Finding And Saving With Nemo

Sailors from three NATO allies — France, Norway and the U.K. — teamed up to practise vital submarine rescue skills in a mass evacuation exercise staged in Scotland.

Royal Navy (RN) experts joined their counterparts from the two other nations for the mass evacuation drill employing the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) from its base in an industrial park close to Glasgow Airport.

As per a recent RN press statement: “The workout provided sailors, divers, and medics from the three nations the opportunity to practise the lifesaving procedures that would help evacuate stricken submariners from a submarine disabled on the seabed.”

The rescue protocol consists of three distinct stages: firstly, a, “intervention” remotely operated vehicle (IROV) is dispatched to deliver valuable urgent supplies such as food, water, and medical supplies.

Secondly, stricken sailors are ferried back to the surface in a crewed rescue submersible: a Submarine Rescue Vehicle (SRV) named “Nemo.” The SRV can descend to depths of up to 2,000ft and dock with a submarine’s escape hatch; it can carry as many as 15 passengers at a time, including patients on stretchers.

Finally, the rescued sailors are disembarked into a portable transfer-under-pressure (TUP) chamber complex on the surface where they can safely decompress, freeing up Nemo to perform further recovery dives.

The entire NSRS system can be deployed wherever it is needed across the globe via a combination of military and civilian cargo aircraft and transport ships.

RN Commander Chris Baldwin, Rescue Element Commander and NSRS Operations Officer, said: “We completed a very successful period of ‘mission rehearsal’ to ensure that the NSRS-trained personnel from France, Norway, and the UK can operate effectively together in conducting submarine rescue operations.

“The completion of this exercise helps to keep the NSRS team ready to respond to any submarine emergency globally.”

• You can read more details on the Royal Navy website