Damage To Submarine Believed Severe

The Day, New London ^ | 1/11/2005 | ROBERT A. HAMILTON

[gridlock]

You know you're in trouble when the most recent notation on your chart says "Heare be Dragons..."

[Boot Hill]

"Wasn't a transparent steel product recently developed?"

YES! Well actually it was transparent aluminum. And it was invented in 1986 by Paramount Studios for the release of Star Trek IV, The Voyage Home.   J

(Never heard of transparent steel.)

--Boot Hill

[Boot Hill]

"Heare be Dragons..."

LOL, best line of the day!

--Boot Hill

[fso301]

I can only imagine the laxative effect of being at 500 ft and hitting something.

[wiley]

US Submariners are the best of the best. OTOH, it never ceases to amaze me how absolutely professional the US sailor is under pressure to save a ship. Give the credit to the CPOs, an amazing bunch of leaders.

[Lakeside]

I'm near'bout ignorant about subs, too, but as most of the guys in the know are busy on another thread I'll give your question a shot.

The number one aspect of subs is stealth.

The San Fran was traveling deep and at speed. It wouldn't have mattered if the entire sub were made of transparency surface light wouldn't have reached that depth and all they would see would be blackness.

Even if there had been a window and the water clear, at the speed they were traveling the uncharted mount still would have loomed up faster than they could have reacted and averted.

The equipment they "see" with is very good. But even with it this happened. It's just one of the hazards of sub operations. Thankfully, as history shows, this is very rare.

[bandleader]

Right ON!This has got to be some crew(not to mention their leadership)to have saved this boat!!!

[Ready4Freddy]

Steely-Eyed Killers of the Deep

[Truth29]

Well, I don't know about transparent steel or aluminum, but there really is translucent concrete (transmits enough light to illuminate the inside of a room).

[Quilla]

The Voyage Home has its own thread!

:-)

[Quilla]

It wouldn't have mattered if the entire sub were made of transparency surface light wouldn't have reached that depth and all they would see would be blackness.

Excellent point.

BTW, I could tell by your accent (near'bout) you were a fellow Alabamian. ;-)

[nightdriver]

A sub has to be scary when there is uncontrolled flooding. I have heard that some of these nukes only have about 15% excess bouyancy. That's not a lot of safety margin in an incident like this.

[Final Authority]

Transparent aluminum or synthetic sapphire is quite common. Go to a checkout at your local supermarket and look at the scanner window, that is sapphire. The watch crystal on more expensive watches, that is sapphire. Synthetic sapphire is pure aluminum oxide and it is very hard and melts or softens at very high temperatures so it is not easy to make into complex shapes. The material has a use as a window in weapon systems that employ IR seekers since it is transparent in the MWIR and is quite tough to resist the rigors of the battlefield.

[reagandemo]

I find that hard to believe. Cook did not have any other method than the old line and weight to judge depth.

[Robe]

I recall an incident way back in the '60s, I was on the "Big E". Sometimes after flight ops ,I'd sneak down a hold up under the "round down" at the stern and have a cup of hot Coffee with a "lil" drop" added.
We were some where near the "Marianis (sp?)Trench"
While sitting there kinda hidden amongst the capstans, two black mess cooks came up to dump the garbage over the fantail.
After completing their duties they took the opportunity to have a smoke. As they were leaning there contemplating the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. One turned to the other and said,"You know ,Dude, dat sure be alot a water out there", the other replied after a brief moment saying " Yup, and dat only be the top of it"
I knew in that moment, that these two guys really understood the old saying "Dear GOD, The Ocean is so big and my Ship so Small"

(BTW,Hey Boot, I don't either have one eye!!!! Fat, yes, one eyed, NO!!!) (:^)

[gortklattu]

---"“We know more about the backside of the moon than we do about the bottom of the ocean,”" ---

Yeah, I haven't heard of any subs running into things up there....

;)

[bmwcyle]

show the submarine's sonar sphere

You unbolt the fiberglass nose and bolt and new one on.

[expat_panama]

“This is the first time in my memory that anyone was ever killed in one of these accidents,”

What about the Thresher --nuke sub sank killing all back in '62?

[Lakeside]

Yup! I've been here a combined 16 years so I feel like a native. I never realized just how much I used the phrase "I'm gonna get me a..." 'til so much was made of it in the past campaign season. It just rolled off my tongue so easily I thought it was proper grammar.(smile)

[Quilla]

I heard that!