I'm the skipper of the Jefferson City (SSN 759) in San Diego... this has been a pretty interesting thread to follow!

The crew has been pretty somber about the entire event of course, and its not looking too good for the Kursk this morning... as you might imagine, we relate very well with their plight.

Banjer asked some pretty good questions there, and I may be able to help with a couple of them. Many subs do have escape devices or methods such as you describe, but you have the understand that their use depends on a lot of factors (a lot of things that have to go RIGHT)... that they were undamaged by the casualty, that the crew is physically able to get to them, that the water is shallow enough to use them and so on. In Kursk's case, the news suggests that there was significant damage to the hull and sail areas which may have made it impossible the access these devices (assuming they even have them).

Even attempting a rescue externally is like to trying to thread a needle that is 400 feet away... the technical difficulties are extraordinary, even for trained experts.

With regard to the usefulness of subs in modern times, they are still used for surveillance, anti-ship/sub warfare, missile strikes (we carry tomahawk conventional missiles), SEAL operations and so on. They are, like all military forces, "instruments of policy by other means". (naturally, you do not have to agree with the policy that makes such instruments useful, but given the policy...there you are) We just returned from a six month deployment were we traveled over 40,000 nm... and there was PLENTY to do. There ARE fleets of satellites BTW, but they cannot penetrate the seas... it is one of the things that makes stealthy platforms like ours so necessary today.

We still have hope that those men will make it out, but from an insider's perspective, it looks pretty grim.

Ron