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Mini-Submarine Saga, A Very Strange Incident 08-08-05: When the media broke the story about a Russian mini-submarine propeller got tangled in fishnet and antenna cable system, the event just did not make sense. This incident was either planned or it was sabotage. 08-06-05: Voice of Russia: Operations to rescue the mini-submarine under the seabed is progressing as planned.
"The sailing of fishing boats is either prohibited or restricted in the area, where the radar system is based. It is therefore unclear, how the drag-net or a piece of fishing net could find themselves on the spot, where the AS-28 mini-submarine suffered an accident." Pravda "Seven people on board a submarine trapped for nearly three days under the Pacific Ocean were rescued Sunday after a British remote-controlled vehicle cut away the undersea cables that had snarled their vessel, allowing it to surface. "I can only thank our English colleagues for their joint work and the help they gave in order to complete this operation within the time we had available -- that is, before the oxygen reserves ran out," he said. ...The United States also dispatched a crew and three underwater vehicles to Kamchatka, but they never left the port." Yahoo August, Month of Special Significance: "August is a special month for Russia. Coups d'etat happen in August, submarines sink in August, and TV towers catch fire in August. Important economic shocks also fall on August, and, as astrologists are wont to say, the financial system is especially vulnerable in August." Kommersant
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Russian
mini-submarine caught in fishnet.
Russian mini-submarine diagram.
Deep-water
rescue submersible vehicles AS-28 'Priz' (L) and AS-32, are seen
here in 2000. "ARS is a Russian abbreviation for "autonomous
working capsule", designed by Lazurit-bureau in St. Petersburg.
It is supposed to have a crew of three and can possibly carry 15-20
persons each time. ...The ARS mini-submarine is 13.6 meters long
and self-propelled. The batteries give the sub an operational time
of 48 hours before they have to be recharged." 
"Admiral Eduard Baltin, former commander
of the Russian Black Sea Fleet said on Saturday that it was a mistake
to ask NATO countries for help in rescuing the crew of the Russian
mini-submarine stranded on the Pacific floor since Thursday because
"this region is stuffed with [Russian military] secrets",
Interfax reports. The region hosts "the main base for the strategic
nuclear submarines of the Pacific Fleet, which NATO itself has nicknamed
a wasps" nest. A secret cable runs through the area and a foreign
submarine detection system is located here too," Hero of the
Soviet Union Adm. Eduard Baltin told Interfax. According to Baltin,
Russian Navy should have been able to rescue the AS-28 mini-sub
without difficulty, using manipulators at its disposal, and blowing
up the cable, in which the mini-sub got caught. The
admiral also expressed surprise that the Pacific Fleet command had
said openly that the sub had got caught on an underwater antenna
instead of ìan underwater object. "This antenna
is one of the main components of an active system for the long-range
detection of submarines," he said. Russia
has two remotely controlled, deep sea drones, Mir 1 and Mir 2. that
could have been used in this rescue operation, but they are
so good that they are currently engaged in exploration of Titanic.
And, as we all know, in capitalist world contract is sacred, and
human life is not." 
One of Russia's remotely controlled deep sea drones, Mir 1.
"Russian AS-28 mini-sub was trapped on the seabed after being
ensnared by fishing nets of local poachers, the commander of the
Russian Pacific Fleet said on Monday. "I can affirm that the
nets had been placed by Kamchatka poachers,
within the period from mid-July to the beginning of August,"
Viktor Fedorov was quoted by Interfax. ...The admiral said AS-28
had worked in the region since March. It had a technical
break due to stormy weather and the celebration of the Russian Navy
holiday. "Rascals used that time to place
the nets in the region forbidden for fishing." ...According
to other sources, the mini-sub was held not only by the fishing
nets but also by cables of a 60-ton underwater antenna, a part of
the secret coastal defense installation." 
After the Russian mini-submarine incident was almost over, the United
States announced their new military ship: "...The Sea
Fighter cruises in the Pacific Ocean Wednesday,
July 20, 2005, as it approaches the ship's home port in San
Diego. The Sea Fighter is the fastest ship in the U.S. Navy, an
aluminum catamaran that can cross an ocean without refueling. It's
an example of the Pentagon's efforts to transform the military into
an agile fighting force. ...Its stern can
launch and retrieve manned or unmanned mini-submarines and small
boats. ...Capable of entering water as shallow as 12 feet.
Whether Sea Fighter itself eventually joins the fleet will depend
on how well it fares during testing, said Rear Adm. Jay M. Cohen,
head of the Office of Naval Research, which oversaw the ship's development.
"The challenge is to demonstrate the
effectiveness of a concept like this," he said."
