: Looks like Russia has quietly announced the Kursk was
: "killed" by its own torpedo:
This is a sanitized version. The USS Memphis scraped the Kursk's bow, in the area of the torpedo tube, and about two minutes later an explosion. This is from Russia Today:

Igor Sergeyev, Russian defence minister, confirmed today in Brussels the words said by Rear-Admiral Einar Skorgen, former commander of the Norwegian Northern Force. According to the admiral, Russian anti-submarine aircrafts did pursue on August 17th a foreign submarine escaping from the site of the nuclear submarine Kursk’s crash. Admiral Skorgen also said that Russian North Fleet aircrafts got so absorbed in the pursuit that nearly violated the Norwegian air space, so Norwegian fighters made an alert takeoff. Happily, violation was avoided thanks to a talk between the Norwegian Air Force and the Russian North Fleet commanders. On top of that, according to the admiral, there was something wrong with the US submarine Memphis entering the Norwegian port of Bergen. Moreover, wives of 12 Memphis sailors were then urgently flied from US to Norway, the aim of their arrival being kept secret.