Sad Expectations

I have a certain affinity for those seven men trapped aboard that Russian mini-sub, but I'm not all that surprised at their plight. As scared as Americans in general were of the Soviet juggernaut, the Soviet navy at least was a laughing stock as navies go. Their technology was always a tad behind ours, and they tried to even the score with brute numbers. I served on nuclear submarines, so I have license to make comparisons. Soviet submarines in general were fast, and although our subs could dash at a pretty fast clip, we had other priorities, that being stealth. Soviet subs were notoriously noisy, and you can be as fast as you want and still find a torpedo up your ass from a sub you didn't know was out there.....which was us. The Soviet navy bankrupted their country trying desperately to match our ability to remain undetected. Another fatal flaw that crippled them was their command structure. Soviet seamen had precious little training beyond their narrowly defined duties, and only the officers were allowed to understand the truly technical aspects of their departments. Plus, there were political officers assigned to every vessel to keep an eye on the Captain and crew and ensure everybody toed the party line. Imagine trying to serve on a U.S. Navy ship with a Chaplain looking over your shoulder making sure you made the sign of the cross and you might imagine how THAT felt. So, every year or so, even long after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Russian Navy still suffers from the effects of it's poor technology and even worse training, costing them the lives of their brave countrymen to stupid accidents that need not happen, or poorly executed rescue attempts. When the Kursk went down, there were men aboard that boat who could have been saved, if only the Russians had asked for help immediately instead of tying to protect their stupid pride. We already know how inept they are, no sense in trying to deny it in this day in age. I pray for those seven men, and hope that this time they can survive, despite being sailors in the Russian Navy.