Russian Sub Mishap (UPDATED)

A Russian mini-submarine is in trouble just off of the Kamchatka peninsula in the Pacific Ocean.

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia - A Russian mini-submarine carrying seven sailors snagged on a fishing net and was stuck 625 feet down on the Pacific floor Friday. A Russian vessel later towed the stranded sub to shallower waters as the United States and Britain rushed unmanned vehicles there to help in rescue efforts. [SNIP]

The U.S. Navy was loading two robotic rescue vehicles aboard a massive C-5 transport plane at Naval Air Station North Island near San Diego for the flight to Russia. The loading was expected to take about two hours, officials said.

The unmanned vehicle, called a Super Scorpio, can reach depths of up to 5,000 feet and is equipped with high-powered lights, sonar and video cameras, said Capt. Matt Brown, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet in Honolulu.

The Deep Submergence Unit team is scheduled to depart at 1:45 p.m. EDT, the Pentagon said.

According to reports, the mini-submarine only has twenty-four hours of air left (measuring from 6AM 12pm EDT today). By the time all of the transportation and logistic issues that are necessary for a mission that has San Diego as its starting point and the tip of Kamchatka as the end point, the submarine’s crew will have only roughly eight hours of air left. It is hoped, however, that after the submarine’s propeller is disengaged from the fishing lines that it is able to operate on its own.

Russian President Vladimir Putin came under much domestic and international criticism five years ago when the Russian submarine Kursk was damaged after an on-board explosion and he delayed asking for outside help until it was too late. Many of the Kursk crew survived the explosion but all were asphyxiated because of the delay. In light of the planned war games between Russia and China, it is interesting that President Putin asked the US and the UK to assist in the rescue effort rather than the Chinese.

At any rate, I hope and pray that their mission is successful, for all concerned.

UPDATE: Reports now say that the submarine's propeller was caught on an underwater antenna--a "Pacific Fleet coastal infrastructure object"--not fishing nets. The US team is expected to land at Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky at 5AM EDT tomorrow.

UPDATE: SMASH has a great roundup of the rescue efforts.

UPDATE: Ultraquiet No More; a submariners' blog. According to these guys, it's the anchor that was caught, not the propeller.

UPDATE: Interfax, the Russian news service, is the place to go for new information. (They're going to blow up the anchor!)

UPDATE: Information flowing like mud with the Russians. Now they say that the seven crewmen of the Priz could possibly have enough air to sustain them until 10PM Sunday EDT. However, since the Priz is itself a rescue vessel, its crew is assumed to have the skill and knowledge to preserve whatever oxygen is available to them.

Additionally, the Russians have admitted that the antenna cables in which the Priz has been caught are part of a net which is used to eavesdrop on US submarines. So the Priz really was caught in "fishing nets," in a sense.

Meanwhile, the Brits landed at P-K before the Americans and are making the four-hour trip to the coast where they and their equipment will be transported to the site of the Priz via a Russian vessel.

UPDATE: The Russian have attempted again to lift the submarine.

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, Russia — Russian crews looped cables under an underwater antenna snaring a mini-submarine on the Pacific floor Saturday and would try to lift them closer to the surface before air ran out for seven trapped sailors, a navy spokesman said.

Capt. Igor Dygalo (search) described the rescue effort as U.S. and British crews with robotic undersea vehicles raced to reach the site of the accident off the remote Kamchatka Peninsula (search) in the Russian Far East. A ship carrying British equipment was the first to leave port for the scene.

Authorities could not say exactly how much air remained on the mini-sub, which was some 625 feet below the surface, but an admiral said Saturday the supply should last until the end of the rescue. [SNIP]

U.S. and British planes flew in unmanned submersibles, known as Super Scorpios (search), on Saturday. They were being taken by ship to the accident site and could be used to cut the sub loose from the entangling equipment if the Russian effort to lift the vessel failed. Russian news reports said the antenna array was held down by two concrete anchors weighing 60 tons.

UPDATE: The Brits have arrived and are getting it done!

MOSCOW - Crews began lowering a British remote-controlled underwater vehicle to a Russian mini-submarine trapped deep under the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, hoping to reach seven trapped crewmen before their air supply ran out

British crews were working with Russian naval authorities to lower the Super Scorpio unmanned robotic vehicle down to the sub, which was snarled by a military listening antenna 625 feet below the surface nearly three days ago.

From live reports, it appears that the Priz was caught in actual fishing nets after all.

UPDATE: According to FoxNews, the submarine is free from the nets--fishing or otherwise--and is ready to surface, presumably under its own power.

UPDATE: FoxNews is reporting that the Priz has surfaced with the help of a Brtish submersible and that all seven crewmen are alive! Interfax:

03:32 [GMT] Mini-submarine AS-28 lifted to the surface at 07:26 a.m., Moscow time,with all seven crew members - Russia Pacific Fleet command

Comments

[karrde]

Maybe the fact that he asked the US for help indicates something about the US Navy's sub-rescue technology, compared to the Chinese sub-rescue technology.

[baldilocks]

Maybe.

[Brian J.]

Perhaps the Russians don't want the Chinese to impound the sub after rescue, interrogate the submariners for a couple of weeks, and ship the sub back in pieces.

[baldilocks]

LOL Good point, Brian...forgot about that. What was the name of that aircraft?

[Brian J.]

I don't remember the name. It was an EP-3, though, and was forced down on Hainan Island.

[skinner]

Maybe its because their whole system from the top to the bottom ,{ military and police },
are so ENEPT That they would rescue a cat from a tree, by shootin a tear gas cannister at it
Remember the recent terrorists hostage situation ... CHILDREN
Who could forget !!!! I guess you have to give them the benefit of the doubt , but SOMETHING IS
MESSED UP IN " LENINGRAD "

[Benin Dakar]

Praying for those in the heavens and under the sea

Like legions of folk I am thinking about and praying for the safe return of those brave human beings who chose to explore the heavens and the seas.

We can only hope that the repairs made on the space shuttle Discovery are adequate and that the astronauts sojourn back to this planet goes well.

And we can only hope that the United States and British naval vessels are able to help retrieve the Russian Navy sailors that are stuck in their submarine at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, entangled in fishing nets.

A fervent prayer of many of us earth bound folk is that there are no loose pieces hanging from the space shuttle that can become dangerous projectiles that will pierce the space ship and cause it to disintegrate like the doomed Columbia space shuttle in February 2003.

We can only hope that the oxygen lasts long enough for the Russian sailors to survive until their submarine can be freed of its entanglement and their vessel brought back to the top of the ocean.

We can only hope and pray for both the space crew and the submarine sailors to rejoin their loved one’s back on this good earth soon.

We can only hope that our prayers are enough!

[teal marie]

Thank you, I was wondering if they had snagged themselves while spying. Poor devils. It's horrible. I find myself breathing shallow as if to conserve the oxygen by proxy.

[teal marie]

Fox news is reporting that the UK sent a sub down, it is a fishnet, the guys inside are alright. Won't be long now.
Whew!

[Don Surber]

At least they called the Brits and Yanks for help this time

[DarkStar]

Amazing how more capitalist leaning countries keep saving the butt of the former USSR.

[Valerie]

Thanks for blogging this. I heard the report while out-and-about, but busyness distracted me.

I'm glad to hear they all made it out.

[skinner]

The french wanted to send Jacque
Costeau but he was unavailable for
comment Plus unfortunatly their scuba rescue squad had gotten the news right after a big lunch in the cafeteria and the mandatory 1 hour waiting period would have put them right out of the necessary, Heroic rescue. time frame

[skinner]

Throuhout history the russians have always been a ,sneeking around, peeping tom, hide in the dark, Buntch a creeps, and this tells you it isnt done with . A buntch of slimy darting around squirmy swarthy types with pencil moustaches and cheesy black trenchcoats . they even wear them in their submarines these guys make the fuller brushman look like the next mayor. Anyways
they got busted in theyre own sandbox hand in the cookie jar
in the briar patch again In the cold war days we had proffessionals that could deal with this and turn the situation around for our benifit...... FOR INSTANCE Bulwinkle would hav set up under water holograms to fool theses Russkies into thinking we had an underwater city and had defeated the oxygen problem first off when looking through theyre spy screens theyd see pamela anderson running on the sea floor ,jumping over octupii
with her stupid grin and equally stupid fake boobs flopping upwards but even morE bouyantly , sure they'd knock her sinceless occasionally but who'd know? Then we could have the Pukes of hazard driving around in their boner mobile jumping the sub over and over and screwing up the russkies morale Hasslehoof could show up knock on the porthole and blow his own whistle again Russians hate this shit worse than I do.

[Chap]

Thanks for the roundup. The guys over at Ultraquiet (and over at Rontini's) did a great job putting context to the reports as well.

Funny how the blogosphere has a Command Post blog just for submariners...

[StinKerr]

They've got them to the surface and all seven exited the sub under their own power, little the worse for wear.

Now if someone can get some oxygen to Skinner....

[StinKerr]

Oops, our hostess already had that covered.

If you're going to punish me, J, make it something we can both enjoy. ;-)

[skinner]

Yea I saw it too. It was as fake as the lunar landing I didnt see pamela or the big guy {Bullwinkle] Either, you guys think you can beleive commie press releases ? where than any recognizable landmarks? you should have seen some of those crummy-looking turret buildings in the backround or something all painted up and stuff you guys will beleive anything If you like being SNOWED so much Move there !!!!! buntch a pinko sypathizers !!!!!

[skinner]

hey Im sorry but this is breaking news and I want to see the SUB all I saw was a buntch of guys on the beach acting releieived and wearing cheesy looking trench coats. Sitting there wiping off there sunglasses and going " Wooosh" They looked guiltier than HELL

[StinKerr]

Oh durn, they're soooooo busted now. The third guy out of the sub hatch was Neil Armstrong.

[skinner]

This Neil guy can strong arm anyone he wants to but If he messes with Bullwinkle there will be HELL TO PAY Those antlers arn't just for show !!!

[birdwoman]

I am so glad that I came to this after it's all over and they're all ok.

(*)>

[skinner]

as long as there are, americans and brits willing to save people
with our superior tecnology and with help from cartoon heroes you can rest assured things will stay O.K. !!!!! Miss BIRD WOMAN
GOOD DAY !!!!!!