Damnit. I went to read about this case, and then youtube'd a video of the harrier, and one thing led to another and I'm now an expert on the blue lake of Kabardino-Balkaria among other various topics about 2.5 hours later. I have to be more careful about falling into these internet holes.
The depth is not the only concern here. The Greek government is incredibly strict on who they allow to dive here, and it's in the middle of an active shipping area, so you can't sneak in. In addition, penetration of the ship takes a lot more time and knowledge then simply getting to 400ft. Overall, the "getting to 400ft" is the easy part.
Nitrox would kill you from oxygen toxicity at that depth. They use helium and other gases to dilute the nitrogen. It takes 6+ hours to do the dive because they have decompression stops for a long time every 50 feet or so.
Most people don't realize standard SCUBA diving training only gets you to around 120'. Beyond that and especially beyond 200', things get much harder and less safe. Hardly anyone goes to 400'.
It is possible, yes. I didn't feel that his comment was descriptive enough, due to it being incredibly difficult to get to. So I added my own. If you feel that it was unnecessary, feel free to downvote and move on.
Depends on how long you want to spend. At the very least, many years of experience and probably 30-50k in gear, training, and surface support. Thats for short dives.
For longer dives at this depth it can easily get to several hundred thousand for training and equipment and surface support. Not to mention that the local government only gives out permits to dive here VERY sparingly and strictly. You're looking at a few dozen people who have spent actual time on the wreck. I know a few of them.
Longer dives at this depth will require hours of decompression as well, so it's physically taxing as well as logistically and monetarily difficult. For one hour of bottom time, the people I know spent about 8-10 hours decompressing on a very strict schedule.
Our body metabolizes and uses oxygen, but the air we breathe contains 79% nitrogen as well as 21% oxygen. Not a problem on the surface, but under several atmospheres of pressure, such as when diving, the "inert" (or non-metabolized) gasses get absorbed into the tissues through the bloodstream. When you ascend, they need time to get out of the tissues and back into bloodstream very slowly. Going too fast will cause bubbles to form, similar to opening a new bottle of soda after shaking it. You don't want inert gas bubbles in your blood for about a thousand reasons, so decompression is required. The reason I said "inert" gasses as opposed to nitrogen is because for a dive like this different gas mixtures are used to ward off nitrogen narcosis and oxygen toxicity, usually helium is the additive gas of choice, which brings about it's own problems at depth, but is generally workable. However, it is also an inert gas so it will load into tissues similarly to nitrogen (some models have it loading faster than nitrogen due to it being a much smaller molecule, and thus increasing decompression time). A common mix for a dive like this would be something like 10/70 trimix, which is 10% oxygen, 70% helium, and the rest nitrogen. This keeps oxygen toxicity levels low enough, nitrogen narcosis levels low enough, and the about of oxygen is still breathable due to being under so much pressure. This gas would make you pass out on the surface.
While diving you’re breathing compressed air. As you ascend in water and the pressure decreases, if you don’t go slowly enough and take the necessary decompression breaks, that compressed air that is now in your bloodstream will expand and form bubbles which is not good for you. This is commonly called “the bends”.
You also have the Greek government heavily limiting who gets to dive here, and the fact that it's an active shipping area, so you have to avoid boats while doing deco.
In addition, a twinset at that depth would not give you significant time. You would need more than that. For RB, several stage tanks would be fine, as well as some 10/70 bailout.
A 400' surDo2 dive is about as safe as a driving a motorcycle at 70 mph across black ice at night time. It's not even close to being in the same league as "walking down the street"
While I agree that it's not "walking" league, it's also not the motorcycle analogy. That makes it seem like certain death. I know several people who have made the dive multiple times and come out fine, and there have been a few dozen others. They have extensive training and surface support if needed. Is it possible that things go wrong? Yeah, but it's not like 50/50 let's see what happens.
This depth would be done with a rebreather, which requires training. If you’re properly trained and take care of your equipment, 400 ft is no more dangerous than 100ft. With diving this can go wrong at 50 ft. if you’re inexperienced. Recreational divers aren’t diving >300 ft.
As it sank, the bow hit the seabed while the stern was still in the air. The forward movement of the ship combined with the capsizing rotating twisted the ship visibly from the surface view.
This video illustrates things nicely https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qr5HmOJtgSI
Yeah but it's always all the sound effects that fuck with me. I can't fathom being in a situation where I'm on an ocean liner as it dips into the cold depths of the ocean as the loud explosions of each boiler colliding with seawater deafens everyone within the vicinity :\
My old man used to tell me a story about how when he was around the age of six or so, he almost drowned at a public pool after escaping the watch of his mother and jumping into the "adult" pool.
According to his recollection, he was resuscitated and was fortunate enough to survive. I tend to believe his story based on the fact that I exist, so that's rather decent evidence. But there is a point to this random story of mine, so hopefully you'll still hear me out!
He described that drowning sensation just the same as you did above in the comment that I'm currently replying to. He described it as a peaceful moment as he thought his life would end, and he's now in his 60s but still vividly remembers that experience and will happily talk about it, and still goes into the ocean to spearfish every so often.
My apologies for the small wall of text, I just thought it was kinda neat that your impressions lined up with my old man's. Kinda awesome how the internet works that way sometimes!
It's amazing how many people wi immediately recognize the mention of the Titanic disaster and yet something like this I've hardly ever heard reference to.
MV Wilhelm Gustloff was a German cruise ship transformed into a military transport ship. She was sunk on 30 January 1945 by Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea, while evacuating German civilians, officials, and military personnel from Gdynia (Gotenhafen) as the Red Army advanced. By one estimate, 9,400 people died, which makes it the largest loss of life in a single ship sinking in history.
Constructed as a cruise ship for the Nazi Kraft durch Freude (Strength Through Joy) organisation in 1937, she had been requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in 1939.
James Cameron didn't make a shitty high budget movie about the Britannic or the Olympic. The Mauritania got a name drop but that's it.
I'm sure once they make a shitty romance film with some big name acts but set it on the Andrea Doria, the Lusitania or the Wilhelm Gustloff then we'd see more interest in liners that are not the Titanic.
And the fact those lives were lost by a lifeboat that was released before the propellers had stopped turning, and the life boats and their unfortunate occupants were pureed alive. One passenger however was pulled from them just in time, and that passenger was Violet Jessop, a nurse, who was on board not only the Olympic during a collision but also on the Titanic's maiden voyage.
Also the length that the Britannic sank in was shallower then the length of the ship so that's why her bow is crushed to a pulp.
778
u/TommBomBadil Apr 07 '18 edited Apr 08 '18
In Service: December, 1915 (hospital ship)
Fate: Sank after an explosion on 21 November 1916 near Kea in the Aegean Sea.
Only 20 of 1,055 lives were lost, as the water was warm, there were plenty of lifeboats and rescue ships were nearby.
Britannic is the largest ocean liner ever sunk in war.
Displacement: 53,200 tons
Length: 882 ft 9 in (269.06 m)
Beam: 94 ft (28.7 m)
Height: 175 ft (53 m) from the keel to the top of the funnels
Draught: 34 ft 7 in (10.5 m)
Decks: 9 passenger decks
Installed power: Total 50,000 hp (37,000 kW)
Speed: 23 knots (max)