Submarine Escape Immersion Equipment - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is the current state of the art, or so Wikipedia says. Which is rated to 600 fsw. Just for clarification, if you trap air at 1 atm and immediately go to 15 atm, the air will instantly compress to 15 atm. the practical effect is that a dry suit will lose all its volume, 6 liters of air (about 1.5 gallons) will become 400 ml (less than 1 pint), your lungs would probably collapse in an irreversible way. Even more importantly a traditional dry suit would collapse onto you like shrink wrap on a ding-dong, rendering you completely paralyzed. The rapid implosion of your eardrums will prevent you from hearing your own scream of agony (but with no air in your lungs, I wouldn't worry about screaming anyway). If escaping from a sub isn't the main plot issue is should be, because you are more likely to survive a high speed car chase in that doing a blow and go from 600 fsw. Interestingly, if you start at depth and breath out you can actually make it to the surface on one breath (although, there is going to be the greates volume change closer to the surface.)
So, in the scenario above, they're better off trying to go from point to point just on controlled exhaling? Forget any type of trapped air?
Would any type of ear plugs or stuffing do anything to prevent/lessen the reaction at that depth? I'll blow their ear drums if there's no other way. They'll take blown ear drums over drowning.
I don't need them dancing on the surface at the end. Just alive and with odds on continued survival, even if it requires treatment.