Retired submariners say a collision would not have sunk the Kursk

MOSCOW - Retired navy officers on Thursday objected to suggestions that the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk sank because it collided with another vessel, saying that such a crash would not have caused catastrophic damage.

''There could have been a collision, but it wouldn't have led to such tragic consequences,'' retired Adm. Eduard Baltin said at a conference organized by the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda. He said a crash probably would have dented the submarine's outer hull but would not have crippled it.

The Kursk, ripped apart by a pair of massive explosions, sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea, killing all 118 men aboard. Russian officials - including Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov - have said a collision was the most likely cause of the Aug. 12 sinking.

But Baltin and other former navy officers recalled numerous collisions between Russian and Western submarines stalking each other during the Cold War. The vessels always lumbered back to base and were back in service after minor repairs, the former officers said.

A government commission hasn't determined the cause of the disaster. Some experts have suggested a torpedo exploded in the ship's weapons bay. Others have said the explosion could have been caused by a World War II-era mine or an internal malfunction. But government officials have repeatedly said they believe a collision was the mostly likely explanation.

Northern Fleet chief Adm. Vyacheslav Popov said this week that a foreign vessel emitted SOS signals in the sinking area shortly after the disaster. The Russian Navy has searched the seabed for debris that could have been left by a collision but has not reported finding any.

The United States and Great Britain operate submarines in the Barents Sea and had vessels monitoring the Russian naval exercises when the Kursk sank, but both countries have denied their boats were involved in the accident.

The retired submariners also dismissed the mine theory, saying such World War II ordnance would have caused only light damage to the state-of-the-art vessel.

The officers said a fire in the torpedo compartment was a possibility but insisted it would not have triggered an explosion. They said the disaster was likely caused by a combination of several external and internal factors, but they wouldn't describe them, saying the information is classified and they fear arrest by the Federal Security Service.

Some media reports have suggested that the Kursk was testing a new torpedo system that uses a liquid fuel propulsion system, which some sailors consider unstable. That could have exploded spontaneously, but Klebanov has denied the submarine had such weapons aboard.