I find it odd that no freeper has brought up the question why this Russian submersible was so close to a communication cable to get snagged on it in the first place. The ocean is a big place as evidenced by the eighty years it took to find an ocean liner. Were they tampering with transatlantic cable traffic? Were they involved in corporate or military espionage? These are serious questions that need to be asked before everyone pops the champagne on a successful joint rescue effort.
And why were there 7 aboard?
"I find it odd that no freeper has brought up the question why this Russian submersible was so close to a communication cable to get snagged on it in the first place."
It is great to have asute posters here....
Buckhead and now SpaceBar...
While I happy the crew is safe I've had the same questions you do.
Why couldn't they be working on their own costal defense system? A cable tapping story would be sexier though.
Rush said the other day that there were Russo-Sino war games going on. Funny, he thought, that they can have war games but finish up with a British-American rescue.
It was their own antenna. I see no conspiracy.
The cable they were snagged on was part of the Russian Submarine Detection network, not a communication cable.
The sub, (oddly enough) is a Rescue and Research Sub. What was it doing participating in a military mission.
This wasn't a communications cable, it was some sort of sensor/antenna array. Since this was pretty close to their bases in Kamchatka, so it make sense that they would have this sort of equipment in the area.
The obvious answer is that they were testing their own sub detection system for gaps (perhaps close in gaps)...as in, could a foreign vessel "crawl" past our sensors without being detected.
Based upon the results, I'd guess "yes."
Then you'd have to wonder if that particular area had something special that needed protecting from foreign vessels getting too close in.
"Communication cable" is probably technically accurate but a bit misleading. The United States, Russia, and other major powers have networks of underwater passive sonar monitors running along their coasts to listen for enemy submarine activities. These sensors are networked by communication cables back to land reporting stations. This is apparently what the minisub became entangled in. These cables are strictly military unlike the Transatlantic cable(s) you refer to.
I thought I had read posst from Freepers about the following:
1) Possibly another Russian sub in the area that the snagged sub was trying to reach.
2) possibly the snagged sub was trying to monitor cable traffic as you suggest-- or practicing for it.
3) My own pet, tinfoil, see-if-it-sticks theory: that it was staged to see how quickly and with what equipment the West would send aid. I note that the Russians didn't ask for Chinese help and they are supposed to be engaged in joint excercises on land. (The snagged sub may not have been in any great danger.)
They night save 7 Navy SEALS some day and I won't give a Rat's what the SEALS were up to.
It's not likely that these Russians were up to no good anyway, for one thing, that platform at 600 ft has no manipulators, and no way to interface with a cable.
If they were up to something shady, they wouldn't have called for the help. Russians are stoic like that.
I'm just glad to see a good outcome, as far as I know, it was one of their OWN COMMO antennae that they snagged.
I expect info to dry up from here on in, but if the Russians were doing something snakey, I'm sure it will be apparent to the British U.S. people on scene and handled appropriately in back channels.
God bless the crew, God bless Mother Russia and God bless our British brothers.
I find it odd that no freeper has brought up the question why this Russian submersible was so close to a communication cable to get snagged on itThenn put your thinking cap on; that was this sub's duty, to 'service' SOSUS type listening devices, and they had a work accident ..
(PREVIOUS threads have covered this subject. HINT: Do a search on my name.)
It wasn't a communication cable, it was an underwater antenna. The sub was probably atepting to do some maintenance on it, or it may have simply happened upon it by accident. Who knows?
One thig I'm pretty sure of is that they weren't trying to tamper with transatlantic cable traffic with a submarine in the northwester Pacific Ocean some 9000 miles from the nearest transatlantic cable. That would have been a feat well beyond the capability of the Russians even if they had the intention..
Uh, because it was in the Pacific?
Maybe becuase it turned out to be a fishing net after all?
And this happened only a few miles off the Russian coast. Why would they be tapping their own cables?
Have you been drinking? :)
Very good point! Excellent analysis.