[Graybeard58]

By Russian standards 600 feet is "deep" with western equipment it isn't. That said, I hope they are rescued. It doesn't matter to the trapped seamen who rescues them either.

[bill1952]

600 feet is still deep.

Very, very deep. The fact that, in some circumstances, rescue is possible of Western personnel from a Western vessel, with Western equipment isn't going to save them here.

The problems are manifold, and I suspect that the Russian agreement to request aid is mainly to see our technology in removing bodies at depth.

That DSRV is gone, and those sailors are, in all likelihood, dead.

[Nuc1]

600 feet is deep for any unprotected man. As I recall bottom stay time at 600 feet is one second. Even if they had an escape trunk they would be dead from the bends. Horrible way to die, dark, cold , and alone. When it comes to this all men are brothers. Prayers.

[skimbell]

I read another article concerning this and in that piece they said that this Russki boat is 34' long and routinely operates at 1000 meters. I guess that that around 3200'.
This boat got a fishermans net caught in its prop and went down after being dragged toward shore. All in all it sounds like an incredible SNAFU!

[JSteff]

"By Russian standards 600 feet is "deep" with western equipment it isn't."

I don't know about that. IIRC the Russian DSV's have been visiting the Titanic for several years now... in fact it was just on Discovery Channel last week. The Titanic currently sits at 12,500.

[topher]

By Russian standards 600 feet is "deep" with western equipment it isn't.

The Russians built a Titanium hull sub with a liquid sodium reactor. In the movie, Hunt for Red October, that class of attack sub was shown in the film diving down to the depth of 900 meters (2700 feet).

I am not aware of any US Sub going that deep -- just because it takes a very strong hull to sustain the pressures at 900 meters...

[Special submersibles excluded]

[topher]

However, Western equipment is much safer equipment.

I would not want to be on a boat with a liquid sodium reactor. Sodium reacts violently with water, so any damage to a submarine with such a reactor that allows water into reactor by combat damage might cause a mini-Chernobyl.

The Russians in the Cold War had an almost unlimited budget for weapons programs -- they ignored safety concerns in many areas.

The rocket torpedo sinking on August 12 (year I forget) is an example. I believe that sub went down because of trying to launch one of those, and there are rumors that the rocket torpedoes blew up inside the submarine.