Get to know the 5 submarine evacuation technologies

Jakarta, CNN Indonesia –

One of the owned submarines Indonesian Navy (AL) KRI Nanggala-402 reported missing, Wednesday (21/4). Although it has not been declared submerged and there is still hope, there are various technologies commonly used to rescue submarine crews around the world.

Since 1939, most of the world’s navies have believed rescue has little chance of saving a sunken submarine.

Even so, in May 1939 the United States Navy evacuated 33 people safely from the sinking submarine USS Squalus which created a paradigm shift.

Here are the methods and technologies used to rescue a sinking submarine.

1. Submarine rescue capsule

At a depth of less than 250 meters the submarine rescue tank (SRC) can be deployed to carry out the rescue by transporting the crew of the ship on the submarine.

The dive tank works by attaching the tank door to the submarine. Several technologies are used to prevent water from entering the rescue tank compartment.

After having the same air pressure, the door will be opened and the crew can move one by one into the tank. However, the space was relatively small, and did not accommodate many of the crew who wanted to be evacuated.

Quoted Naval Under Sea Museum, The US Navy has used this method to rescue 33 people who were on the submarine USS Squalus in 1939.

Today the SRC remains the choice for evacuating a sunken submarine, due to its simple design, making it effective and reliable.

2. DSRV rescue capsule ship

With the sinking of the US Navy’s 1963 ship USS Thresher, it realized that submarines were operating beyond the reach of rescue equipment. So, the US designed a rescue submarine (DSRV).

When needed, the DSRV can be rapidly deployed by sea, air, or land to rescue submarines at various locations. The DSRV was launched in the early 1970s, and served as the Navy’s submarine rescue system until 2008.

The DSRV is operated by two skippers from the front, while the middle and rear planes can be used to accommodate up to 12 rescue crew.

The aircraft carrier will carry the DSRV to the location suspected of being the sinking point of the ship. DSRV dives and looks for the whereabouts of the submerged submarine.

If found, the DSRV attaches the body to the submerged submarine, and the people on the submarine can be evacuated by transferring to the DSRV.