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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
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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.
Remember that line in the movie with the Russians and Gene Hackman I believe? One of the Russian subs got 'lost'? Great movie...what was the name of it again?
WRONG.
If is sitting on a bottom that is not rocky, then that part of the sub is NOT subject to sea pressure, and it will be pressed down by sea pressure.
It is NOT being acted on by sea pressure from all sides, and this is very well known in UT.
Ever try to lift something off the sea floor at depth?
They were on war games and launched from a mother ship.
So---why can't they bring up this fishing net? Or do they just leave it there permanently to snag marine life and kill things--including people now.
It was just reported on Fox News that both the US and Japan are sending help.
Please Lord let it arrive in time.
I realize that. I mentioned PF for perspective. The depth is not utterly abyssal.
Name one time that has ever worked.
> If is sitting on a bottom that is not rocky, then that part of the sub is NOT subject to sea pressure
Correct. If it is sitting in, say, mud... then it's being acted on also by the "mud" pressure. Constant pressure all-round. While a circular cross-section sub may survive uniform pressure, it woudl only take relatively slight asymmetrical pressure to cause the hull to collapse.
> Ever try to lift something off the sea floor at depth?
Nope. But I can imagine that deep-sea mud can be as sticky as any other mud, and serve as glue. But the pressure difference issue is nonexistant.
the WATER pressure is equal all around even if it is on the bottom.
good news and I hope they help whether or not they are asked
"Name one time that has ever worked"
Never. But it's the Russians. They will figure out some way to finish off these 7 people so they can keep what really happened a secret.
No, sorry - you're the one who's wrong. Picture a sub an inch from the ocean floor - equal water pressure all around it. It moves closer - still equal pressure. A millimeter away - still equal pressure. If what you say is true, then the INSTANT the sub touches the floor the pressure from the bottom vanishes, and the sub would be squashed like a bug.
With a 600 meter column of water pressing into the ocean floor, why doesn't the floor give way and get pressed down? Because the floor is pushing back with equal pressure. This is Newton's Third Law of Motion: for every action (the water pressing down) there is an equal and opposite reaction (the sea floor pushing up.)
You are correct that if the floor is muddy there, the sub is most likely lost. But that's because the mud is a fluid, and the sub would sink into it. Which is why it's so difficult to lift something off a lake or seabed at depth. It's the suction action of the muck, not the weight of the object. If you still don't believe me, here's a little experiment for you. Next time you're out diving, take a mechanical scale with you. Go down to where the floor is at 100' or so and place the scale on the floor. Take an extra 10 lb weight down with you and place it on the scale. It'll still weigh 10 lbs. I will bet anything on that that you would care to.
Pretty much "told" in post No. 31.
As far as asymmetry is concerned in actual hull collapse, 625 is nowhere near crush depth for any DSRV that I am aware of.
I think you,ve nailed it. - I have no idea how anyone could get the whole deal raised from 625 in one day, if ever.
I have no idea if we can mate anything to their hatch design. - Back tomorrow.
I think we're looking at "Newt Suit" diving at those depths. That's a hard-shell, one-atmosphere diving rig. But whatever they do it will be very risky. Whatever has snagged that sub can also entangle any would-be rescuer. This is going to make the recent spacewalk look like a Sunday picnic.
Crimson Tide
Crimson Tide?
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