Hydrogen theory in Kursk disaster

By CNN's Mike Harrison

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Russia is considering the possibility of a link between the loss of the Kursk nuclear submarine and the sinking of a British submarine 46 years ago.

Senior Russian officials suggested the Kursk and the British HMS Sidon may have suffered the same malfunction -- a hydrogen peroxide leak.

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Sidon, which sank in 1955 killing 13 men, is believed to have suffered a leak of hydrogen peroxide, which is used to propel torpedoes.

British Navy investigators believe that a pipe containing the chemical burst, sparking an explosion on board Sidon.

Britain stopped using hydrogen peroxide after the accident. But Igor Spassky, who designed the Kursk and almost all of Russia's nuclear submarines, said Russia had continued using it.

Vice Admiral Mikhail Barskov, deputy commander in chief of the Russian Navy, told a news conference in London on Wednesday: "We have reviewed the British data. We didn't reject this option."

Russian officials have previously said that the first explosion, which sent the Kursk crashing to the bottom of the Barents Sea last August, killing all 118 men on board, was probably caused by a torpedo exploding in one of the nose tubes.

But the Russian government is still investigating what prompted the blast.

So far 12 bodies have been recovered from the Kursk and Putin has promised that the submarine will be lifted. Officials then hope to determine why it sank.

Raising the submarine involves detaching the front compartment. Then the rest of the vessel is due to be connected by cables to 26 hydraulic lifts anchored to a giant pontoon. The Kursk should then be towed to the Arctic port of Murmansk.