A well-done report on the submarine San Francisco’s collision with an uncharted undersea mountain in The New York Times: Adrift 500 Feet Under the Sea, a Minute Was an Eternity.
The submarine crashed at top speed – 33 knots, or roughly 38 miles an hour – about 360 miles southeast of Guam. The impact punched huge holes in the forward ballast tanks, so the air being blown into them was no match for the ocean pouring in. The throttles shut, and the vessel briefly lost propulsion. As the emergency blow caught hold, mainly in the rear tanks, the sub was just drifting in the deep, its bow pointing down.
That article was brilliant and eyeopening, both from the perspective of a confluence of events causing a disaster, but also from the excellent reporting. I felt like I was in the sub. The photos were shocking, too. I find it incredible that the sub didn’t sink.