A Mother Prays Her Son Will ‘Not Lose Heart’

Dmitri Starosyeltsev had to overcome some tough competition to win a position on the nuclear submarine Kursk after he was drafted in November.

The contest was fierce: Two of every three candidates were rejected. But Starosyeltsev, who graduated with good marks from the Railway College in the city of Kursk, won out.

One of the novices in the 116-member crew, he was aboard the sub when it sank over the weekend in the Barents Sea. Efforts to rescue the crew continued early today. There was no word on casualties.

Starosyeltsev’s mother, Valentina, said Tuesday that she was proud when her son was chosen to serve on the submarine. Before he left for military service, the professional nurse told him that if anything ever went wrong, he should not lose heart but should pray.

“And that’s what I think. He should not lose heart now,” she said in a telephone interview from her home in Kursk after a rescue attempt had failed earlier in the day.

The city of Kursk, nearly 300 miles south of Moscow, was the site of one of history’s greatest tank battles. Soviet forces defeated German armored units in the July 1943 clash.

Because the submarine is named after the city, the young men of Kursk strive to serve on board. Starosyeltsev turned down a position in the elite Kremlin guard in favor of training on the submarine.

“He has always loved swimming in the river, and it was impossible to pull him out of there. He loves machinery too,” Valentina Starosyeltsev said.

She began to feel ill and uneasy Sunday, before the accident was reported.

“I didn’t know what was going on. I just felt out of sorts,” she said.

On Monday, still feeling ill, she was about to go to the post office to send her son a parcel with candy, razor blades, note paper and socks when she turned on the midday television news and saw one of the first reports about the disaster.

“I heard the submarine was lying on the seabed. I didn’t understand what it meant because I’m not a specialist, but I understood that something had gone wrong,” she said.

“I just hope everything will be OK, but I’m very worried for him,” she said. “The only thing that helps me right now is to pray.”

She said her son had been eager to board the submarine for his second mission, which began July 23. He had already served a two-week stint aboard.

Valentina Starosyeltsev expressed anger that the Russian navy had offered little information or support to her family.

She said the family was anxiously watching updates on television, desperate for news of her son.

She read aloud excerpts from his most recent letter, written late last month.

“Thank God, I’m finally here,” he wrote in a message full of pride and excitement, explaining how lucky he felt to be part of the crew. Everyone, including officers, called one another by their first names, and the officers were almost like fathers, he wrote.

“It is just like home here. I’m really happy,” the letter said. “We have four meals a day here, just like home.

“We will resurface in the middle of August,” he wrote. “See you soon.”