Actually, money could have been saved... here's why:
The US Navy's submarine detection network heard a "boom" on the day of the implosion, which they kept close to their chests...
Sounded the alarm, they spent money and resources looking for something they were almost sure was lost...
After the expiration of time when the submarine "could be recoverable" was when they said "well... we did heard something the other day"...
Imagine the other possible scenario where the say on the first day "Hey, the sub imploded, we heard it on our underwater microphones, we won't spend money looking for these people..."
And then a future investigation reveals that they got stuck somewhere or lost power but were "buoyant" for 48 hours or so, and died for lack of oxygen when no one was looking for them.