New Info on AS-28 Rescue

This article from the NYT (might require registration soon) claims to have some more information on the circumstances surrounding the rescue of the Russian mini-submarine:

"The small Russian submarine rescued Sunday had become trapped beneath the Pacific when an old fishing net disabled its propeller and tied the vessel to an undersea Russian surveillance device larger than a drive-in movie screen, according to American divers who helped save the boat's seven crew members.
"The divers, who spoke by telephone shortly after returning to San Diego yesterday, said the submarine had been knotted so tightly against the listening device that a British submersible could not maneuver close enough to clip all the netting during the tense, five-hour operation to free the craft.
"Instead, after the British vessel's robotic arm had snipped most of the snarled netting, Russian commanders on a nearby ship ordered the submarine's crew to blow pressurized air through its ballast tanks. That lightened the submarine, the divers said, and propelled it upward with enough force to break the last thick strands of nylon pinning it down."

Bigger than a drive-in movie screen? That's one big-ass hydrophone (if that's what it was)...

Going deep...