"Putting off things is the biggest waste of life: It snatches away each day as it comes, and denies us the present by promising the future. The greatest obstacle to living is expectancy, which hangs upon tomorrow, and loses today. you are arranging what lies in Fortune's control, and abandoning what lies in yours. What are you looking at? To what goal are you straining? The whole future lies in uncertainty: Live immediately" - Lucius Annaeus Seneca
On April 25, 2003, Chinese fishermen sighted a periscope drifting and bobbing in the water off the coast of northeastern China, near Taiwan. The fishermen reported the unusual finding, and the Chinese Navy was dispatched to investigate. They found a submarine filled with dead men.
The submarine that the periscope belonged to was Chinese submarine 361, named "The Great Wall". She was a type 035 Submarine (NATO code name Ming III) with diesel-electric propulsion and a crew of 55. Each diesel was rated at 5200 horsepower. Maximum depth was 300 meters or 980 feet, and maximum speed about 18 knots (20 mph/33 kph). The Type 035 submarine was based on obsolete 1950s-60's era Soviet designs, with a few Chinese upgrades to boost endurance, sonar performance, and stealth.
After the discovery of the drifting periscope, Submarine 361 was initially towed to the submarine base near Sanya, China. The bodies were removed from the ship and an investigation was conducted to determine what had happened. Below are maps of the region. It is not clear exactly where the ship was first discovered. The large island left of center is where the ship was brought to.
Below, a view of submarines docked at the piers from the above photo.
The Chinese military was very tight-lipped about the accident. Most submarine accidents end with the ship lost at the bottom of the ocean, rather than bobbing aimlessly with the ocean currents just under the surface.
Apparently the ship was snorkeling. This means that the ship was at periscope depth, and running the diesel-generators to recharge the ship's batteries to prepare for a period of deeper operations. It is believed that the snorkel mast head valve may have failed shut.
The diesel engine's source of air is from inside the ship, and there is only so much air inside the hull of a small submarine. With the head valve shut, the diesel engine would have begun pulling a vacuum inside the ship. The crew would have asphyxiated due to low partial pressure of oxygen long before the diesel engines shut down due to lack of sufficient air.
US submarines are equipped with a low air pressure shut-down circuit, so that the diesel engine cannot consume all the air inside the ship. It is not known whether or not Submarine 361 had this safety feature. Perhaps it had this safety device, but it didn't operate as it should have.
Regardless of the fine details, it appears that the entire crew died at their stations from lack of oxygen, due to reduced air pressure caused by the diesel engine. I would imagine that would be an unpleasant ending. Rest in Peace, sailors.
1 comment:
Actually, it probably was a pleasant death for them. When people go unconscious from a lack of oxygen? They, apparently, have a feeling of lightheaded relaxation. A positive feeling. Then, they would lose consciousness and die from lack of oxygen.
As accidental deaths go. It's probably one of the least uncomfortable/painful there is.
R.I.P. to the crew
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