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Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: Russian Sub Sunk
Good point Steve,
I was also wondering why we were quiet and maybe it is because we can
empathize with the plight of these submariners to a greater degree than the
general public and it is a bit sobering ! These are real people in a
desperate situation. By all accounts, half are probably gone in the
explosion, no lights, near freezing temperatures, high CO2, carbon monoxide
levels, O2 running out, no water to drink, your ' world ' sloping at 60% and
possible nuclear radiation to live with.......................
In one of the original reports, I remember them saying there was no time to
get American rescue subs to the scene. This looks like it is the case. No
tapping for days now. They say there may be no more tapping because the crew
will be trying to conserve 02 and that may be so, but it does not look good.
Look how long it is taking to get the British sub there, it won't be on site
until Saturday.
A sub has to maneuver to a 60% angle to lock on. I'll leave that to some of
the experts on PSUBs to speculate whether that is possible. The Russian
rescue sub could apparently only work up to a 45 degree angle, being one of
the reasons it failed.
Interestingly, in relation to this, I read "Blind Mans Bluff " a few weeks
ago. It was about lost American and Soviet subs of the Cold War, spying etc.
and a very good read.
What was interesting was that like what may have happened in the Russian
sub, it is not uncommon for a torpedo to go "hot " in the tube, or activate
it's timing devise, running in the tube. When this happens it is standard
procedure on US subs to do an immediate 180 degree turn, before ALL else.
The reason for this is it deactivates the detonator because the gyro devise
does not allow the torpedo to turn and track the sub that launched it ! This
is what they think happened to the USS Scorpion (SSN-589). When she was
eventually found, she was on the bottom, headed back in the direction she
had been coming from, but it may have been too late. I won't go on, but it
was a fascinating read to how one guy thought he knew where she was and the
rest said " no way " "no torpedo explosion ". When they exhausted their own
theories, they found him to be right on the money.
I agree Michael. You will have to ' see to your Aussie friend ' who wants
some tasteless jokes about the Russian tragedy. If your are short for
appropriate combinations of words, we have one or two guys at PSUBs who
could rustle you up some fine appropriate oratory ! Why do seagulls fly
upside down over Australia ? Nothing worth shitting on ! We have some
hundreds of jokes in a similar theme about Australia. They have many about
New Zealanders as well, some very rude :-)
Although it is very sobering for us, all I can say for the poor souls is
that, if they don't have water, they may have Vodka......... If there are
any guys to be rescued, they may have huge hangovers. Put down the bottles
boys, and start tapping again !
Regards,
Karl.
----- Original Message -----
From: Michael B Holt <michaelbholt@juno.com>
To: <personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2000 7:52 AM
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Re: Russian Sub Sunk
> On Thu, 17 Aug 2000 00:49:18 -0700 (PDT) S W writes:
> >--I can't believe no one is discussing the Russian
> >submarine that is sitting on the bottom of the Barents
> >Sea! There are 116 Russians beneath 354 feet of water,
> >who is gonna go get them? Come on fellas! Nice of the
> >Russians to refuse help from the US and Britain until
> >the situation is "very grave" for survivors. Any opinions?
>
> Yeah. This is very Russian. Remember that they didn't
> tell anyone about Chernobyl for several days, either.
> I think they like to run around in circles and hope to
> fix it all without help, and then they finally realize the
> problem is too complicated for them.
>
> My impression was that the US DSRV would have
> no problem with 116 guys at 354 feet. It would be
> five trips, and the whole rescue would be done
> in a half a day.
>
> Oh, well.
>
> Hey, if a psub gets stuck on the bottom, what
> resources exist to help? Psubs don't have
> the expanse of deck for a DSRV to land on,
> and no escape trunks.
>
> I just got a request from Australia, asking for jokes
> about the accident. The same guy sent me a
> nice string of totally tasteless Concorde-crash
> jokes. I'll have to work on that.
>
> For news of the Russian fleet, have a look at the
> Bellona Foundation website.
>
>
>
> Mike
> --
>
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