The men were honoured at the Russian Embassy

The 10,000-ton Russian submarine went down with the loss of 118 crew in the Barents Sea in August 2000 after two explosions on board.

Malcolm Dailey, from Teesside, Raymond Wallace, from Devon, and Captain Alexander Macleod, from Northumberland, were presented with Orders of Friendship of the Russian Federation on Tuesday.

They were involved in the 85-day operation to clear the seabed around the shattered bow and cut into the submarine's hull before it was raised.

The men were presented with their honours at the Russian Embassy in London.

The worst part was thinking that down there were so many sailors who had been lost Captain Alexander Macleod

Mr Dailey, 53, the civilian project manager of the operation said: "It was a major challenge. No operation like this has been successful before.

"When you think of the size of the Kursk, it was the length of the British aircraft carrier, the Ark Royal and the size of a football pitch."

Mr Wallace, a former Royal Marine and Special Forces sailor, was offshore diving manager working for Norwegian company DSND during the operation.

He said: "It was a demanding job. There was a great deal of work to be done and there was a fairly tight weather window to do it in."

Captain Macleod captained the diving support vessel, the Mayo, which set out on 6 July 2001 and remained at the scene of the disaster for three months.

'Renewed times'

The 45-year-old father of two from Northumberland said: "The divers probably had the worst experiences because they left the mother ship and went down into the Barents Sea.

"The worst part was thinking that down there were so many sailors who had been lost."

The Russian ambassador to the UK, Grigory Karasin, who presented the awards, said the co-operation between the former Cold War enemies was a sign of "renewed times".

He told the men, their families and a gathering of Russian diplomats and military: "There is a saying that a friend in need is a friend indeed.

"I think this is not only for persons but also for nations."