escaping from a stuck submarine

[azapa]

OK, so you are 100m down in a stuck sub, and have your freediving fins with you. Would you make it alive to the surface? Is there any technical reason why not? (other than being a long way) I'm talking lungs and air and stuff..:duh:duh

 

[Erik]

It's been done. There was an American guy in the 50's or 60's who did it from 300'.... can't remember his name.
You just need to keep your airway slightly open as you ascend, more so towards the surface. Might still get bent depending on how much you breathed at ambient pressure of 100 metres before bailing I'd think.

 

[BatRay]

Still though, getting bent would be better than the alternative :blackeye

 

[BennyB]

Depends which country your sub belongs to

 

[sanso]

Don't submarines retain surface pressure on the inside? - You'd then suddenly get compressed really bad while exiting the boat and then could go for the ascent. But no bends at least.

 

[azapa]

aha, thats where I'm not understanding too. you would compress really fast (not sure if that would do anything bad though) but I can't see why you would have to exhale on going up as the air in your lungs would be at surface pressure only....

 

[Spaniard]

In all the old war films about submarines I remember they always went on about exhaling all the way to the surface if escaping? Physics isn't my thing but there must be some truth to it.

 

[Spaniard]

Found this but no major explanation;

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_Escape_Training_Facility]Submarine Escape Training Facility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

[sanso]

In all the old war films about submarines I remember they always went on about exhaling all the way to the surface if escaping? Physics isn't my thing but there must be some truth to it.

I think the important word here is "films". As in movies, fiction, etc ...
Looking at what utter scientific and technical nonsense one gets to see in the movies, I wouldn't want to trust them for an answer to anything.

 

[sanso]

Well, the SETT people should have picked up that much from their training, right? Where are You folks?

 

[Erik]

A submarine operates at 1 ATM, but there would be a chambered escape chamber that would pressurize to the ambient depth for an exit at depth. So, you could 'blow down' fairly quickly once the chamber was sealed, then open the exit hatch. How much nitrogen you retained during that process would be the factor in how bent you got.
If a sub is breached, then the pressure in the whole sub would rise to ambient as the water filled it, and an escape might be a clusterf##k in an emergency.
Deeper Blue teaches courses in a submarine escape training pool at 30 metres depth.

 

[BennyB]

When I was at SETT I remember seeing photos of guys escaping - they wore a canvas looking bag/cover that went over their heads and down to their middle. It would have air in it and they would jump out and swim up, as the air expands it starts carrying them up with it.

 

[sanso]

There we go! Cheers, Erik!

 

[azapa]

When I was at SETT I remember seeing photos of guys escaping - they wore a canvas looking bag/cover that went over their heads and down to their middle. It would have air in it and they would jump out and swim up, as the air expands it starts carrying them up with it.

canvas bags Benny? Olive drab I'll bet. Sounds like you were there in the 1920's. Those youtube record vids of you make you look a lot younger...

 

[Bill McIntyre]

A submarine operates at 1 ATM, but there would be a chambered escape chamber that would pressurize to the ambient depth for an exit at depth. So, you could 'blow down' fairly quickly once the chamber was sealed, then open the exit hatch.

Correct. I went through the US Navy Underwater Swimmer school at Pearl Harbor in 1962, and part of the training was ascents from the bottom of the 100 foot tower. In the tower, you took an elevator down the outside, locked into a bubble that had air in the top at ambient water pressure, and then stepped out of the bubble into the main tower. It would be essentially the same escaping a submarine as long as the hull had not been breached.

We did it two different ways. With an inflated vest, it was just a matter of keeping the airway open while you rocket toward the surface, and it didn't take long. Of course I didn't do it from 100 meters, but I don't think it would have been difficult, and the standard escape procedure from a sub is to use a vest or some other floatation equipment.

The other way we had to do it was by free ascent. We just drifted up with our natural buoyancy while keeping an open airway. It took quite a while, but with the air expanding in your lungs there was a good oxygen supply, and there was no feeling of urgency.

 

[BennyB]

canvas bags Benny? Olive drab I'll bet. Sounds like you were there in the 1920's. Those youtube record vids of you make you look a lot younger...

I secretly moisturise twice a day, keeps my youthful good looks

 

[Erik]

Correct. I went through the US Navy Underwater Swimmer school at Pearl Harbor in 1962, .

Geebus! My pontifications are humbled by your experience Bill. Very cool.