Soviet Sub Carried Two Nuclear Warheads

MOSCOW--The Soviet Union said yesterday that 42 sailors were killed when a nuclear-powered submarine caught fire and exploded in the Norwegian Sea, and it disclosed that two torpedoes on board were armed with nuclear warheads.

Tass, the official news agency, said the design of the warheads "completely rules out radiation threat during large-depth submergence. To ensure radiation safety, the nuclear-powered engine was stopped and the power unit was effectively blanked off."

It said the submarine carried 69 people and that only 27 of them survived.

The vessel went down in international waters 120 miles southwest of Norway's Bear Island and about 310 miles west of Tromsoe, on Norway's northern coast.

Scientists were gathering deepwater samples yesterday, and they placed equipment near the sunken ship that would monitor radiation levels for years.

The Soviets officially informed Norway of the accident nearly nine hours after the vessel went down. The Norwegian news agency NTB claimed Norwegian rescue helicopters could have reached the ship several hours before Soviet fishing vessels if the Soviets has asked for help promptly.

Soviet officials were criticized for not providing accurate or timely information after the 1986 explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. That incident sent a cloud of radiation into the atmosphere, contaminating crops and livestock in Europe.

In Oslo, Defense Ministry spokesperson Erik Senstad told the news conference the Soviets declined an offer of Sea King helicopters from a Norwegian rescue base 370 miles away, but he refused to say if more lives could have been saved.

In Moscow, the Soviet military newspaper Red Star reported yesterday that the submarine was on its way home when a fire broke out in a compartment.

"The crew bravely fought the fire and tried to save the ship," the newspaper report said, citing an interview with Capt. P. Ishchenko of the Northern Fleet. "The fight for life continued for more than five hours, but with no results."

The Norwegians said an explosion occurred on the ship after the fire spread and that the vessel then sank 4500 feet.

"We believe that when a submarine is sunk [at that depth] of water, it will go to pieces because of the pressure," Senstad told reporters.

Johan Baarli, head of the radiation protection institute, said the tests on the surface water found gamma radiation at a natural level.

"We found no trace of radiation which could have any association with the submarine," he said.