Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship

Mission #7 — Submarine Rescue

It is an acknowledged fact that duty on submarines is more hazardous than other forms of military service. And unfortunately, these extra hazards can translate into the loss of a submarine and its crew. This is the part of submarine duty that is almost never spoken of, even between members of the sub force and their families: if a boat is posted as missing and presumed lost, it probably has been lost with all hands at sea. This was certainly true of submarine losses during the world wars, when very few individuals survived submarine sinkings. And in both of the nuclear submarine losses suffered by the United States during the Cold War (the Thresher and the Scorpion), this precedent held true, with all hands being lost.

Nevertheless, history also tells us that sometimes men do survive submarine sinkings. When the submarine USS Squalus sank because of a faulty induction valve off the New England coast in the 1930s, prompt action by the rescue forces of the U.S. Navy saved about half her crew. And when USS Tang was sunk by a circular-running torpedo in 1944, a small number of her crew were able to escape and survive until being picked up and taken prisoner by the Japanese. The point here is that circumstances sometimes do allow the crew of a damaged or sunken submarine to survive. And if a navy failed to provide those survivors a chance to live and be rescued, morale in that force would plummet.

So those navies that operate large forces of submarines have invested considerable funds into providing their submariners with equipment and skills to allow for their rescue if they survive whatever initial calamity befalls them. Some of these, like the Steinke hoods and Mark 8 survival suits issued by the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy, are designed for use by the men themselves. But certainly the most visible signs of commitment to the mission of submarine rescue are the Deep-Submergence Rescue Vehicles (DSRVs) operated and maintained by the United States and England. In the wake of the loss of Thresher in 1960, the United States built two of these miniature submarines, and the United Kingdom built one. These small submarines, operated from a mother ship or another submarine, can off-load the crew from a sunken or damaged submarine and return them to safety.

^{The Avalon (DSRV-2) is a deep-submergence rescue vehicle designed for universal use with NATO submarine forces. The Avalon is attached to the aft section of its host submarine, here the USS Billfish (SSN-676). OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTO}

Example — Rescue of a Downed Submarine

It's a funny thing: most submariners feel that the time of their greatest hazard is during the transits to and from their home bases. This is because of the simple fact that submarines are, by design, hard to see and find. This is especially true when the boats are on the surface, in the transit lanes leading into and out of their lairs. Their low silhouettes and relatively low radar signature make them tough to see. And if a merchant ship crew becomes sloppy or lax, it is quite easy to get run over. The British lost a boat in the Thames estuary in the 1950s, and the French a large cruiser submarine in World War II, to just such accidents. And with the sloppy handling of supertankers that has been so evident over the last few years, it is not hard to imagine an event like this taking place.

So let us suppose that the worst comes to pass, and a merchant vessel, running in heavy fog, collides with a British nuclear attack submarine during a transit back into base at Plymouth. We will suppose that the hit occurs while the sub is running on the surface, striking the after portion of the boat, rupturing the after ballast tanks and destroying the propulsion train. The boat will probably begin to settle from the stern, and there is a good chance of flooding back in the engineering spaces through tears in the hull and the shaft packing seals. With the inrush of water aft, the boat will be headed down to the bottom. During this time, the crew are trying to secure the flooding and seal hatches. The automatic safety systems will 'scram' the reactor, making it safe. If there is time, the captain will order the radio room to get off a distress call to the operations center at Plymouth. If not, the crew deploys a buoy, which will transmit its own distress signal to attract attention.

Because of the long continental shelf around the British Isles, there is a good chance that the damaged boat will bottom out in water something less than 1,000 feet deep. Since this is less than the rated crush depth of a British SSN, there is a good chance that some or all of the crew will escape any flooded compartments. At this point, their goal is to survive and wait for rescue if possible. If there is continued flooding, the crew will move to the forward escape trunk, don their Mk 8 escape suits, and free-ascend to the surface. But if the surviving compartments are dry, they will probably try to stay put, hoping for rescue by forces from Plymouth.

Once the Plymouth Operations Center gets the word that something has gone wrong, they set in motion a series of preplanned activities to rescue the downed sub's survivors. One of the first is a call to the U.S. Navy to get the loan of one of the DSRV rescue submarines from SUB-DEVGRU 1 at Ballast Point in San Diego, California. As quickly as it can be arranged, a C-5 Galaxy or C-141 Starlifter will arrive at NAS North Island to pick up the DSRV, its crew, and the necessary fittings and equipment to conduct the operation. The idea is that SUBDEVGRU 1 can deliver a DSRV to any point on earth within twenty-four hours, and rescue any crew within forty-eight hours. In this case, the delivery point will be the point closest to one of the 'R' class SSBNs, which are equipped to carry and operate the U.S. DSRVs for the Royal Navy. When the transport aircraft arrives, the DSRV and her support equipment are trucked to the port, to be loaded onto a special rack on the back of the British SSBN.

^{A casualty is evacuated by a Sea King helicopter from the diesel-electric submarine HMS Osiris. OFFICIAL U.S. NAVY PHOTO BY DAVID PERFECT}

While all this is going on, the crew of the downed submarine are doing their best to do absolutely nothing but stay alive. To purify the air in the surviving compartments, the captain will order the lighting of special candles which, when they burn, release oxygen. Everyone will be ordered to stay quiet, sleep if possible, and just wait calmly. By this time, the Royal Navy has probably assembled a rescue force, which will try to make contact with the survivors and help organize the rescue effort. The first vessel at the site of the sinking may well be another submarine, because of their rapid mobility and their ability to stay on station, whatever the weather and sea conditions. (When the USS Squalus was lost in the 1930s, it was a sister boat, the USS Sculpin, that made first contact with survivors of that downed boat.)

With luck, the 'R' class SSBN will able to reach the sinking site near Plymouth within twenty-four to thirty- six hours of the sinking. And at this point, things begin to happen rather quickly. Once the site of the sinking has been established and the attitude of the sunken sub ascertained, the SSBN will submerge and loiter near the downed boat. The crew of the DSRV will enter their boat via the after escape trunk of the SSBN, seal their bottom hatch, and lift off. Since the after part of the sunken sub is flooded, all the survivors will have to exit through the forward escape trunk, and the captain will have to organize the survivors into groups of twenty-four, the maximum the DSRVs are capable of carrying on one trip. At this point the operation begins to look more like two spacecraft docking in orbit. The DSRV maneuvers over the hatch of the downed sub's forward escape trunk and carefully maneuvers down to dock. Once secure, the DSRV's crew blow the water out of the docking collar and bang on the hatch of the escape trunk to tell the crew of the sub that it is time to start the transfer. If the survivors require any medical attention, the DSRV will probably transfer a medical team for the injured. At this point, the first load of survivors enter the two spheres of the DSRV, seal the hatches, and lift off to return to the SSBN. Once there, the DSRV docks with the boomer and discharges the first load of survivors, then repeats the process as many times as required. If the entire crew of the downed sub has survived, it will take four to five trips to offload them all. At this point, any survivors who are seriously injured are MedEvacked via helicopter to a shore hospital.

With the successful rescue of the downed sub's crew, the next job will be to begin salvage of the downed boat. And have no doubt that this will be done, both for the obvious political reasons, and hopefully to put her back into service. And before you doubt the possibility of such a thing, remember that after the USS Squalus was sunk in the 1930s, she was raised and renamed USS Sailfish. She would go on, reborn with a new name and crew, to an outstanding combat