Only four speciality subs in the world could reach the BP oil leak.. and none of them are American

[Peacetrain]

The Chinese, the French , I think the Japanese..and one other country have each one sub that could possibly reach that deep level of the leak that is going on in the gulf.

I forgot which talking head show I was listening to on MSNBC yesterday..but the reality is.. the government has no way to fix this.

No wonder they are pushing BP.. the deep oil drillers are the only ones who have the experience to deal with these deep well issues.

There are over 1,000 oil rigs in the gulf


A little history of oil rigs in water started here

Around 1891 the first submerged oil wells were drilled from platforms built on piles in the fresh waters of the Grand Lake St. Marys (a.k.a. Mercer County Reservoir) in Ohio. The wide but shallow reservoir was built from 1837 to 1845 to provide water to the Miami and Erie Canal.

Around 1896 the first submerged oil wells in salt water were drilled in the portion of the Summerland field extending under the Santa Barbara Channel in California. The wells were drilled from piers extending from land out into the channel.

[havocmom]

1. We're #1 WE'RE #1 WE'RE #1 . . .

at shouting about being #1 while we slip further and further behind other nations in more and more areas.

[FormerDittoHead]

8. SO RIGHT. Can any one of their subs DESTROY THE WORLD?? I didn't THINK SO! #1! #1! #1! #1! #1!

JUST ONE of our subs can destroy virtually all life on the planet!

SO MUCH TO BE PROUD OF!

Sure, we can't do shit for 90% people who LIVE here, but we can take every last fucking dime, BORROW every last dime we can then give it to military contractors to build shit we (most Americans) don't even WANT to use...

BUT WE'RE NUMBER 1!!!!

[stevenleser]

18. While you are having fun, have you researched whether any of those four subs are equipped to do

anything about this spill?

[Uzybone]

2. Nice Job America in the 80's and 90's

way to keep ahead of the curve.

[Bitwit1234]

3. That is what I was thinking to do.

Use those little miniature subs and try to cap the well.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Um, if we did have a sub, what would we do with it?

[Uzybone]

5. Equip it with robot hands and have it seal the gusher

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

6. I wish I had robot hands.

That would be sweeeeet.

[cliffordu]

17. Well...

:rofl:

[stevenleser]

20. Have you researched the feasibility of this?

The engineering required to design robotic arms to operate at great depth is not simple. Most examples I've seen are not capable of manipulating anything heavy or wide ranges of motion.

[LongTomH]

7. That fourth sub would be the Russian Bathyscaphe Mir

The Mir deep submersibles were used by James Cameron to film the wreck of RMS Titanic.

[MadMaddie]

15. Soooooo if James Cameron could rent the submersibles

the government should rent it and charge BP!!

[pnwmom]

9. "The government has no way to fix this." That's what I wish more people here

understood -- especially the ones who compare this to Katrina.

That situation was completely different because evacuating victims of disasters is something the military and National Guard is well equipped to do -- Bush just dawdled.

[Pirate Smile]

11. Chris Matthews was just on TV saying "why don't we just drop a ton on concrete on it" or something

to that effect. Does he think doing that would stop it? I guess he does. It is a MILE below the surface. Where would everything actually land?

If they thought they could stop it in a way that wouldn't LITERALLY NUKE the Gulf of Mexico, they would friggin do it!

Some people seem to believe there is some easy way to solve this and Obama just isn't doing it. So.Fucking.Stupid!!! It seems as damn dumb as Rush saying the environmentalists blew up the rig.

Ugghhh.

[Peacetrain]

12. I was watching that when he suggested divers go down there and plug it up

submarines cannot go down that far with the exception of the aforementioned four.. no diver could live at that depth.

That is one of the things that drives me crazy.. Especially with someone like Matthews who has all the research he needs at his fingertips..

[Pirate Smile]

14. He's been doing this for days. I think people have clued him in on some actual physical limitations

but he doesn't seem to care and just keeps spouting off crap.

Pisses me off. If you are on TV, at least be f#$king informed. I expect that crap from Faux. I generally assume everything they say is a lie unless proven otherwise but MSNBC should do better.

I love segments with political reporters or opinion people discussing it when none know what they are talking about. Matthews has had multiple actual experts but he doesn't listen and then wonders why they aren't acting like him - spewing dumbass, uninformed crap.

I did literally scream at the radio (I was listening in my minivan) when I heard him today.

[depakid]

13. Proving yet again that Matthews is dumber than a slab of concrete

[lostnfound]

16. Has Obama held a press conference to explain why the govt can't do anything about it.?

There's a lot I'd like to hear from him about regarding this situation.

[Cali_Democrat]

23. That would look a little strange

Obama calls a press conference and all the major news networks tune in. Then Obama comes to the mic and says that there's nothing the government can do and leaves.

Thank goodness you're no political advisor.

[lostnfound]

24. I'm "glad I'm no political advisor" also. But woven into a list of actions that ARE being done

it is perfectly normal for the President to explain or clarify certain challenges too.

Of course, a real problem is that it would be hard for him to state that it is impossible to state why the US government can't stop this gushing (like "US submarines don't even go that deep" or "the pressure is so high that only X can stop it") without raising the obvious question of why he has been in favor of offshore drilling in spite of a lack of contingency plans..
:shrug:

I have no gift for saying things in a politically palatable way. But he has an incredible gift for doing so.

[Go2Peace]

22. Um, actually that is what BP is going to attempt in a week?

[Brother Buzz]

10. Grahm Hawkes was building one in America for Stephan Fossett that was going all the way down

The project was shelved after Steve died in the plane crash.



Problem is, the vessel, if completed, could do nothing more than, say, take pictures of the oil plume.

Specifications

Configuration: Record-breaking submersible built for adventurer Steve Fossett to set world record depth dive.
Life support: 24 hours
Flight endurance: full ocean depth and back in 5 hours

Dimensions: Length 17 ft 8 inches, Width 12 ft 11 inches, Height 5 ft, 7 inches
Weight: 4730 lbs

Speed: Cruise – 2.2 knots; Max – 3 knots
Ascent/Descent Rate:350 feet/second at +/- 45 degrees
Operating Depth: 37,000 feet sea water
Crew: 1

[Hawkowl]

27. This is why Fossett was killed

The aliens who built the pyramids (Egyptian and Mayan) live in the Marianas trench did not want Fossett to reveal their home.

[Brother Buzz]

28. They really should go after Hawkes, too

He made a fortune selling coordinates to wreck sites in the Gulf region after he built a magnetometer and dragged it all over the Gulf, plotting everything from a 55 gallon steel drums to ancient wrecks. Some of those wrecks were Spanish galleons that held Mayan Alien gold.

Plus, it's only a matter of time before he completes Deep Flight II to exact revenge on those evil aliens for making him crash his airplane into the only tree on a little island. He walked away unscathed, but hasn't forgotten. Revenge is best served cold at 37,000 feet deep.

[boppers]

19. WTF? They've had subs down there the whole time. Hence, the pictures.

You mean manned subs? What would that change? The robotic arms that activate shutoff valves can (and will) fail to shutoff a broken valve either way.

[BeFree]

29. Exactly

There are two subs there already. And someone starts an OP saying we can't get our hands on any because they are only four and they're owned by ferneers?

The stupidity, is... well, stupid. All to make BP look good, am guessing.

[Peacetrain]

30. Because nimble one.. there were a**hats in the media.. suggesting that divers go down there

and why had Obama not got the military in there fixing it.. Now stuff that in your pipe and smoke it

[Peacetrain]

31. See post 30

[hulka38]

21. If you have no way to stop a leak, you better be absolutely sure your domestic oil

companies aren't cutting multiple safety corners simultaneously in order to turn a bigger profit.

[secondwind]

25. I've read somewhere that we have FOUR THOUSAND oil rigs in the gulf.

[Bluenorthwest]

26. Why are there only four of them?

Because Oil companies are not required to build service vessels for inevitable emergencies and are allowed to make disasters they have no way of cleaning up. This is part of why their profits are so massive. If a shut off switch costs half a million, they are allowed to not buy one. They are basically allowed to do only half of the work, build only half of the machinery, that they'd have to build to be prepared to fix their own mistakes.
They should be in possession of the best submersibles on Earth, that is what those profits should be used for. Billions they spend, and they can not even reach their own fuck up. All the money in the world.

[Peacetrain]

32. Between you and me.. I am shocked that we do not have this capability in our coast guard

military etc.. What is obvious, is that we are dependent on BP because we do not have the tools to address this.. and as we all know it takes years and years to bring something like this on line.

Personally, BP is responsible for this mess.. paying for it etc.. but if we do not have the tools to step in then we should not allow any more rigs to go down there.. and there are 1000's out there besides BP

This was a disaster just waiting to happen

[freddie mertz]

33. US Navy operates 3 Alvin class subs that go to 15,000 feet.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Cliff_(DSV-4)

They even have robotic arms.

I have no idea if they are suitable or not.

[704wipes]

34. I always thought the GULF was SHALLOW (??)

Whenever you hear things about hurricanes entering the gulf there is sometimes a mention that because the waters of the gulf are shallow that that is why the hurricanes pick up strength once there. Now this oil spill is at 5,000 feet so I feel like there has been a lie for years that the gulf has shallow water in it. (??)

[BreweryYardRat]

35. Comparatively, it is.

The Atlantic and Pacific are much deeper. Deepest part of the Pacific -- the Marianas Trench -- drops below 35,000 feet at points.

However, this rig is out near the center of the Gulf, where the water's deepest.