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Comment by dogma1138 | Hacker News Reader

Unless she discovered that the submarine was being used to smuggle illegal danish cinnamon rolls[1] It's likely that she died when the submarine failed.

Ships aren't build with built-in scuttle capabilities, military submarines can be scuttled because you can blow yourself up.

The likely scenario is that the submarine has failed, she either died before she could escape or the more likely scenario is that Madsen panicked, saved himself and left her behind to die.

[1]http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10538172...

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> The likely scenario is that the submarine has failed, she either died before she could escape or the more likely scenario is that Madsen panicked, saved himself and left her behind to die.

They were looking for the submarine for hours before it showed up and sank in front of eyewitnesses. It was in the news already at that stage. I think he may have panicked when he learnt that everybody was looking for him and the woman and then sank the sub. One eyewitness saw him in the tower, then he went down into the sub, then back up, and then it sank. My guess would be that he went down and pushed the submerge button, went back up and got himself "rescued" by a passing boat.

>Ships aren't build with built-in scuttle capabilities,

Submarines are. Ballast tanks plus leaving a hatch open.

Also, the sub didn't sink until 11am the day after. She did not plan on an overnight trip in the sub. That's why I think there's more to this story than an accidental sinking.

Hatch open or closed doesn't even matter, it's just that with the hatch open it will go down a lot faster and the interior will be flooded.

That... matters. A lot. Where are you even coming from where "the interior will be flooded" doesn't matter _for a seagoing vessel._

If you want to sink it.

Sure. I suspect seawater in the interior was the whole point in this case. Reaches every nook and cranny.

> Ships aren't build with built-in scuttle capabilities,

The vast majority of small boats have through hole fittings for things like the heads (toilet) or cooling water intake for the engine. Opening the valve and smashing the pipe off is a trivial way to sink the boat. Larger ships will have similar fittings though the sinking will take longer. As noted by your others there's ways to intentionally flood a submarine too even if they're not intended for that purpose.

"Small boats" manufactured in industrialized nations have flotation built into the hull. You can get them underwater by knocking out a hole, but they won't go to the bottom without significant damage.

This boat is clearly a custom job.

> "Small boats" manufactured in industrialized nations have flotation built into the hull. You can get them underwater by knocking out a hole, but they won't go to the bottom without significant damage.

Guess it depends upon you definition of "Small Boat". Certainly your standard mono hulled yacht will sink rapidly if you fill it with water (which is purposefully done on occasion, if sailing across an ocean and major damage forces you to abandon ship to another vessel the insurance company may ask you to sink the boat. It's not worth the costs required to salvage and is a danger shipping if left afloat).

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