ABSTRACT The Russian Federation nuclear powered submarine Kursk sank in August 2000 with the loss of all 118 lives on board. In May 2001 the Russian Federation entered into a contract with the Dutch consortium Mammoet-Smit for the recovery of the Kursk on the condition that it had to be completed within that year. The consortium prepared for this World-first salvage of a nuclear powered and conventionally armed submarine that was very substantially damaged lying at 110m in the icy waters of the Barents Sea. Working at sometimes breathtaking pace, Mammoet-Smit prepared, lifted and transported the wreckage of the Kursk delivering her to a floating dock at Rosljakovo, about 200km south of the foundering site, in just over six months from the contract date. This paper tracks how the...