As Russia's top naval commanders watched on with consternation from a frozen Kola peninsula pier, the 20,000-tonne sub's conning tower slowly rose above water level at the Roslyakovo dock where it had been tugged by a massive barge.

Gennady Lyachin, son of the Kursk's fallen commander Gleb Lyachin, was the first person to climb on top of the crippled craft as it floated in shallow waters just a few meters (yards) from shore.

"We are here to investigate the scene of the accident," said Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov, who also later climbed on board the Kursk, which remains filled with water inside.

Northern Fleet spokesman Vladimir Navrotsky reported radiation levels around the Kursk "are normal" and that all 26 cables which had been used to pull up the craft from the bottom of the Barents Sea had been disconnected from the barge.

The Dutch barge Giant 4 which lifted the Kursk left the Kola peninsula docks on Tuesday after its crew laid wreaths at sea in memory of the lost sailors.

The wreck is to be raised seven meters above sea level following the operation to re-float it on October 8, before salvage workers attempt to enter the craft.

The 22 cruise missiles on board -- their state of disrepair not yet determined -- will be delicately detached before salvage teams begin the gruesome task of sifting through the wreck for remains of any of the sailors.

After coming under heavy criticism of his seemingly nonchalant handling of the disaster, a somber President Vladimir Putin last year vowed to give the lost crew a proper burial on land, and complete a full investigation into Russia's worst naval catastrophe.

Ustinov said he came to see the Kursk in a bid to help determine what caused the August 12, 2000 disaster.

According to Ustinov, it could have been a collision with a foreign vessel -- perhaps a NATO submarine -- or an accidental torpedo explosion, or a collision with a mine dating from World War II. None of the three hypotheses is favored over any other, said Ustinov.

He did not mention the theory aired in the weeks following the tragedy and revived by the German weekly Der Spiegel, that the submarine was hit by a missile fired in error by the Russian cruiser Peter the Great.

Der Spiegel quoted a new document initialed by Putin and dated September 10, 2001 which makes reference to the firing of a missile by the vessel in the area at the time.

This version of events was rejected categorically by the Kremlin at the beginning of September 2000 and is dismissed as fantastic by experts in Murmansk.

The examination of the wreck should provide some clues to the disaster, but Ustinov has not excluded the theory that the key to the mystery lies in the submarine's front compartment, which remains on the sea bed for security reasons.

The front section, which stored the craft's powerful torpedoes -- some of which may still be intact -- is tentatively scheduled to be raised next year.

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Salvage workers took the first step towards placing the wreck of the Kursk submarine in dry dock Saturday as they began attaching a pontoon under the Giant-4 barge which five days earlie

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