Technically, we do have machines and trained men who can operate at 5,000

[BR_Parkway]

feet below sea level:


Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV) US Navy

http://www.fas.org/programs/ssp/man/uswpns/navy/submarines/dsrv.html

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ship/dsv-dev.htm

http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4100&tid=500&ct=4

Now that doesn't say that they have the current know-how to fix this problem, but conscripting a couple of the oil riggers to go along for the ride might create a solution that would work.

Even if it's not a current solution, it certainly seems that we should be looking into adding this type of skill and technology to their mission.

[WinkyDink]

1. "Conscripting a couple of the oil riggers"???!! Oh, I see; not enough have DIED. Try the BP CEO.

If we're lucky, he'll drown.

You think that the govt can actually, to use the old term, SHANG-HAI men who are privately employed?

[Codeine]

3. In a just world

they'd be used as part of the junk shot.

[BR_Parkway]

4. Actually, he already has the legal authority to do so - and I mention

the oil riggers meaning someone who actually had hands on experience with capping oil wells since the Navy presumably does not. The point of the OP was to refute the various statements that the US doesn't have the equipment or trained individuals to work at those depths, therefore we had to rely on BP

http://thinkprogress.org/2010/05/29/push-out-bp/

The law — Title 33, Section 1321 — mandates that President Obama “shall direct all Federal, State, and private actions to remove the discharge,” using any means necessary. There are not any resources — people or equipment — that Obama doesn’t have the authority to seize and put into service.

[Tesha]

6. No, no! You don't want the CEOs, you want someone who KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE DOING! (NT)

[Codeine]

2. The Mystic-class submersibles have been decommissioned. nt

[Tesha]

5. The military often has capabilities they'd rather not expose.

For example, if we used our DSRVs to help with the oil blow-out, it's
kinda hard to deny later that we couldn't possibly have tapped that
underwater fiber-optic cable because "we don't have equipment
that can operate at those depths".

Tesha

[BR_Parkway]

7. Understandable, but considering the magnitude of this disaster seems

more important to save what they can of the Gulf.