Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment, also known as Submarine Escape and
Immersion Equipment, is a whole-body suit and one-man life raft, designed by
British company RFD Beaufort Limited, that allows submariners to escape from a
sunken submarine. The suit provides protection against hypothermia and is
rapidly replacing the Steinke hood rescue device. The suit allows survivors
to escape a disabled submarine at depths down to 600 feet, with an ascent speed
of 2-3 meters/second, at a rate of eight or more sailors per hour.
The latest generation RFD Beaufort SEIE MK11 enables free ascent from a stricken
submarine and provides extensive protection for the submariner on
reaching the surface until rescued. A typical assembly comprises a submarine
escape and immersion suit, an inner thermal liner, and a gas-inflated
single-seat life raft, all contained in a protective stowage compartment. The
intention of the suit is to keep the escapee dry and protected from cold
shock during ascent, and to provide buoyancy, freeboard, and thermal
insulation at the surface. Following a nearly 30-year hiatus, the
U.S. Navy reinstituted pressurized submarine escape training for submarine
sailors in 2009, using the Beaufort Mk 10 Submarine Escape and Immersion
Equipment suit. In a Journal of Undersea Hyperbaric
Medicine review of training, O'D'onnell and Horn report that "During the first
39 months of training, 7,025 students screened for PSET with 32% completing
all phases, including two pressurized ascents. The most common reason for
screening disqualification was presence of upper respiratory congestion. During
training, middle ear barotrauma was responsible for 53% of attrition,
primarily during the test of pressure." The SEIE Mk-10 has been used in Royal
Navy Submarines for a number of years and is scheduled to replace all Steinke
hoods aboard U.S. Navy submarines as well. Crew training, and reconfiguration
of escape trunks, are prerequisites to installing the new system. Several
submarines have already installed the new system.
The Steinke hood was designed for the same purpose as the SEIE, but did not
include thermal insulation or a life raft. It could not protect submariners
from hypothermia and weather exposure, or provide crew visibility at the
surface, as the SEIE can. The SEIE is designed to be a last resort
in the event of a submarine emergency at sea. Rescue with a submarine rescue
vehicle, which connects directly to a submarine's escape hatch, is still the
preferred option, as it allows crew members to avoid direct exposure to cold
water and high pressure at depth. If a rescue vehicle is not available or
cannot connect to a sunken submarine, the crew can escape using the SEIE.
Another benefit of vehicle rescue as compared to escape with the SEIE is that
there would likely be additional critical on-site resources available,
such as a recompression chamber, that could be urgently needed by the rescued
crew members. Reduced risk of decompression sickness,
oxygen toxicity, carbon dioxide toxicity and nitrogen narcosis is dependent on a
relatively high rate of pressurization and ejection from the escape lock, as
all of these hazards are time-dependent. Use of a dedicated air supply further
reduces risk of carbon dioxide toxicity. References
See also Steinke hood
Momsen lung Escape set
External links "Navy conducts first-ever escape
exercise from nuclear sub". Commander, U.S. Navy Submarine Force Pacific.
December 5, 2006. Retrieved 2007-03-10. History of Submarine Escape Immersion
Equipment “Decompression Illness Associated with
Submarine Escape and Rescue” A variant of the SEIE for use where
thermal protection is not required "Initial review of the U.S. Navy's
pressurized submarine escape training outcomes."