Aussie sub sinks US warship in first firing of new torpedo

news.com.au ^ | 25th July 2008

[naturalman1975]

AN Australian submarine - HMAS Waller - has used a new super torpedo - the Mark 48 - to sink an American warship off Hawaii.

The HMAS Waller fired the heavyweight Mark 48 torpedo, which the US and Australian navies say is the world's deadliest, during war games this week.

Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the torpedo had been jointly developed by Australia and the United States.

The firing occurred during the Rim of the Pacific 2008 (RIMPAC 08) exercise, involving multiple navies off the coast of Hawaii.

"This controlled exercise resulted in the planned sinking of a retired US warship," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

"This represents the first new heavyweight torpedo warshot to be fired by either Navy. Just as significant is the fact that the warshot torpedo was assembled in Australia," Mr Fitzgibbon said.

[naturalman1975]

[cmsgop]

WOW!

[LukeL]

B3

You sank my battleship

[pointsal]

Looks like BHO’s world tour....

[CindyDawg]

Scaring moms with sailors at sea isn’t nice:’) What was the name of the retired ship?

[SandRat]

WOW!!! Watched the video, the shot broke her back.

[dfwddr]

Dang, I read the title of this post, and now I need to go change my clothes....

[flyfree]

Video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmij9m8ndZs

[hc87]

One of the Kidds?

[flyfree]

[RichInOC]

“Now that’s a torpedo.”

[exit82]

What was the name of the retired ship?

Thanks--my first question too. The ship's number on the bow was painted over. Anyone recognize it?

[Larry Lucido]

Yeah, fo a split second I thought this was an “Oops, sorry!” moment.

[mylife]

the mark 48 is new!? L0l!!!

[BallyBill]

“This calls for Massive Retaliation”

[naturalman1975]

It’s a new version of the MK48 - MK 48 Mod 7 Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System (CBASS).

[LiberConservative]

Retirement sucks.

[mylife]

Ahh....
Cuz we were using them when I was in the Navy

[naturalman1975]

Sorry - no idea. I’ve looked but haven’t been able to find a source that names the ship so far.

[Doogle]

...soon to be an Iranian propaganda clip saying “the great satan sailing vessel was destroyed in NY harbor by Muslim women dressed in McDonald burka’s purchased by gains through a suit filed earlier in the day. The two man mini sub was piloted by latest Iranian cartoon rabbit and 7 female sailors”

[LSUfan]

That’s an old Spruance class DD. Looks like it could be 969, USS Peterson, but she was sunk in a weapons test in 2004.

These Spruance class DDs never went to mothballs. They were stricken immediately. I sometimes wonder if it was a mistake to dispose of all these ships so precipitously. The Chinese are building a modern blue water Navy and the Russians are re-asserting themselves.

We modernized and converted many WW2 era ships to serve long into the 1960s after hard use during the war.

Today we have a goal of a 313 ship fleet. Seems tiny for a nation with vital interests in every ocean.

[fso301]

Even with the early WWII era contact torpedoes, there weren’t many survivors when a torpedo collided with a destroyer.

[buccaneer81]

USS David R Ray (DD971.)

[buccaneer81]

USS David R Ray (DD971.)

[naturalman1975]

Found it.

USS Fletcher.

[naturalman1975]

Nope - USS Fletcher.

[naturalman1975]

It’s the Fletcher - finally found a source that named it.

[buccaneer81]

You’re right. The David R Ray is also scheduled to be sunk during these exercises as well.

[Doofer]

Correct it was the Fletcher.

http://www.ussfletcher.org/news.html

[naturalman1975]

Yes - she has been. David R Ray was sunk by US and Japanese ships using Harpoons and naval artillery on the 11th July. Fletcher was sunk by HMAS Waller on 16th July.

[HamiltonJay]

Yea, try again.. that girl I’m sure served her tours well.. but she wasn’t a Battleship.

[Strategerist]

Yeah, basically almost all the insides, electronics, etc. of the CBASS are completely different and upgraded from the original Mk 48; it’s really a new torpedo in the old shell.

[fso301]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdLHkqrwb7g&feature=related

[buccaneer81]

Thanks for the info.

[Hoplite]

What you said.

[tickmeister]

Given that scrap iron is about $200/ton, wouldn’t it be economical to recycle a ship like that? Maybe not. It would be a bunch of work to cut it up.

[doc1019]

The original Fletcher (DD-445?)? I thought she was made into razor blades long ago? ;-)

[buccaneer81]

I was wrong. It was the Fletcher. The Ray was sunk by shell fire and Harpoons five days earlier.

[Dog Gone]

That does it, Australia, THIS IS WAR!

[buccaneer81]

The original Fletcher (DD-445?)? I thought she was made into razor blades long ago? ;-)

She was, in 1972. This was DD-992.

[Strategerist]

For the ancient “ghost fleet” ships in the James River, the USN is finally getting paid by companies that want to scrap the ships, rather than having to pay companies to scrap them, because of the high metals prices; I think about a million or so a ship. Should finally get rid of all those ships in the next few years.

There is value in SINKEXes in validating weapons performance, and studying the effects on the ships themselves (I’d suspect the Fletcher had some instrumentation) of modern weapons.

[exit82]

Thanks, naturalman1975.

Here’s some info from the ship veterans website DD992.org:

SINKEX REPORT FOR EX-USS FLETCHER DD-992

* DD-992 WAS STRUCK BY A SINGLE MK-48-7 TORPEDO AND SANK IN DRAMATIC FASHION at 22:50:41Z 16JUL08.
* COORDINATES OF SUNKEN VESSEL: 23:01.2N 159:59.9W.
* WATER DEPTH: 2670 FATHOMS.

Pictures for ship at site also.

[ops33]

I have read accounts of ships sinking quickly but that was the first time I have ever seen it. If that ship had been struck during wartime few, if any, of the crew would have been able to survive.

[Hoplite]

I'm just shocked by the fact that we sunk more than one during an exercise - makes me feel like we're back in the Reagan era <sniff!>. Those were the days.

I started out thinking it looked like a Brooke class frigate, but only because I made a model of one of them ~30 years ago, and it met a similar fate during a, um, training exercise.

[piytar]

Yeah, it does. Then again, one carrier taskforce can utterly dominate a huge chunk of any body of water it is in, sinking anything and everything within its area of control. So maybe it is enough. Maybe.

[Strategerist]

Yeah most of the Mk 48 video I’ve seen have been them hitting much smaller frigates; a Sprucan is pretty big, about 8,000 tons.

The hit clearly broke her back but she didn’t seem to instantly and completely split in two the way the frigates did.

[Strategerist]

Yeah, it does. Then again, one carrier taskforce can utterly dominate a huge chunk of any body of water it is in, sinking anything and everything within its area of control. So maybe it is enough. Maybe.

Might want to substitute "well-trained and quiet submarine" for "carrrier taskforce" in the above. Perhaps.

[ops33]

It was very impressive and I’m glad the Aussies are on our side.

[2111USMC]

Man, what a headline!

[piytar]

Thought about it. Then again, attack subs are part of a carrier task force, aren’t they? I thought so, but not sure. If so, I’ll claim Prego - it’s in there!