Submarine Disaster of the Day/Video of the Day

The history of K-118, which also served as communications submarine SS-429 in order to comply with the terms of SALT I, can be found here. One incident stands out and can serve as the Submarine Disaster of the Day:

1973: The (Golf class K-118) SSB was preparing for post-repair sea trials. Literally on the eve of getting underway, after the consumables stores load, like (TR Note – I’m guessing here: loose B-64 type oxygen candles), one of the workers was trying to weld some sort of cleat to the upper deck plates above the gyros. Without ensuring that there weren’t any fuel lines or cable raceways below him, he started welding. Meanwhile, there were these B-64s crammed into the overhead of the secure navigation station against the overhead deck! A fire broke out. Smelling smoke, the CDO, thinking that it was a result of the just finished welding, gave the command to ventilate the boat through the access hatch in the 8th compartment. This ventilated the conn well enough but spread smoke through the rest of the boat. This triggered a re-adjustment of the ventilation systems in the missile compartment, whose built in ventilation systems were cut off from fresh air. After a while, the ventilation cut off, the fire was extinguished, but the boat needed repairs and equipment replaced since it was covered in soot…

K-118 today: