Submarine Escapes
Created | Updated Feb 17, 2002
Most submarines have two escape compartments, one fwd and one aft. These compartments are pressure tight and contain various items of equipment including:
1. Escape and emergency stores such as fresh water, air purification equipment, medical stores, breathing apparatus and SEIE (see later).
2. Communications equipment to talk to other naval units or rescue forces.
3. The escape route.
These compartments are primarily intended to be a place for the crew to shelter while waiting for rescue, presuming that there has been a bouyancy or propulsion failure and that other watertight areas of the submarine are uninhabitable.
If there is to be no rescue, or the boat is in water too deep to allow it to bottom out safely, an escape may be necessary. There are two main ways of doing this:
1. From shallow depths, the escape compartment is pressurised to the same as the water outside, then you open the escape tower and leave the submarine through it, breathing out all the way up, the expanding air in your lungs allows you to do this - if you don't, your lungs will burst. This is a rush escape.
2. You put on a Submarine Escape and Imersion Equipment (I think) suit (SEIE)and float to the top breathing the air within the suit. As you surface the expanding air in the suit escapes through vents, your lungs naturally equalise the pressure. You leave the escape compartment via the escape tower - an airlock arrangement - which means you don't have to pressurise the whole escape compartment and can escape in a controlled manner. You can also do a rush escape wearing SEIE.
Trivial Note:
In one Doctor Who episode, he escapes from an underwater alien ship (with the Master I think) wearing a bright orange suit. When they bob to the surface the suits I'm sure they're wearing SEIEs!
1. Escape and emergency stores such as fresh water, air purification equipment, medical stores, breathing apparatus and SEIE (see later).
2. Communications equipment to talk to other naval units or rescue forces.
3. The escape route.
These compartments are primarily intended to be a place for the crew to shelter while waiting for rescue, presuming that there has been a bouyancy or propulsion failure and that other watertight areas of the submarine are uninhabitable.
If there is to be no rescue, or the boat is in water too deep to allow it to bottom out safely, an escape may be necessary. There are two main ways of doing this:
1. From shallow depths, the escape compartment is pressurised to the same as the water outside, then you open the escape tower and leave the submarine through it, breathing out all the way up, the expanding air in your lungs allows you to do this - if you don't, your lungs will burst. This is a rush escape.
2. You put on a Submarine Escape and Imersion Equipment (I think) suit (SEIE)and float to the top breathing the air within the suit. As you surface the expanding air in the suit escapes through vents, your lungs naturally equalise the pressure. You leave the escape compartment via the escape tower - an airlock arrangement - which means you don't have to pressurise the whole escape compartment and can escape in a controlled manner. You can also do a rush escape wearing SEIE.
Trivial Note:
In one Doctor Who episode, he escapes from an underwater alien ship (with the Master I think) wearing a bright orange suit. When they bob to the surface the suits I'm sure they're wearing SEIEs!
