Initial press reports indicated that the divers were conducting an inspection of the rudder - a routine operation - at the time of the accident, but later reports stated that the two were doing a cold-water training dive near the bow of the ship. The dive was reported to have been planned for a maximum depth of . Lieutenant Hill's father, citing autopsy reports, has indicated that his daughter actually reached a depth of near in what he described as an out of control descent. The divers were tended by unqualified and poorly-instructed personnel on the surface, none of whom were familiar with cold water diving or scuba diving in general. It is not clear why they extended so much line to the divers. By the time the two could be pulled to the surface, gas reserves were empty and neither diver could be revived.