Indonesian navy on Saturday (24 April) has confirmed that their missing submarine KRI Nanggala 402 has sunk killing 53 crew members aboard.
BREAKING: The Indonesian Navy has declared submarine #KRINaggala402 has sunk, with all hands lost. Debris located. Condolences to the families of the 53 men lost. pic.twitter.com/ONe1RIl9oX
— Livefist (@livefist) April 24, 2021
The rescue ships had spotted the presence of an oil slick as well as debris near the submarine’s last dive on Wednesday (21 April) off the island of Bali. Several pieces and parts from inside the sub have been recovered.
Navy Chief Yudo Margono told a press conference in Bali, “If it’s an explosion, it will be in pieces. The cracks happened gradually in some parts when it went down from 300 meters to 400 meters to 500 meters … If there was an explosion, it would be heard by the sonar.”
As per the Indonesian Navy, what likely transpired was the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700 meters (2,000-2,300 feet) when the maximum it could dive was only 200 meters (655 feet), i.e. crush depth.
The hulls of a submarine are designed to withstand a certain level of water pressure when it dives, however, when a submarine dives below its capacity, the water pressure would be greater than the hull could withstand leading to cracks and eventual implosion.
The KRI Nanggala 402 was a German-designed diesel-powered submarine and it has been in the service of the Indonesian Navy since 1981.
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