Rescue specialists from three NATO nations have teamed up to practice their response to a submarine in distress.
Royal Navy experts linked up with their counterparts from Norway and France to test the NATO Submarine Rescue System (NSRS) on a two-week exercise staged on a Scottish loch.
As per a recent Royal Navy press statement, the test saw 50 divers and medics from the three nations head to Loch Long near the Firth of Clyde aboard auxiliary ship SD Northern River.
The NSRS system — which includes both a remote-controlled vehicle (ROV) and the crewed “Nemo” submarine rescue vehicle (SRV) – is permanently staffed and ready to deploy worldwide when called upon.
On the training exercise, the team was tasked with launching, diving and recovering the SRV, which is designed to bring submariners back to the surface and includes a chamber for safe decompression.
Weighing 30 tonnes and with a top speed of 4.5kts, it can dive to 600+ metres, and can operate at a rescue angle of up to 60 degrees. It has a crew of three and its rescue chamber can hold up to 12 rescuees at once.
During the training exercise the SRV was manoeuvred carefully to a simulated submarine casing, onto which the pilot positioned the “mating skirt” to achieve a watertight seal.
NSRS Operations Officer and Senior Rescue Element Commander, Commander Chris Baldwin, said: “These exercises are key to assuring the Fleet Commander that NSRS is operationally poised and available as a global submarine rescue capability; ready to respond and support the rescue of submariners wherever it may be needed.”
The NSRS, which is operated by the Submarine Delivery Agency, is jointly resourced and comprises divers and medics from the U.K., French, and Norwegian navies, as well as medics and contractors from JFD Ltd.
- You can read more details on the Royal Navy website