|
|
|
Posted on 08/05/2005 4:12:44 AM PDT by visagoth
Russian Mini-Submarine Stuck on Sea Floor
Aug 5, 6:57 AM (ET)
By YEVGENY KULKOV
|
|||
|
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AP) - A Russian mini-submarine with seven sailors aboard snagged on a fishing net and was stuck on the sea floor off Russia's Pacific Coast, and a Navy spokesman said the seamen had enough air to survive one more day.
Navy authorities scrambled to figure out how to raise the vessel from a depth of some 625 feet. The Interfax news service said Russia's Pacific Fleet commander was in talks with U.S. Navy officials over how the United States might help.
"There is air remaining on the underwater apparatus for a day - one day," Capt. Igor Dygalo said on state-run Rossiya television.
"The operation continues. We have a day, and intensive, active measures will be taken to rescue the AS-28 vessel and the people aboard," he said.
Pacific Fleet spokesman Capt. Alexander Kosolapov said contact had been made with the sailors, who were not hurt, and that authorities were preparing to send down a similar vessel to assess the situation.
The sub's propeller became entangled in a fishing net Thursday, trapping the craft, Dygalo said.
The mini-sub, called an AS-28, was too deep to allow the sailors to swim to the surface on their own or for divers to reach it, officials said.
Dygalo's statement about the amount of air remaining, which he said came after "all the information was checked," followed conflicting statements from officials who said there was enough air for anything from one to five days. The range of estimates may have come because there were seven people aboard the vessel; the crafts usually carry three.
The accident occurred early Thursday after the mini-submarine was launched from a rescue ship during a combat training exercise, Kosolapov said.
Kosolapov said nine warships were in the area to aid the rescue operation.
Officials said the accident occurred in Beryozovaya Bay, approximately 100 miles south of Kamchatka's capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.
The accident occurred almost exactly five years after the nuclear submarine Kursk sank to the bottom of the Barents Sea after explosions on board, killing all 118 seamen aboard in a painful blow to the Russian navy. Some of the Kursk's sailors survived for hours after the accident as oxygen ran out, and Russian authorities came under sharp criticism for their handling of the crisis.
The same type of vessel that is now stuck, called a Priz, was used in the rescue efforts that followed the Kursk disaster, Interfax reported.
The AS-28, which looks like a small submarine, was built in 1989. They are about 44 feet long and 19 feet high and can dive to depths of 1,640 feet.
Russian news agencies reported that Japan decided to send four ships in a response to a request for help. A Japanese Marine Self Defense Force spokesman, Mitsyasu Yokoe, said the press service had no information on such a dispatch and could not comment.
AX suit
A robotic submersible with an airline to an external valve could give them air..if they have an external air valve..
imo
There are also Deep Rescue Vehicles capable of mating with other submarines, I'm not sure if the Russian vehicle is compatible.
The link in a earlier post has a bunch of information on the types of training they conducted. The Russians took part in the exercise this year.
Here's hoping for a good outcome.
Russina Navy blunders ping.
Prayers for all aboard. Hope we can help quickly.
That's what they said about the Kursk. These guys are probably dead already.
Maybe they ought to quit fooling around with submarines...
Prayers for the sailors.
John Kerry and his goofy suit poses.
A 700 ft roll of cable with a hook on the end wouldn't help?
They have another sub which could maybe snag it.
It sounds like this situation is salvagable.
625 feet down x 44 psi / 100 feet depth = 275 psi at their depth.
That's a lot of pressure.
Meanwhile, a day is not a long time for a deep rescue operation. Just getting something with the capability to do it is almost guaranteed to take longer.
It's not looking good for these guys. They need a miracle.
I hope one happens.
Just heard about this on the news, how sad, this is the second time something like this has happened to Russian sailors, bless their souls and their families. I hope they can be rescused but by all accounts it doesn't look like that will happen.
It would have to have an enormous amount of thrust to overcome the mass of that sub and net.
Not to mention that sub is not just "sitting" on the bottom.
It is being pressed down into it by untold pressure.
If that bottom is not rock, the suction alone would ensure that it may never ascend.
"Too deep for divers to reach..."
Pipin Ferreras has been down to about 160 meters on a single breath with no scuba gear at all. They're not much deeper than that.
Prayers for their safety---and a little ingenuity.
Hope we can get them some help: It HAS to be rapid response.
Appropirate that Cold War submarine enemies can help a stranded sailor on the bottom.
(That said, why are the Russians still need to do training on these Special Forces insertion mini-subs?)
He hasn't been working down there cutting 1" cables in fishing nets that he can't see, can't unsnag, and can't can't feel interferences!
No, it's not. The sub is experiencing untold pressure yes, but that pressure is coming at it from all sides. The only thing pressing it into the bottom is ordinary gravity.
I can see the tuna industry responding already...
"No dolphins... or Russians... were harmed in the making of this tuna."
Get a big helo or two, run the cables underneath it and lift it off the floor.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.