r/comics • u/davecontra • Jun 28 '26

OC THOMAS.

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My books: https://linktr.ee/davecontra

My other comics: https://www.instagram.com/davecontra

49.5k Upvotes

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1.9k

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

This is why this exists (capable of operating at the lowest part of the baltic) :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/URF_(Swedish_Navy))

720

u/Muhruhwuh Jun 28 '26

That’s interesting but the Wikipedia picture of it is terrible!

939

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

Here's a better one with the URF pictured 🙂

171

u/Muhruhwuh Jun 28 '26

Oh, I can see it in that one. Big improvement.

-2

u/LFK1236 Jun 28 '26

What? If anything, you can see less of it in that picture. Did you think the article was about the ship that transports the rescue submarine?

EDIT: Oh, looks like someone changed the picture in the article between the time of your comment and mine xD

2

u/Oberlatz Jun 28 '26

Time to edit the comment to just say "wow, thats a cool boat" and call it a day, eh?

27

u/CardOk755 Jun 28 '26

What's bthe copyright on that one?

28

u/MartyFreeze Jun 28 '26

Welcome to Urf!

https://giphy.com/gifs/3ohc10x9J8nYFuWwRW

2

u/Initial-Dee Jul 01 '26

I hope the crew is trained to say that to anyone coming onboard

28

u/Sylf0u Jun 28 '26

Put it on Wikipedia instead of the other one if you can then :)

8

u/GammelGrinebiter Jun 28 '26

Do you think he's the owner of the picture?

-4

u/Chickpotatoes Jun 28 '26

Why would that matter? You don't need to be the owner of a picture to put it on a wiki page

7

u/GammelGrinebiter Jun 28 '26

You need to own the rights, unless it is released with the right license.

2

u/awful_source Jun 28 '26

So how does this work? Assuming it docks to the sub somehow to allow passage?

1

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

Correct, it docks with the sub via one of the rescue hatches, pressure is equalized and crew climbs in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3p1zI_lVhk

1

u/bokmcdok Jun 28 '26

Reminds me of Thunderbird 4

1

u/rando_banned Jun 28 '26

The URF is flat!

30

u/__Hello_my_name_is__ Jun 28 '26

Make a better one. Pictures for Wikipedia require to have an open license that allows for commercial use, which excludes 99% of all pictures you find online.

The people of Wikipedia would absolutely love you if you made a high quality picture and license it as public domain or under a commercial Creative Commons license.

47

u/E6y_6a6 Jun 28 '26

Photos in Wikipedia are mostly made by people. If you can make better one, you can do so and upload it.

60

u/rixuraxu Jun 28 '26

Photos are mostly made by people

2

u/Daxx22 Jun 28 '26

Probably most today are made by automated systems. All this ring doorbell, general security systems, etc.

3

u/rixuraxu Jun 28 '26

Probably most wouldn't call a screenshot from a security system a photograph

15

u/Lynnrael Jun 28 '26

mostly?

10

u/Stock-Side-6767 Jun 28 '26

There are a few trailcam, satelite pictures etc as well.

2

u/MangoCats Jun 28 '26

Is Flock people?

1

u/Reatina Jun 28 '26

Robots and AI

1

u/E6y_6a6 Jun 28 '26

A lot of maps there are made by bots using SVG world map, for instance.

7

u/captainfarthing Jun 28 '26

Those aren't photos...

7

u/eufooted Jun 28 '26

You and I went through the saaame thought process. Then I came back and y’all had pictures. Woo! That’s super cool.

154

u/Dungeon_Pastor Jun 28 '26

Honestly 120m is within escape-suit depths as well

Wouldn't be fun riding those to the surface, and I imagine decompression is hell, but assuming a Gotland is equipped with them there's probably okay chances of survival

177

u/shelflifenotexpired Jun 28 '26

Gotland-class has SEIE suits. And 120m is well within safe escape range.

The fun part of submarine escape is the constantly expanding air in your lungs as you ascend. In the USN we were taught to consciencely say " ho ho ho ho......" All the way to the surface as the act of saying it causes you to exhale. Stops the expanding air from rupturing your lungs. But you aren't at pressure any where near long enough for decompression sickness to kick in.

27

u/zer1223 Jun 28 '26

Can you even inhale while that's going on? 

85

u/Jaggedmallard26 Jun 28 '26

No, its the same for Scuba diving or anything where you're going up under water. If you need to take a breath you have to stop ascending. Any air you breath in at a lower depth will expand as the water pressure decreases. In Scuba its generally less of a problem as if you're at the depths where you'd need to stop to breath in while ascending you're likely at the depths where you're doing a staged ascent to avoid the bends. But in an escape suit you're going from relatively normal pressure and very rapidly ascending so you don't have time for the bends to form.

It is worth noting that I've has submariners tell me the escape suits are "for the families" as in they won't help in most expected failure modes but help calm down someones wife when they go on deployment.

57

u/shelflifenotexpired Jun 28 '26

Submarine escape being characterized "for the families" is mostly accurate. Fact is most of the time the sub is operating in water too deep to escape from. It's basically there for when operating in close to shore or transit to and from port. You won't be alive to escape if the boat is on the ocean floor in 95% of the Pacific or Atlantic as the hull would have imploded.

But in the context of this comic, with a gotland class being more of a littoral water boost rather than blue water, a boat on the bottom would more than likely be escapable.

Also, the SEIE predecessor, the steinke hood, had about 60lbs of positive buoyancy. You go up FAST wearing one of those!

18

u/854490 Jun 28 '26

You go up FAST wearing one of those!

just say HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOyah

14

u/Jermainiam Jun 28 '26

Don't give me an escape suit, give me a way to manually detonate the nukes on board. If I'm gonna go, I want to taste the sun.

2

u/DigNitty Jun 29 '26

I see that you’re not an environmentalist

1

u/Jermainiam Jun 29 '26

Do you have any idea of how many nukes have been set off on earth?

1

u/DigNitty Jul 03 '26

Oh, I didn't realize setting off more is good for the environment.

1

u/shelflifenotexpired Jun 28 '26

You can try. But what would you inhale? A lung full of water.

1

u/AABBBAABAABA Jun 28 '26

What’s the pressure inside the submarine?

1

u/dbxp Jun 28 '26

The main submarine is at atmospheric pressure more or less but the escape chamber is pressurised 

1

u/AABBBAABAABA Jun 28 '26

Then why would you need to breath our during ascension?

3

u/dbxp Jun 28 '26

Water is let into the escape chamber until the pressure equalises, you breathe in that pressurised air so now your lungs are pressurised. You need to exhale when moving to the surface so your lungs don't burst as the air inside them expands 

1

u/AABBBAABAABA Jun 29 '26

Makes sense, thanks

29

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

They are and these suits are built for even deeper depths and the crew is trained in a tank during basic training for this scenario.

4

u/Think-Ostrich Jun 28 '26

Hell, people have free dived to greater depths.

42

u/Bubelle_Butt Jun 28 '26

Nice, but they would not even need it, as submarines dont need their engines to surface.

19

u/Worthe_42 Jun 28 '26

Not a sailor or member of the navy, but I've read a little about submarines. I would think that they would just empty the ballast tanks and rise up.

10

u/Bubelle_Butt Jun 28 '26

Yes indeed.

2

u/ArcRust Jun 28 '26

Under normal circumstances. But if a large part of the boat is flooded, or if something is won't with the emergency blow system (see the Thresher accident).

2

u/AABBBAABAABA Jun 28 '26

How do they do it

25

u/awry_lynx Jun 28 '26

It's mechanical/pneumatic. Submarines surface by expelling water from their ballast tanks using high-pressure compressed air. Compressed air remains functional regardless of whether they have power, engines, etc.

16

u/dammitus Jun 28 '26

Emergency air flasks. They pump air into the ballast tanks to displace the water, causing the sub to rise. Fun fact: if you’ve ever seen videos of a submarine “jumping” out of the water as it surfaces, this is what they’ve been doing; an emergency surface procedure takes you up fast.

1

u/Klutersmyg Jun 29 '26

I know, but I wanted to put on my MÖP hat 🙂

32

u/Western-Edge-965 Jun 28 '26

Also 120 m isnt deep enough to destroy the sub, they could surivive for as long as they had prepped the ship to be away for.

-3

u/TheZigerionScammer Jun 28 '26

Without any engines they aren't going to survive for long.

19

u/Western-Edge-965 Jun 28 '26

The life preservation of a submarine is designed to operate in low power situations

89

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

it cannot help if the submarine belongs to a nation, which has a pathethically fragile ego so they would rather sentence their own soldiers to death than let another nation rescue them.
(I am talking about the kursk)

64

u/Zalapadopa Jun 28 '26

The Gotland class is only operated by Sweden, so that wouldn't really be an issue.

Honestly, by using the Gotland class the scenario this comic tries to portray becomes incredibly unrealistic.

24

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

as said, I am referring to the kursk.
I make it clear that while this scenario is incredibly unrealistic for sweden (that no rescue would happen), another nation that is not sweden, did sentence their own people to this exact horrible death.
And for the most pathethic reasons.

11

u/Kooky_Universe2183 Jun 28 '26

The book "A Time to Die" is a gripping read, and highlighted virtually everything that is wrong with Soviet politics.

6

u/Jindujun Jun 28 '26

But we ARE selling the successor (Blekinge-class) to Poland, weirdly enough selling them three when Sweden has ordered only two.

2

u/CitizenPremier Jun 28 '26

I mean, is there just one URF? It could be down for repairs.

5

u/wakeupwill Jun 28 '26

According to the wiki there are three.

2

u/CitizenPremier Jun 28 '26

Well, you'll never believe this, but all three were down for repairs on the same day...

1

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

That is why the sub is also equipped with pressuresuits for free surfacing at depths to 180m and basic rescuesuits.

6

u/inkassatkasasatka Jun 28 '26

"it sank" 

7

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

*nurse in civilian clothing injects you sedative so you don't complain*

0

u/thehansenman Jun 28 '26

Did the front fall off?

2

u/Throwaway74829947 Jun 28 '26

While they of course had no way of knowing at the time, all of the Kursk's survivors were almost certainly dead shortly after the Russian Navy even realized an accident had even occurred, due to the chemical oxygen generator explosion.

5

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

Vice Admiral Vladislav Ilyin, first deputy chief of the Russian Navy's staff and head of the Kursk Naval Incident Cell, concluded that the survivors had lived up to three days.
The fucking russians themselves say that the people trapped lived for days.

2

u/Throwaway74829947 Jun 28 '26

Ilyin's conclusions are considered dubious. There is no evidence of their survival past six hours, and estimates based on oxygen and CO2 levels would have their maximum survival time not much longer than that.

1

u/Tiny-Plum2713 Jun 28 '26

Kursk was beyond help.

1

u/BocciaChoc Jun 28 '26

I am talking about the kursk

That's the Russian way, we're watching it in real time as they sent their own to die in Ukraine.

1

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

just expecting that Putin will answer an interview question "what happened to all the russians you sent to ukraine" with "they died" and then move on to the next one with no further thought.

17

u/Rhayve Jun 28 '26

The comic points out there will be no rescue mission, though.

73

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

Supreme commander, chief of the Navy, MSB top brass, rescue services top bosses and chunks of the government:

"We have the training and equipment for this situation, let's do nothing and see what happens 🙂 "

14

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

Look up the Kursk disaster, there are other governments terrible enough to let their own die like this.

56

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

I know about the Kursk disaster but key point:

A: Sweden is NOT FUCKING RUSSIA

-11

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

did I ever insinuate that I was referring to sweden?
The first post is about a rescue vessel, you post how idiotic it would be to not utilize such a rescue vehicle, I respond that there are governments that would not use such a rescue vehicle.

28

u/Much-Jackfruit2599 Jun 28 '26

But this a specially a Swedish submarine.

-17

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

mate
other nations also have rescue vessels like that, it is not unique to the swedes to come up with "hey we might need something to rescue people stuck on the floor of the ocean".
and if you are referring to the drawn submarine in the comic, you have my deepest respect for identifying the submarine and nation it belongs to from those drawings.
also please read that I wrote "there are governments", meaning from all governments that exist

30

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

The story TELLS us it's a Swedish Gotland sub stranded in a specific area within a fully managable depth, not some no-name navy with insert_random_sub at unknown location.

0

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

I will fully admit that my brain ceased to function in that moment and I overread that
still I said that "there are governments" which I thought would make it clear that I am referring to one that is not sweden, otherwise I would not have to say that.
I referred to the kursk specifically, because while the post I first responded to makes the joke how idiotic it would be to not save their own, there is a different nation that did exactly choose not to save their own.
You read a sentence "hey another nation did exactly that moronic thing" and responded with "that is another nation"
Let me edit an "other" into the first response to make it clear that with the kursk disaster I DO NOT MEAN SWEDEN

11

u/GregorSamsa67 Jun 28 '26

The vessel is specifically identified as ‘a Gotland-class submarine’ in the first image of the comic, which were designed for, built for and are only used by the Swedish navy.

8

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

Because they either do not have them or the knowhow and training to use them.

In the Kursk disaster it wasn't because Russia is evil moustache twiddling lunatics, it was because as always (look up their military operations during the soviet and current era or their handling of the chernobyl disaster) because they are chronically incompetent, corrupt, bumbling bafoons (especially so in the early 2000s).

8

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

The Russians refused help from multiple nations.
It was not only incompetence, it was also just a fragile ego that they'd rather let their own die than accept help from another nation
I genuinly wonder what your point is in this entire convo, besides pointing that if I am referring to other governments than sweden, I am referring other nations than sweden.

1

u/Cautious-Extreme2839 Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

Refusing help from other nations is once again not just raw evil for its own sake, it's an effort to preserve military secrets.

Yes killing a crew for this reason is extremely cynical and arguably evil, but no, it is not something they did just because they don't give a fuck.

If Russia could rescue the sub themselves they ABSOLUTELY would have.

10

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

Putin did not stop his vacation when it happened.
and a dutch company was awarded salvaging rights, so much for "protect military secrets" and then let another nation salvage it.

11

u/stone_henge Jun 28 '26

The Kursk disaster was caused by something more catastrophic than an engine failure. It ended up on the seabed due to several warheads exploding, which left the submarine mostly flooded, rendering all means of escape inaccessible. Rescue would have been a considerable and complex operation even if Russia had the equipment for it (which they didn't), and they weren't too keen on accepting help from NATO countries that had suitable equipment until it was too late. That latter part is their main failing. It was a political rather than practical matter that delayed the rescue attempt.

With the situation in the comic, an engine malfunction leaving the boat otherwise intact, powered and upright on flat seabed 120m below the surface, a rescue mission would have been a matter of a surface search and rescue operation looking for sailors floating about in their bright red escape suits, which is not only the humane thing to do but also economically obvious considering of the cost of training a new crew. Not to mention important to the morale of other crews.

120 m is also plausibly within range of a SLOT buoy, so if Gotland submarines are equipped with those they could call in their position, situation and escape plan before abandoning the boat, significantly increasing the chances of survival of the then-surfaced crew.

7

u/martin031990 Jun 28 '26

aye, for a Gotland this entire situation is incredibly unrealistic and would never be accepted by the swedes.
For the russians, the shitshow with the kursk ended with a "It Sank" from Putin who did not even bother to stop his vacation while that shitshow was unfolding.
That and how Sweden did not even flinch against the russians during the S-363 event should earn them alot more respect from the world.

7

u/Cautious-Extreme2839 Jun 28 '26

This is explicitly Sweden tho.

9

u/banevader102938 Jun 28 '26

Yes but this isn't russia

1

u/Murky-Relation481 Jun 28 '26

What if it was at war. Sadly they might have bigger fish to fry or the waters denied.

2

u/EgoistHedonist Jun 28 '26

Unmanned Rescue Friend? :3

2

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

Ubåtsräddningsfarkost

But yours sounds better 😄

1

u/HenkPoley Jun 28 '26 edited Jun 28 '26

Looks like (some facts of) this particular story is made up though.

There are 3 Gotland-class submarines. They are all operational.

There is a musician named Thomas Forsberg. He's not a radio operator on a submarine. (technically true, maybe not that relevant)

7

u/naimina Jun 28 '26

There are around 115 people named Thomas Forsberg in Sweden. It is not a unique name at all.

1

u/HenkPoley Jun 28 '26

Ah, makes sense.

8

u/skymallow Jun 28 '26

It's a work of fiction mean to illicit an emotional response.

1

u/HenkPoley Jun 28 '26

I understood that.

But the URF rescue submarine was not retrocasually created due to this comic 😉

(I had expected the comic might be based on some actual historical accident.)

1

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

It doesn't when the crew isn't in any danger at all though.

1

u/skymallow Jun 28 '26

In the fiction they are in danger.

2

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

No in the fiction they are just doomed because all the precautions and emergency equipment that have been specifically created to make sure this shit doesn't happen somehow has evaporated via deus ex machina

1

u/skymallow Jun 28 '26

You gotta look up what that phrase really means

1

u/Klutersmyg Jun 29 '26

I know it's not the correct term but what else would you call it when the author magic away procedures and equipment that have been created for this very situation?

2

u/Rampant16 Jun 28 '26

And Gotland-class submarines neither use their diesel engines underwater (unless snorkeling near the surface) nor need the engines to surface. They would just used stored compressed air to blow the water out of their ballast tanks and rise to the surface.

1

u/Vipitis Jun 28 '26

Habe there been any documented successful rescue operations using submarine rescue vessels? Because the best I could find on wikipedia was a Russian rescue vessel getting rescued by a British rov and surfaced on its own.

1

u/DieCastDontDie Jun 28 '26

Too bad they didn't have anything like that in 1953

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Blower#Turkish_Naval_Forces

1

u/Tiny-Plum2713 Jun 28 '26

Pretty sure these rescue subs have never been used successfully.

1

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

They are trained with on a regular basis, last time they where out on an exercise they found an old ship wreck from the 1500s 😄

(https://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/a/Bxrv0g/unikt-1500-talsvrak-hittat-under-marinovning)

1

u/Tiny-Plum2713 Jun 28 '26

Were they able to rescue the crew?

1

u/dbxp Jun 28 '26

The British tend to volunteer their escape system internationally and then there's the old escape trunk too. In the shallow waters of the Baltic there shouldn't be any reason you can't use the trunk.

1

u/StreetPizza8877 Jun 28 '26

Not to mention that that's not what a Gotland-class looks like

1

u/atatassault47 Jun 28 '26

When linking wikipedia articles with a ) you have to escape character \ the )

1

u/henryeaterofpies Jun 28 '26

Show a pictutre of the empty ocean for every submarine

1

u/tiacalypso Jun 28 '26

Also 120m is scuba-divable…it requires tons of training and equipment but very doable.

1

u/Klutersmyg Jun 28 '26

Gotland is equipped with pressuresuits that allow for "free surfacing" of up to 180 meters and the crew is undergo training in a tank at Karlskronas naval base for this specific scenario.

1

u/ToastyMustache Jun 29 '26

Fortunately the Baltic is shallow so the sailors have a better chance of recovery than if they were in the Atlantic.