Rescue submarine
Rescue submarines ( English Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle , DSRV for short) are special submarines for the rescue of other submarines or their crew . There are basically two different types of rescue submarines: manned and unmanned rescue submarines. The former are usually used to rescue the crew, while the latter are primarily intended to free submarines that have got caught.
Unmanned rescue submarines
As a rule, they are used to free submarines that have become entangled in nets, cables or the like and cannot reappear on their own. In order to be able to undertake such a rescue operation, the submarine must at least still be able to reappear independently after it has been liberated. Technically, such systems are mostly specialized versions of robots for deep-sea drilling for crude oil or natural gas.
The submersible devices are usually equipped with spotlights, sonar , cameras and two robot arms. The robot arms are used for the actual rescue; depending on the model, they can cut steel cables up to 7 cm or lift loads up to 300 kg.
Due to their small size and weight, unmanned rescue submarines can also be air-loaded in smaller aircraft and can therefore be used worldwide.
Until recently, such mini-submarines were only used by Great Britain ( Royal Navy ) and the USA ( US Navy ). Both use ROV Scorpio submarines , but in different versions. The Royal Navy has one such submarine, the US Navy has two.
One of the better known missions of an unmanned mini-submarine took place in August 2005 when a Royal Navy Scorpio freed a manned Russian rescue submarine off Kamchatka . On this occasion, Russia has announced its intention to purchase British Scorpio diving robots itself. In the meantime, other navies have acquired such diving robots or are planning to do so. These include the Singapore Navy and the trinational NSRS .
Manned rescue submarines
Manned rescue submarines serve to rescue at least the crew of a sunken submarine, even if there is no longer any hope of salvaging the entire submarine.
So that the crew can transfer from the sunken submarine to the rescue submarine, the rescue submarines have a docking station at the bottom of the hull with which they can dock on most of the common submarines. The rescue submarines can accommodate between a few and over 30 people per dive, depending on the type.
Manned rescue submarines have the disadvantage that they are relatively large and can therefore only be air-transported to a limited extent (only in very large aircraft). The submarines also differ greatly in their maximum diving depth, which can be between a few hundred meters and well over 1000 meters. Lifeboats that reach this depth are also known as deep-sea rescue submarines .
User states
- France, Great Britain and Norway jointly operate the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) , which comprises a manned rescue submarine and an unmanned component. The Royal Navy previously had a manned LR5 rescue submarine .
- Australia operated a manned rescue submarine called Remora , which, however, could not meet the requirements. The LR5, which was retired from the Royal Navy, has now been adopted. This has a capacity of 16 people.
- The US Navy had two manned rescue submarines of the Mystic class until 2000 and one until 2008 , which are known as DSRV (Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle) and each could accommodate 24 people per dive. The Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System (SRDRS) is now in service, which includes, in addition to an unmanned component, manned rescue submarines of the Pressurized Rescue Module (PRM) Falcon type .
- The Russian Navy has six modern manned rescue submarines, four of which are of the Pris class (Project 1855), each of which can accommodate 20 people, and two boats from Project 18271, which is also known as the Best Project. In addition there are six existing boats of the type Project 1839 ("Elbrus class"), four of which have been launched.
- With the URF, Sweden has a powerful rescue system, albeit with a weight of 52 t, which can only be carried to a very limited extent by air. The capacity per dive is 35 people.
- Italy has a rescue submarine called the SRV 300 with a maximum diving depth of 300 meters and the capacity to rescue twelve people per dive.
- South Korea operates its own submarine rescue ship with its own rescue submarine of the type LR5K , which can rescue ten people per dive.
- Japan operates two submarine rescue ships, each with a manned rescue submarine. The system is considered efficient, but due to its high weight of 40 t it cannot be air-transported and its range is therefore very limited.
- China also operates manned rescue submarines, but nothing is known about their number or capabilities.
- Singapore recently procured its own submarine rescue ship with its own manned rescue submarine and an unmanned component.
Other countries such as Brazil, India, Spain and Turkey also operate their own submarine rescue funds. However, these are simple rescue pods that cannot match the performance of rescue submarines.
Trivia
The US Navy's DSRV appear in several films, including in " Hunt for Red October ", in which a DSRV is used to "board" the (fictional) Russian submarine "Red October".
In the movie U-Boot in Not , the US Navy DSRV is used to rescue survivors from the sunken nuclear submarine USS Neptune.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Magazine: Russian Navy Banned Submarine Rescue. www.welt.de, accessed on September 17, 2008 .
