later, with the sediment cleared, they began the dangerous task of placing the gigantic steel suction pods. >> MCCONNELL: They're like drums. They engineered those to create a vacuum and to literally suck their way down into the sand until they would hit the submall, which is like a clay base, and it would create these strong platforms in the sand. >> NARRATOR: The margin of error: zero. >> MCCONNELL: That water was so swift-- the currents-- and they had to get those down within a foot, a dead bull's-eye, or we had a $2 million problem. We could've destroyed the <i>Hunley.</i> And the minute that they touched the bottom, they immediately began sucking their way in. >> NARRATOR: Next, the giant support truss was lowered into place and attached to the suction pilings. They constantly battled the elements, which only threatened to get worse. >> MCCONNELL: Any time in those currents, it could begin moving and it could cause us a major problem. We were running out of time by that point. Hurricane season was starting to heat up. We made a conscious decision to divide our team and to go around the clock to get these belts in to beat the hurricane season. >> You'll drape the sling under the<i> Hunley...</i> >> NARRATOR: Each lifting strap was cushioned with an inflatable foam bag, which was filled with polyurethane packing foam called "froth-pak." >> At this point, the bag is going to start conforming to the hull. >> JACOBSEN: It has to be an even support around the hull. So once that first sling was in place, you could move to the next section. So you fit a sling at a time to the hull, starting at the bow going towards the stern. >> NARRATOR: A six-legged platform barge that would extend its legs to the bottom and jack itself up out of the water was brought in to raise the<i> Hunley.</i> On the morning of August 8, 2000, they were ready to lift lift the submarine from its watery grave. >> MCCONNELL: We knew she could come up, it's just we didn't know what else could happen. We just had to make sure that we did not apply an unequal pressure and get a break. Once a break occurred, it was over. It was over. >> Just hold together, baby. Just hold together. (ship horn blowing) (bell ringing) (cheering) >> CUSSLER: It was just-- oh, God-- horns on boats and yelling. And just all kinds of stuff. It was, it was quite a moment. >> JACOBSEN: People were screaming and tooting their horns. Very excited. And then, the sub came up. >> JACOBSEN: And you could've heard a pin drop on the <i>Karlissa B.</i> Nobody said anything. But it was like, hundreds of people just went quiet in one second. It was amazing. I think people were, it struck them for the first time that they're bringing a submarine up, and the eight men inside the sub. This is a solemn moment. And then, people started cheering. (cheering) >> NARRATOR: The<i> Hunley</i> was gently lowered above the barge, and then touchdown. >> And there she is. And she hadn't fallen apart or anything. And we knew we had her. >> NARRATOR: Crews began hosing down the hull. The priceless artifact would deteriorate quickly if allowed to dry out. >> The world's first modern submarine crew was coming home, returning from battle. >> NARRATOR: At the Warren Lasch Conservation Center, a unique opportunity-- the 90,000 gallon tank is drained so that the team of archaeologists can continue studying this Civil War relic. The big surprise: the level of preservation has been truly astounding. >> To go inside the submarine and find pristine skeletons and the artifacts that we found in the condition we found, just incredible preservation of a vessel that's been down in the bottom. And that's why she's a virtual time capsule. >> JACOBSEN: Right here is the forward conning tower. And this area was where the commander was stationed. Over here on the left is the seacock. Dixon would've turned that handle to allow water into the forward ballast tank. This piece here is the whip staff that Dixon would've used to operate the rudder. Could've turned it to the starboard side or the port. Here's the crank, one of the crank handles that the men would have pushed to operate the propeller. >> CUSSLER: These guys, they must have had a death wish or something. I mean, but... To sit in this thing, you know, that's like this and crank it. It took a human being unlike any that I've ever known. They must have been mad. (laughing) But they certainly weren't claustrophobic. >> NARRATOR: They're driven to get the<i> Hunley</i> to give up her secrets of what caused her to sink. >> JACOBSEN: It's a crime scene investigation that's very exciting. It just takes a long time. >> NARRATOR: Six years, and the mystery only deepens. >> JACOBSEN: When we look at the distribution of the skeletal remains of the individual crew members, we can see that the skeletons are found more or less where they were stationed. That means either that it happened so fast-- whatever happened-- that they couldn't react, or maybe, uh, they were not conscious and could not react. >> NARRATOR: Mega Movers solved the mystery of where the submarine ended up on the ocean's bottom and were able to recover it. >> JACOBSEN: It's not letting its secret go that easily. >> NARRATOR: Perhaps what they did will some day allow the other mystery of how she sank to be solved. >> CUSSLER: Just things you don't think of, or something that can... on a shipwreck. There are just some little twists you didn't figure on, you know, that-that could make something happen. >> NARRATOR: More than 50 years after the<i> Hunley</i> disappeared, another submarine would sink in the Atlantic Ocean. New Hampshire, May 23, 1939. Three miles off this coast, the USS<i> Squalus--</i> the pride of the Navy-- was on a test dive. >> CARL LAVO: This is the leading edge of submarine design in probably the world. So it could dive deeper, it was faster, it was better armed than previous submarines. >> NARRATOR: Suddenly... (klaxon blaring) two induction valves in the engine room malfunctioned, flooding the aft compartments of the submarine. >> LAVO: There's this cascade of freezing Atlantic water pouring into the engine rooms. And there's nothing they could do. >> NARRATOR: 26 men died. 33 survivors were crammed into the forward three compartments, trapped 243 feet below the surface. Carl Bryson was a 21-year-old sailor in the forward battery compartment. >> CARL BRYSON: Of course, it was dark in there. We had no power. And cold, very cold. And it was freezing in the compartment. >> NARRATOR: The Navy called in mega mover Lieutenant Commander "Swede" Momsen to lead the rescue attempt. He was the world's leading expert in underwater rescue technology. >> LAVO: They had no assurance that this rescue could be accomplished, but there was a chance, and on that chance hung everybody's hope. >> NARRATOR: These mega movers were faced with two missions: rescue the crew and bring up the submarine. They faced extraordinary challenges. One: ticking clock. The trapped crewmen could not survive very long. Two: untested techniques. A rescue like this had never been attempted. >> LAVO: In fact, the popular name for the submarine service was the coffin service, because there was no way to get out if you sank. So they were all crossing their fingers, hoping that the divers would get there in time, hoping the equipment worked and also wondering was anybody alive. >> NARRATOR: 7:45 a.m. May 24. The rescue began. It had been 24 hours since the sinking. An experimental rescue chamber was slowly lowered to the sub. A hardhat diver attached an anchor line to an eyebolt in the middle of the submarine's escape hatch. Then a rescue chamber with two operators inside was lowered down along the anchor line directly above the hatch. Within an hour they reached the sunken sub. Next the water inside the gasket was pumped out and operators could now open the rescue chamber hatch and fasten four steel bolts to rings around the hatch on the submarine. The survivors could now open both hatches and escape. (cheering) >> LAVO: Suddenly, almost miraculously, emerged 33 survivors. The headlines around the world were huge. This miracle had happened off the New England coast. To this day it remains the greatest underwater rescue in history. >> NARRATOR: But rescuing the men was only half the challenge. There was still the mission of raising the sub. The plan: divers would place battleship chains and cable slings around the bow and stern of the submarine. Then, seven jumbo-sized cylindrical pontoons would be filled with water and lowered down to the sunken submarine. The pontoons and the ballast tanks on the<i> Squalus</i> would be pumped full of air to provide enough buoyancy to raise the 1,450-ton<i> Squalus</i> to the surface. Finally, it would be dragged underwater to dry dock. >> LAVO: No submarine had been salvaged from more than about a hundred feet. To get it up from 240 feet, was remarkable. >> NARRATOR: Momsen's team faced two major challenges. One: tow. The submarine would have to be raised in stages and towed underwater. Two: deadly dives. No one could survive the depths using available diving gear. June 5, 1939 the salvage operation began. Divers descended and started hooking up chains. Suddenly, they confronted the problem they feared. Breathing compressed air they became delirious from a condition called nitrogen narcosis. >> LAVO: Some of the divers started hallucinating and felt that they were in jeopardy-- would maybe take out their knives and try to cut their air supply. >> NARRATOR: Desperate to prevent a tragedy, Momsen added helium gas to replace some of the nitrogen in the divers' air supply. It was the first time it was ever used in a salvage operation. >> LAVO: And lo and behold it worked. And not only that, they found out that they could go much deeper. And they could operate for a long extended period of time and not suffer all the complications from nitrogen narcosis. >> NARRATOR: Over the next week they cleared sediment under the sub and ran battleship chains and cable slings around its bow and stern. >> LAVO: Once the chains were in place, the idea was to attach pontoons-- mammoth pontoons-- 13 feet high, 32 feet long. >> NARRATOR: Five pontoons were placed at a depth of 180 feet. Two pontoons were placed at a depth of 90 feet as control pontoons. >> LAVO: They had pneumatic hoses running to them. You could blow air in or pull it out. So that they could be adjusted up and down in the sea. >> NARRATOR: The idea was that the pontoons on top would surface first and slow the ascent. Each pontoon was rigged with two pneumatic hoses running up to air compressors on the recovery ships. Compressed air would be pumped into the ballast tanks to provide additional lift. >> LAVO: Because of the depth, they realized that the submarine would have to be raised partially off the ocean floor, and then dragged toward the New England coast, where it ground in a shallower elevation. And then they would readjust the the pontoons for another lift and slowly they edged it toward the coast that way. >> NARRATOR: July 13-- 50 days after the sinking, Swede Momsen gave the signal. Air compressors began pumping air into the pontoons. It started to lift. But the bow became stuck in the mud. >> LAVO: So they needed to break the nose away from the mud. And this mud is really dense, bluish... clings to anything. >> NARRATOR: A decision was made-- pump air into the main ballast tank on the<i> Squalus.</i> >> LAVO: Suddenly the bow yanked free of the ocean and the submarine started shooting up toward the surface with geysers of water shooting up. Suddenly pontoons were breaking the surface and bouncing like crazy because they hadn't been able to decompress and people on the surface ships knew exa... knew something terribly had gone wrong. Momsen stood there with his hands over his mouth, you know. This was a disaster. We're gonna lose the submarine. >> NARRATOR: The crew watched helplessly as the<i> Squalus--</i> which had broken loose from the pontoons-- slipped back underwater and once again rested 243 feet down on the ocean floor. >> LAVO: The people on the ship, they stood there just aghast. To hopefully prevent another disaster, they added three more pontoons. August 12, a second lift attempt. This time, it<i> was</i> a success. Over the next month, they towed the<i> Squalus</i> underwater into a dry dock in Portsmouth harbor. >> LAVO: There were people on the coast and down by the river watching the whole thing and celebrating-- the boat is coming home. >> NARRATOR: Around the country the survivors and mega movers were greeted with a hero's welcome. Swede Momsen was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The USS<i> Squalus</i> was repaired and re-commissioned as the USS <i>Sailfish.</i> It served 12 tours of duty during World War II. It was decommissioned and dismantled in 1946. (band playing) Gosport, England, the Royal Navy's Submarine Museum. Here, in an environmentally- controlled room, is the HMS <i>Holland I,</i> the submarine that never saw battle, but changed the course of both world wars. >> JEFF TALL: It was a brilliant submarine. In historical terms, the <i>Holland,</i> our submarine, is mother of all submarines afloat today. >> NARRATOR: Launched in 1901, the HMS<i> Holland I</i> was the British Royal Navy's very first submarine. The revolutionary design directly influenced the next two generations of powerful submarines to come. >> TALL: Its stealth, it's surprise and its sneakiness introduced a dimension of maritime warfare that played a massive part in the first world war, a<i> huge</i> part in the second world war. >> NARRATOR: By 1912, the <i>Holland I</i> had been decommissioned and was being unceremoniously towed from Plymouth to a scrap yard in Wales. On, the way, it began taking on water. Before the crew could react, the historic submarine sank to the bottom. >> TALL: Thank God she did. Had she not sunk, we would not have, anywhere in the world, a Holland-class submarine, which became the foundation of the greatest submarine services in the world. I mean, she was just on her way to make razor blades. >> NARRATOR: The<i> Holland I</i> was saved from the scrap heap, but it was too deep to salvage and exactly where it went down was never officially recorded. 70 years later, in April 1981, a British minesweeper made an extraordinary find-- the<i> Holland I</i> lying in 250 feet of water off England's southern coast near Plymouth's Eddystone Lighthouse. But now came the enormous challenge of moving "the grand old lady" off the ocean floor and back to the surface. >> DUNCAN BRIDGE: It was one of the biggest jobs to be done by the navy at that time. >> NARRATOR: Lieutenant Duncan Bridge was called in to direct the British Royal Navy's deepest and most experienced diving team-- Naval Posse 1007. >> BRIDGE: This was no normal diving situation. I mean, one of the reasons we existed was in case there was ever a major submarine incident and we had to go and assist the rescue. >> NARRATOR: The recovery posed a series of dangerous challenges. >> NARRATOR: One: deadly debris. Discarded nets could entrap divers. Two: corrosion. The submarine could fall apart during the lift. Three: crushing depths. Divers' lives would be in danger. >> BRIDGE: My most immediate concern was this huge swath of netting hanging over the stern. I could not possibly get the divers or the diving bell hung up in it. We would have had a very serious incident on our hands. The rivets we could see were beginning to corrode, and it was really a considerable concern. Were these rivets just going to collapse on us as we lifted the 120 tons and end up with a pile of steel plates on the seabed, quite literally. This submarine was in round about 70 meters of water. That is far too deep for normal diving and the extended periods we were going to have to spend on the seabed. No other diving operation at that time could do such a thing. >> NARRATOR: The plan: to raise the historic<i> Holland I,</i> divers would first have to clear the debris. Then, two steel lifting straps would be inserted beneath the hull of the submarine and pulled into place using inflatable lifting bags. Additional steel cables would be rigged along the length of the submarine to hold the lifting straps in place. Next, steel lifting cables would be lowered and attached to the straps. Finally, the<i> Holland I</i> would be towed-- still underwater-- to a dry dock in Plymouth. >> BRIDGE: Each diver was briefed in great detail as to the layout of the submarine and the entire plan. >> NARRATOR: August 1982. 30 divers boarded the assist ship,<i> Seaforth Clansman.</i> They were immediately placed in compression chambers and the pressure was slowly increased to six times normal atmospheric pressure. It's a technique called "saturation diving." It allows divers to work up to eight hours on the seabed. >> BRIDGE: And all this was extremely dangerous to the divers. If there was any fault in the diving system, the likelihood was they would die. We had to keep them at this constant temperature and pressure. >> NARRATOR: Ready to dive, they were transferred to a pressurized dive bell and lowered three at a time. >> BRIDGE: They go in through a transfer lock under pressure, lock themselves into the bell, which is around about six to seven feet of internal diameter. The bell is lowered through the center of the ship from what's called a moon port, so there's actually access to the sea through the center of the ship. The inside of the bell is equalized to the pressure of the surrounding sea and the bottom door pops open. The diver then dresses up... ...and just drops out through the bottom of the bell to go to work. >> NARRATOR: The first task-- clear the tons of tangled debris surrounding the<i> Holland</i> <i>I.</i> >> BRIDGE: There were obviously physical risks involved with the netting that the divers could come entrapped in. >> NARRATOR: The divers soon encountered something entangled in one of the nets. >> BRIDGE: I was standing out on the aft end of the recovery ship watching debris coming, and I saw Hexamite, which is an explosive that becomes extremely unstable when it dries out. >> NARRATOR: It was the remains of an unexploded mine from World War I. >> BRIDGE: This was actually almost certainly from a-a-a First World War mine that had just rolled up against the submarine and rotted there. >> NARRATOR: They knew this mine would become extremely unstable if it dried out. They carefully placed it back in the ocean and later safely detonated it. It took four weeks just to clear the debris. Divers then began the enormous challenge of rigging the lifting straps. >> BRIDGE: In order to lift the <i> Holland I,.</i> we had to use some extremely heavy equipment. Firstly, we had what we termed wire strops. These were big woven wire mats which were put around the submarine in order to spread the load. >> NARRATOR: Over the next four days, divers used high-pressure jets to clear out enough space to insert the straps. >> BRIDGE: We drove steel poles underneath through small tunnels, and then wires in order to pull the strops through the crane. >> NARRATOR: The five-ton lifting straps were lowered down to the submarine and maneuvered with inflatable lift bags. >> BRIDGE: We attached a type of large parachute to the end of these very heavy lifting strops, and as we then filled this large parachute with diving gas, it became buoyant and then the diver could move it round with, uh, with one hand. >> NARRATOR: The lifting straps were then connected to a super-heavy-gauge lifting cable. >> BRIDGE: They're very large pieces of wire. You're looking at six inches like that-- big. >> NARRATOR: The lifting cables were transferred to the Royal Navy Auxiliary Service heavy-lift ship<i> Pintail.</i> >> BRIDGE: When we were handling the heavy lifting wires as they were descending to the seabed, the divers were recovered to the bell and into the ship. And it was extremely dangerous. If a wire had landed on a diver, it would almost certainly have killed him. >> NARRATOR: The<i> Pintail</i> had an enormous crane on her bow with a 200-ton lifting capacity. >> BRIDGE: She had two very large what we call "horns" on the front of her. And, in fact, the<i> Holland I's</i> lifting wires went over the ends of those horns. >> NARRATOR: Now, after months of work in dangerous conditions, the<i> Holland I</i> was ready to be lifted. Tension gripped the crew. >> BRIDGE: The rivets were in a worrisome state. I was concerned that the straps might fall off. I was also very concerned that, in any heavy weather, the lifting wires might get tangled on the seabed. >> NARRATOR: Slowly, the <i> Pintail</i> began to lift the sub. >> BRIDGE: And it took them through the course of that night to the following morning to actually lift her in 50-feet stages, grounding her each time to float her on the blocks and tackles in order to actually get her in from the sand, and then another 24 hours into the naval dockyard. >> NARRATOR: After nearly 70 years underwater, the Royal Navy's first submarine had been safely recovered. >> TALL: It was a remarkable diving feat. >> NARRATOR: After undergoing years of restoration, the <i>Holland I</i> was put on display at the Royal Navy's submarine museum. >> TALL: You've only got to look at her to see that she is content in her environment. For me, the important thing is for people to get inside that hull and understand the cramped conditions and the challenges faced by early pioneers. >> NARRATOR: August 12, 2000-- the Barents Sea-- 85 miles off the coast of Severomosk, Russia. An earthquake-size blast registered 3.5 on the Richter scale. It wasn't an earthquake. It was an explosion aboard a Russian nuclear submarine, the<i> Kursk K-141,</i> one of the largest, most powerful submarines ever built. >> RAMSEY FLYNN: The<i> Kursk</i> was the<i> Titanic</i> of naval vessels. It was the centerpiece of their naval arsenal. It was just freaking huge. >> NARRATOR: That August morning, the Russian submarine was carrying out torpedo-firing exercises. >> FLYNN: The torpedo that they were going to use first was the biggest torpedo in the world. It's about the length of three sedans, and it's nicknamed "The Fat Girl" because it almost has, like, the girth of a circus fat lady. >> NARRATOR: Suddenly, an explosion ripped through the hull of the<i> Kursk,</i> sending it to the seabed 354 feet below the surface. >> FLYNN: This was a phenomenal explosion. Two minutes and 15 seconds after the initial blast of the Fat Girl torpedo, four other torpedo warheads exploded. It was the second blast that was the real killer blow. >> NARRATOR: August 15th-- three days later. The Russian navy's attempt to rescue any survivors ends in failure. Desperate, the Russian government reached out to the world. >> 306 going off-course on bigger search. Over. >> NARRATOR: August 20th-- eight days after the sinking-- British and Norwegian divers opened the aft escape hatch. They confirmed all 118 crewmen were dead. >> FLYNN: This was something that the Russian people and the Russian government and the Russian media had never been prepared for. >> NARRATOR: The 9,500-ton <i> Kursk</i> had to be raised so that the bodies could be given a proper burial, and to prevent the sub's two nuclear reactors from leaking deadly radiation. The entire world would be watching. Could mega movers pull off the impossible? >> FLYNN: It was global, and it was grim, and it was difficult. most remarkable engineering feats of the modern age, especially in terms of salvage and recovery. >> NARRATOR: The Dutch-based company Mammoet was called in to recover the<i> Kursk.</i> They brought in Mammoet Smith International to help. The project would involve more than 2,000 people and cost $65 million. >> FLYNN: Everybody on this crew was very much on edge. They were obviously doing something that was very pioneering. They didn't know that this was going to work. >> NARRATOR: Jan Kleijn is director of operations and engineering at Mammoet. He and his colleagues were responsible for designing the recovery plan. >> JAN KLEIJN: In our business, we are used to do a lot of things which are unusual. In our business, we are used to do a lot of things which are never done before. You are working during the day, and during the night you are just brainstorming about the new phase of the project or the new challenge we face. >> NARRATOR: The challenges they faced were terrifying and unprecedented. One: unstable load. The sub could split apart during the lift. Two: deadly radiation. Nuclear reactors could start leaking. Three: torpedoes. These weapons could explode. >> KLEIJN: During the execution of a project, and especially in the preparation of a project, you are thinking about the risks, and you do your risk analyzes. >> NARRATOR: The plan: to recover the<i> Kursk,</i> 26 holes would have to be cut along the top of the reinforced hull. Then, two cylinders would be lowered down and buried in the mud. And a huge chain would literally saw off the 65-foot nose of the submarine. Next, an enormous barge would would be configured with 26 900-ton strand jacks and anchored above the<i> Kursk.</i> Cables from the strand jacks would hang down through the barge and connect to specially designed grippers that would be inserted into the holes along the top of the hull and locked solidly into place. The<i> Kursk</i> could then be lifted up beneath the barge and towed into a floating dry dock. >> FLYNN: Nothing quite like it has been done before or since. >> NARRATOR: August, 2001-- the complex and dangerous move is put in motion. In this rarely-seen footage, the divers used specially designed, high-pressure water-jet cutting machines to bore 26 holes through the reinforced hull. They were working close to the big three: nuclear reactors, missiles and torpedoes. >> FLYNN: If they hit warheads that were un-detonated, they could actually cause an explosion. >> NARRATOR: These machines were completely automated, and used a pressurized mixture of sand and water to slice through the sub's double hull. Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, crews prepared the 24,000-ton lift barge,<i> The Giant 4.</i> It would be configured with more than 5,000-tons of steel. >> KLEIJN:<i> The Giant 4</i> is a heavy lift barge. It just normally is used for transport of heavy lift cargo. >> NARRATOR: 26 holes that would align to those on the submarine were cut through the hull of the barge and cables were extended down through them. >> KLEIJN: And also on the bottom we made an access just for the submarine tower. Because the whole idea behind it was just to lift the submarine and also just bring it under the barge, so you need a hole in the bottom of the barge to cover the top of the tower of the submarine. >> NARRATOR: Using 26 strand jacks each with a 900 ton lifting capacity, Mammoet would be able to lift the sub. Tests concluded that nuclear reactors were shut down, so divers began cutting off the nose. >> FLYNN: Part of of the challenge was that you had an enormous submarine on the seabed 350 feet down, but you also has a blown torpedo compartment with a lot of metal shards and kind of this unwieldy front end. >> KLEIJN: And there was a chance that during the lifting that the nose could fall off. >> NARRATOR: Divers discovered that all the unexploded torpedoes and missiles were locked down and safe. So, sawing began. >> KLEIJN: There were just huge cylinders driven by enormous power packs. It was just pulling the steel wire from one end to the other end. >> NARRATOR: September 4, Nearly a month into the recovery. The underwater cutting chain started slicing through the hull. >> FLYNN: That in itself is a stunning feat. To be able to take an entire section of the submarine and remove it underwater. And especially for them to be able to delicately maneuver around with weapons issues. >> NARRATOR: The nose removed, the<i> Giant 4</i> was brought in. It anchored above the<i> Kursk.</i> Cables were lowered, and divers inserted the lifting plugs, or grippers, into the holes along the top of the hull. >> KLEIJN: First we have to connect one after the other until the 26 strands jacks were connected all together. Then we'd start tightening them up. >> NARRATOR: October 7-- the the lift began. >> Increase the load now and keep the C.O.G... >> FLYNN: You could actually see a very palpable nervousness and anxiety among all these people who were a part of the team. >> NARRATOR: The strand jacks were connected to a central computer that monitored the pressure. Slowly, it was increased, Until, finally, the mammoth sub started to rise off the ocean floor. >> KLEIJN: At the moment that the<i> Kursk</i> was just hanging in our lifting cables and was loose from the ground, that was our first chance of victory at the moment. > NARRATOR: But there was no time for celebration. >> FLYNN: They were very anxious about whether they would be able to tuck the<i> Kursk</i> up underneath the belly of the <i>Giant 4</i> surface vessel. >> NARRATOR: Ten hours later-- success. The next day, a large flotilla of boats guided the Giant 4 back to Roslyakovo for an emotional homecoming. >> FLYNN: They were elated. There were tears of joy among these old guys who were watching the whole thing come back to port. It was a kind of a closure to an effort that many of them wished they'd never had to face. >> NARRATOR: But the recovery wasn't finished. The entire barge had to be raised out of the water and into dry dock. Investigators would later determine that a volatile chemical in the engines of the torpedoes caused the initial explosion aboard the<i> Kursk.</i> Thanks to the skills and determination of an international team of mega movers, they were able to recover this sunken submarine from the depths of the ocean floor and confirm what had happened that fateful day. >> FLYNN: They'd accomplished something that many of them had thought was impossible and almost were afraid to imagine.
