Re: weary silence

[VBra676539@aol.com]

Hey Ken,

I don't know about psubs and the blow and go style of exiting. In the commercial field, 3 vehicles have had fatalities that I know of (I'm talking about emergency oriented fatalities.

The most infamous was the Johnson Sea Link catastrophe off Key West but that was not a blow and go problem. The second accident that comes to mind was a Nekton. Two subs were in the water, one surfaced during the lift of a wreck being salvaged, the other stayed down. The wreck slipped its lines and hit the sub, broke a viewport and sank them in 220 feet or thereabouts. One man made it to the surface and survived, the second hit his head on exit and drowned on the bottom. In France, the Moana I sank in 30 meters of water with some VIPs on board. One person was drowned trying to ascend. The others were rescued by divers.

It's a pretty good record when you think how many tens of thousands of dives were made over the years. I don't know about psubs, however. I have never heard any sort of tally compiled, and as most of us sub cranks are solitary souls, who would know?

Some of the K-boats are built with flood valves, some without. Mine is with, and I wouldn't worry too much about flooding the boat and abandoning it at 100 feet or so. A pony bottle inside would let me get up handily enough. All the ex-Navy sub types I work with have done at least a single 140' b & g ascent in a tank. It wouldn't be my first choice, but it can definitely be done.

Wet subs? See SCUBA, as you well know.

Best Regards,
Vance