One point emphasized in both the BEN 

 FRANKLIN and STAR III emergency proce- 

 dures is that personnel egress is the very 

 last option and should not be attempted until 

 all other options have proven futile. This 

 warning is for very sound reasons and is 

 based on the fact that the decision to flood 

 and exit the submersible opens the door for a 



variety of fatal potentials in which de- 

 compression sickness, nitrogen narcosis and 

 drowning predominate. The STAR III man- 

 ual presents the graph shown in Figure 14.7 

 which is the time it would take to flood the 

 pressure sphere to the point where the inter- 

 nal air pressure equals ambient water pres- 

 sure. This time (bottom time) is critical for 



I 



Q 



LU 

 Q 

 O 

 O 



o 

 > 



< 



z 



EC 



10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 



TIME-SECONDS 



Fig. 14.7 Curve showing the time it would take to flood STAR Ill's 5.5ft ID hull and pressure within the hull as a function of 



time at 300 feet deep through a 3/4-inch-diameter hole. 



664 



