A Feat That Won Over Every Officer and Sailor Aboard

"Mr. Lin, going outside for repairs is impossible. At a depth of 723 meters, the water pressure is something not even bowhead whales, let alone humans, can withstand," Lieutenant Colonel Louis said.

Lin Yuan nodded. "I know how terrifying seventy-three atmospheres of pressure are. But assuming someone could work outside the vessel, could the submarine's hull be repaired? If all three watertight compartments were repaired, how much could we ascend?"

Lieutenant Colonel Louis said helplessly, "Forget repairing all three. As long as we could repair one watertight compartment on the starboard side and restore the balance between the two sides, we could ascend at least 300 meters.

"If that happened, repairing the remaining two watertight compartments would be much easier."

"How so?" Lin Yuan immediately asked.

"Once we ascend to around 400 meters, the submarine's deep-sea pressure-resistant diving suits can be used. Then we can send repair personnel outside to fix the other two watertight compartments.

"With four intact watertight compartments, the USS Virginia can continue ascending to around 200 meters. At that point, we can release a communications buoy and call for help.

"If only one fewer watertight compartment had been damaged earlier," Lieutenant Colonel Louis sighed.

The USS Virginia was equipped with the most advanced pressure-resistant deep-sea diving suits. These suits contained an ADS atmospheric diving system that kept the pressure inside the suit equal to atmospheric pressure at all times.

The principle was simple: high-pressure gas was injected through a tube into the suit's inner compartment.

The expansion force of the high-pressure gas counteracted the crushing force of the water pressure. Once the two reached equilibrium, the diver would be safe.

However, these suits could only support dives as deep as 450 meters. They could not be used at the 723-meter seabed where the USS Virginia was