A photo grab which I hope is appropriately sized. This is at the instant the lifting line parted.
We are seeing the center section (from the bottom side) with the slats still retracted and the skin immediately behind the slats missing/fragmented.
The wing&fuselage is canted to the left in this view which might imply more right wing under the water or alternatively, more air bags on the LH wing.
As for the choice of vessel, probably the best that they could lay hands on in the time available. Now that the black boxes have been recovered, their priority is on recovering the dead, not so much the wreckage.
Upon being given a priority grab list by the accident investigators they will work that into their plans, but you can anticipate that salt water has intruded almost everywhere. For example, on the THS position, all they will see is the final position of the THS, which can confirm the DFDR calibration of that parameter, but the actual flight history data is going to be on the DFDR.
I think that when all is said and done, this will be an aircraft flight law induced departure, possibly also related to a hidden failure which suddenly became unmasked.
One question for the Airbus pilots here. If you
really really needed to, how would you get to Direct Law. Drop the gear in alternate law? But then suppose the aircraft had shifted into Abnormal Alternate Law due to an unusual attitude?
Airbus Flight Control Laws