Fleet historian Cherkashin: Admiral Popov's version of the Kursk sinking is closest to the truth 
Captain of the first rank of the reserve, fleet historian Nikolai Cherkashin, in a conversation with Lenta.ru, agreed with the version of the ex-commander of the Northern Fleet, Admiral Vyacheslav Popov, regarding the death of the Kursk nuclear submarine. Earlier, Popov told RIA Novosti that the submarine died from a collision with a NATO submarine, and it was she who gave SOS signals that day, and not Kursk.
“I think that Admiral Popov's version is closest to the truth , in any case, this is not a spontaneous explosion of the torpedo, which was in the first compartment. Torpedoes do not explode by themselves, especially since there were several stages of protection, there must be an external influence. I believe that there was an intentional or unintentional impact on the Kursk submarine, most likely by a British submarine, “Cherkashin noted.
According to the historian, the likelihood that the SOS signal by knocks on that day was not given by the Kursk is extremely high, since the signal is given when it is known that there are ships on the surface and they can hear it, but there were no ships in the range. and the submariners knew it.
“Captain Dmitry Kolesnikov in the note does not mention at all that there were attempts to get in touch, he immediately realized that there were very few chances to get out, and wrote about it. All the hope was that they would be able to open the hatch of the emergency mine and try to get out through it, but when this did not work, it became clear that they were doomed, and then no knocks could attract anyone's attention. They did not live long, several hours, because a fire broke out that killed everyone, these knocks were heard even after the fire, so it can be assumed that it was some kind of acoustic beacon that submarines are supplied with – search and rescue forces can be directed to such simple knocks … There were no such beacons on our boat, ”concluded Cherkashin.