The catastrophe of the Russian submarine Kursk in August 2000 shook the Russian people more than the coup d"etat of 1991, the siege of the Russian Parliament, or any of the other political cataclysms of the last ten years. This is a chronicle of events from August 12th-21st together with various versions of the catastrophe. An appendix includes a list of sailors, technical description of the submarine, a list of recent analogous catastrophes, bibliography.