Quote:
Originally Posted by Onkel Neal
Shoot!
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The Ballast Tanks have grates on the bottom meaning they normally free flood water in from the bottom when the vents on top are opened. when the vents are shut, you then can open the "blow" valve and it puts air into them expelling the water out the bottom.
Here's what happens at deep depths. Say your at 200M and You start flooding and the CO orders The Ballast Tanks Blown. The Dive Opens the Valve, you order up a Flank Bell to use Propulsion to help "to go shallow". You pour the air in, the gage isn't showing much is going out but the sub starts to rise. As the sub goes shallower that air you put in now begins to rapidly expand due to less sea pressure and now your expelling more water from the tanks whether you want to or not. This has the desirable/undesirable effect of accelerating your ascent! If no escorts are around no biggie, as this is why subs "pop" out of the water as much as they do in pics. By the time your at 100 feet the ballast tanks are nearly dry and you cannot stop the ascent.
If you only blew a little, stopped the flooding, used the engines to hold the extra weight, you will want to at some point to reopen the ballast tank vents and get rid of that air, OR! Or the next depth excursion down will have a rapid downward decent as the air is squeezed and you Lose Buoyancy.
I mentioned the Negative tank because in can have a similar effect if its exposed to sea pressure constantly.
I mentioned this because its a tactical Nightmare if you have to blow main ballast. Im pretty sure the sub does not model this, or how difficult it would be to model. Maybe a Back burner thing at a future date.