romain@pyrnj.uucp (Romain Kang) (12/15/85)
In article <6680@duke.UUCP>, crm@duke.UUCP (Charlie Martin) writes: > When someone makes a Momsen-lung ascent from a submarine (which is > effectively identical to the Boyant Ascent story, and has been around > since WWII -- sometimes SF is behind fact!) they need to let air out of > their lungs continuously for just that reason. > ... > People make rapid ascents of 33 feet in water every day: > SCUBA divers do it all the time. If they have not been > down long enough to get a lot of extra dissolved N_2, they > don't even particularly notice, much less explode. I believe the standard escape procedure from submarines trapped in sufficently shallow water is "blow-and-go": the Momsen lung requires a slow ascent, which is difficult given the body's natural buoyancy. Blow-and-go is supposed to be safer; you just have to remember to keep continually exhaling through your nose, or your lungs will rupture. If your sub is trapped too deep for blow-and-go, then the Navy has to borrow a C-141 from the Military Airlift Command to fly a DSRV to the nearest USN sub that can piggyback it to you and rescue you and your buddies; in the event of war, you probably get all sorts of posthumous honors. But I digress. (I read this as an 11-year-old in some book about submarine service training, but I imagine the procedures haven't changed since then.) At any rate, I think the Momsen lung is obsolete. Can anyone in net.rec.scuba verify this? -- Romain Kang, Pyramid Technology Corporation US Mail: 900 Route 9, Woodbridge, NJ 07095 Ma Bell: (201) 750-2626 UUCPnet: {allegra,cmcl2,pyramid,topaz}!pyrnj!romain "Eggheads unite! You have nothing to lose but your yolks!" -Adlai Stevenson