Reply #7: It wouldn't have mattered anyway, right? This would have been the same system

[petronius]

that was unable to close the BOP after the fire, so there's no reason to think it would have succeeded earlier when the ROV operators were sitting next to a giant burning rig. Unless there's a suggestion that the sinking of the rig itself did more damage to the equipment on the sea floor?

It seems reasonable to me to figure out exactly what conditions the boat would experience when it approached the rig, especially considering the reduced maneuverability it would have had with the ROV deployed and the local weather effects from the fire itself...