Most of that makes perfect sense. One question though. The four support legs..are they hollow or solid? I could see them filling up with water if they were hollow and some breach was made in the explosion. In some of the pictures, the rig looks to be listing to one side before it went down hours later.
Thanks for your post.
Hollow, more or less. Hoses, lines, cables, etc. run through them. But they are designed to vent the water from the top deck, back to the ocean.
I believe that is what you can see on one of the legs. A large grilled vent.
One of the floats was damaged by something during the explosions. Jagged pieces of steel would be shot like bullets in all directions.
Remember, it wasn't just the oil, it was also the fuel in tanks for the generators, and barrels of fuel stored to use in the generators, and any other gas or diesel powered motor.
Once it was on fire good, there was no power, so bilge pumps were not operating.
It became just a matter of time before the rig listed over and sank.