Posted on 10/04/2017 9:14:54 PM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
Here’s a thought experiment: what if, suddenly, all the world’s submarines could no longer submerge? There they would be, on the surface of the ocean, slow, unwieldy, with no effective protection against attack. They’d be sitting ducks. Fanciful? Perhaps not.
With a high probability, something very like this awaits the world’s submarines within the next couple of decades.
Submarines are classic stealth predators. They have only one big trick — their invisibility — and they rely on it utterly to mount a successful attack. In that respect, they are no different from sabre-tooth tigers or trapdoor spiders. And like such predators, they are vulnerable to what scientists call an ‘evolutionary ratchet’.
In the inevitable arms race with their prey, they need to devote so much of their resources to evolving their invisibility that they can become overspecialised and vulnerable to a change in their world. Just like sabre-tooth tigers, in a changed world, they can become extinct.
Changes to the subs’ world are mainly in the science and technology of sensing what’s in the oceans. There are a bunch of rapidly improving technologies in the pipeline today that must give submariners the shivers, but it is the coming emergence and then convergence of entirely new technologies that could deliver the coup de grace to the submarine era.
Subs are large, slow, warm metallic objects moving through the sea — an electrically conducting medium and, as every boat owner knows, a strong chemical solvent. They are also ferromagnetic objects moving through the Earth’s magnetic field. They leave a trail. There is a raft of physics, chemistry and even biology to exploit here in sensing them.
In the short term, detection of disturbances in the Earth’s magnetic field or of the undersea wakes left by a sub’s passage will be added
(Excerpt) Read more at theaustralian.com.au ...
do french subs have backup lights and auto-surrender systems?
From an article about WWI ships ...
“Modern warships are naturally prone to developing a magnetic signature thanks to ferromagnetism. The earth projects a magnetic field, like a giant bar magnet. As a ship sails, it cuts across the planet’s magnetic field, and the magnetic domains inside the steel of ship’s hulls align and magnetize the hull.”
https://medium.com/war-is-boring/how-britain-beat-germanys-wwii-magnetic-sea-mines-bfec5558704c
The Frogs will fight hard when they have too. And when it’s in their best interest.
A decent modern sub is made from austenitic steel for that reason. They are not ferromagnetic and don't leave that trail.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.