Dwindling Hope

I have followed the news about the submersible that has gone missing near the shipwreck of RMS Titanic. While many questions must be answered, my main focus is sympathy for the families of those who are missing. There will be plenty of bale to go around once the submersible is discovered, and hopefully, all aboard are rescued.

I served in the Navy but was never involved with the submarine sector. The submarine force is very hush-hush about their jobs, which I respect. I have no idea what capabilities exist to retrieve something from the ocean floor, approximately 13,000 feet below the surface. That submersible might as well be on Mars because of the difficulties in a rescue operation.

I am assuming that the submersible has sunk to the bottom. Based on my limited, and I can't stress this enough, minimal knowledge as a layman, the scenario it presented sounds like the submersible lost contact and has not surfaced. While I suppose the submersible can be stranded at some depth and unable to rise to the surface, that seems unlikely.

Sadly, I think the most likely explanation is that the submersible suffered some catastrophic failure and was crushed instantly. If rescuing the crew from the submersible proves impossible, a disastrous hull breach would kill them now. As awful as that sounds, they would prefer that to a long, drawn-out death from suffocation.