Here's a fun article by a British author describing his recently purchased Russian submarine escape suit. The suit, model IDA59, is a 1960's vintage bit of equipment which is free of electronics and has a depth limitation of 300meters. Interestingly, it uses a highly reactive scrubber compound known as '03' which when combined with water it will dissolve glass!
This suit was worn by officers escaping from the Soviet submarine Komsomolets after the boat caught fire and sank. One note is that the author describes this suit as used in the deepest ever ascent from a submarine. I'd add that the sailors were in an escape pod and I believe were not at ambient pressure during the ascent to the surface.
The author describes the suit and rebreather and does a couple of test dives but doesn't give much detail on how it went.
I wish I could post a photo of this suit, but just go to the first link here to read the whole review and see some photos of the author testing it.
