[Paladin2]

"the fireboats sank the rig"

On purpose?

[norraad]

Oh, I don't think so, it's just old fashioned inept thinking.

Pull a half dozen fireboats up to any vessel and put that many tons of water on it and guess what happens.

Foam, CO2, Nitrogen, Steam Thrusting, Dry ice encapsulation , and/or a combination of more modern fire suppression technology would be more appropriate to save such a beautiful vessel as the poor old Deepwater Horizon.