A voyage to the deep
Home
|
By First Lieutenant Kasper Nilaus Jensen
|
| The hatch closes with a metallic sound. The English room operator John O´Brien tightens the handle. This is definitely not a journey for the claustrophobic. We, the 6 passengers, sit leaned over and squeezed together in the cylindrical submarine, while we are watching the pilots and the room operator checking the system.
|
| Suddenly we are lifted into the air, hoisted over the side of the ship and placed in the water. The submarine is now in its right element, and it doesn’t take long before we set the course towards the deep sea and the Swedish submarine SJÖORMEN (the Sea serpent), which lies on the bottom of the sea and waits. We are onboard the English mini submarine LR5. The submarine is designed to rescue the crew of a distressed submarine and can besides the crew of 3 hold 16 passengers, if they are stowed together. The submarine is taking part in the exercise Sorbet Royal 2002, where it resides on the Norwegian ship GEOFJORD, which has been chartered by the Royal Navy. Today the submarine is exercising diving down to another submarine, sucking onto it and establishing connection so the crew and passengers can be transported from one submarine to another. |
35 meters below the surface John O´Brien is opening the mini submarines lowest
hatch. Completely without drama the hatchet opens and it is now possible to look into
SJÖORMEN, where the crew has opened the top hatch. No incoming water, no red lights and no hooting sirens. No matter how strange this must feel for a person who for the first time passes from one submarine to another, it is purely routine for these guys.After the Swedish crew of SJÖORMEN has given us a guided tour of the ship, it goes up once again. An hour later O´Brien opens the rear hatch of LR5 from where we climb onto the deck of GEOFJORD and stretch our bodies. The 2 1/2 hour journey to the deep is over, and we greet the sun knowing that a well-working rescue option exists in the event of a submarine disaster.
|
Back to top |
