Yet another opportunity for me to revel in the enginuity of my fellow South Africans … and in a field we seldom hear about.

Thanks to new tech developed by the CSIR, Armscor and the Institute of Maritime Technology, our navy now has the ability to rescue submarine crew, if their vessel was ever in trouble at depth.

I can’t think of anything more frightening than to be trapped inside a broken metal tube … 100s of meters under the sea

Well in the future if that ever had to happen, our submariners can rest assured that they will have a high-tech escape method.

It is known as rail release, which is an improvement on the better known Tower Escape Safety System, or TESS for short.

The Navy’s Navy Commander, Greyling Van Den Berg, says the TESS needs two submariners in the tower to work together, while dressed in their psy-suits – that’s like a pressurised onesie that’s got air trapped inside.

It gets very technical here, but safe to say … the system meant that – because of too much buoyancy – the submariners could become trapped in the hatch.

Now this new rail release system was tested in Simon’s Town recently … and Greyling says they couldn’t be happier with the results…

And that means it will be installed on board our three subs in due course … and maybe even make it’s way to the world’s other navies.

Here’s some useless info for if you’re ever escaping a sinking submarine:

While it is entirely counter-intuitive, the Nr-1 rule is to never ever hold your breath.

It could lead to any number of what’s known as divers’ disease, like the bends or ruptured air sacks.

The thing to do is to breathe normally … or exhale the entire way to the surface.