Captain who tried to save his son

The Kursk crew in a photo taken last year

Nobody could accuse Captain Vladimir Geletin of not trying his best when he helped co-ordinate Russia's rescue efforts in the Kursk tragedy.

After all, he had a vested interest - his own son Boris, a 25-year-old lieutenant, was on board the sunken submarine.

We did everything we could, everything

Captain Geletin

The torrent of criticism directed at the Russian navy for its unsuccessful rescue efforts led him to finally speak out.

In a news conference in Murmansk on Wednesday, he defended the rescue efforts, laying the blame squarely on Russia's impoverished military.

"This is hard for me to talk about, but I wanted to," he said in a shaking voice and clenching his fists.

"Why? Because my honour as an officer and my memory of my son compel me to."

Father's efforts

"We did everything we could, everything," said the captain, who also suffered the loss last month of his two-year-old grandson - Boris's son.

Captain Geletin says he never lost hope his son was alive

"I was probably more interested in seeing it done right than anybody else."

He added the fleet needed better rescue units.

Russia's attempts to dock rescue capsules, hampered by strong currents and poor visibility, were unsuccessful.

Deep-sea divers, which the navy does not have, arrived from Norway and managed to open the escape hatch, but found the submarine flooded and the crew dead.

Navy did not lie

Captain Geletin also hit back at accusations that the navy had been misleading.

"The fleet command always told the truth," he said, adding that initially, no-one knew what had happened.

We really wanted it to be so - that they were still alive

Captain Geletin

"Nobody could have said - right, the vessel is on the sea bed, that means everybody is dead," he said.

He insisted that they had heard tapping, but admitted it may not have been produced by the sailors on board the sunken submarine.

"You can be mistaken about... whether they were human or mechanical noises. We really wanted it to be so - that they were still alive," he said.

Never lost hope

Relatives of the crew at a ceremony on Thursday

He said he clung to the hope that his son was alive, despite the fact that Boris served at the area of the vessel likely to be flooded first.

"Only after the official announcement did I say, 'My son has perished'," he said.

Captain Geletin was clear where the blame lay for the crisis.

"You all know the reason very well - the fleet has many problems, like the whole military, like the whole country," he said.

He said he had one question for President Vladimir Putin. "Are we waiting in vain for funding for the armed services?"