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Navy loses four underwater unmanned vehicles off Norfolk
Hampton Roads PilotOnline ^ | 7 June 2010 | Lauren King

Posted on 06/08/2010 4:46:07 AM PDT by Jonah Hex

Four underwater unmanned vehicles went missing Sunday during training to conduct search, classify and map missions.

The Navy, Coast Guard and local authorities were searching for the missing vehicles in the Thimble Shoals Channel between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a Navy news release said.

Communication was lost with four of the 13 unmanned vehicles Sunday about 1 p.m. while the vehicles were using bottom-mapping sonar to look for mine-like contacts in the water as part of the training. Search and recovery operations began immediately.

Efforts continued Monday using small-craft, shore-based teams, air assets and marine mammal systems, which could include sea lions and dolphins trained to hunt mines.

The cause of the vehicles’ disappearance is under investigation. The missing vehicles do not pose a danger to civilians or the environment, the Navy release said, but if an unmanned vehicle is discovered floating in the water, boaters should avoid it as they would any other navigation hazard.

If one of the missing vehicles is found, please call the U.S. Second Fleet commander at (757) 443-9821.

The unmanned vehicles were being used as part of a larger training exercise with about 2,500 personnel from Canadian and U.S. military forces and government civilian agencies. The annual training exercise will continue through Friday.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events; US: Virginia
KEYWORDS: lost; navy; norfolk; rov
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1 posted on 06/08/2010 4:46:08 AM PDT by Jonah Hex
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To: magslinger

Ping to the Navy ping list?


2 posted on 06/08/2010 4:47:48 AM PDT by Jonah Hex ("Never underestimate the hungover side of the Force.")
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To: Jonah Hex

4? in one day? sounds like a lot


3 posted on 06/08/2010 4:54:25 AM PDT by nuconvert ( Khomeini promised change too // Hail, Chairman O)
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To: Jonah Hex

I’m forming a mental picture of one of these things homing in on someone preparing for their first “water skiing” adventure...


4 posted on 06/08/2010 4:56:33 AM PDT by bitterohiogunclinger (America held hostage - day 393)
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To: nuconvert
4? in one day? sounds like a lot

Sounds like somebody f'd up. Some blueshirt'll take the hit.

5 posted on 06/08/2010 4:57:25 AM PDT by P8riot (I carry a gun because I can't carry a cop.)
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To: Jonah Hex
Communication was lost with four of the 13 unmanned vehicles Sunday about 1 p.m.

Odd that FOUR went off the screen at the same time.

6 posted on 06/08/2010 4:59:07 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Jonah Hex
if an unmanned vehicle is discovered floating in the water, boaters should avoid it

Hold mah beer and watch THIS !!!

7 posted on 06/08/2010 5:00:23 AM PDT by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: Izzy Dunne

Not if all four had the same software running (which the undoubtedly did), and that software had a bug that all four managed to “surface” (no pun intended).


8 posted on 06/08/2010 5:01:08 AM PDT by craig_eddy (Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome)
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To: Izzy Dunne

Search BP.


9 posted on 06/08/2010 5:01:22 AM PDT by Red_Devil 232 (VietVet - USMC All Ready On The Right? All Ready On The Left? All Ready On The Firing Line!)
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To: nuconvert
4? in one day? sounds like a lot

"Andrei, you've lost another submarine?"

10 posted on 06/08/2010 5:01:41 AM PDT by Jonah Hex ("Never underestimate the hungover side of the Force.")
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To: Jonah Hex

If they want to find them, send down some of the ROVs that BP was using on the Deepwater Horizon. They don’t seem to be doing much at the moment.


11 posted on 06/08/2010 5:02:04 AM PDT by ROCKLOBSTER (Who allowed the worst oil pollution disaster in American history and did nothing?)
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To: Izzy Dunne

That’s probably standard issue “don’t F with our expensive technology”.


12 posted on 06/08/2010 5:02:38 AM PDT by craig_eddy (Equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome)
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To: Jonah Hex

Probably snagged by Russian sub......


13 posted on 06/08/2010 5:12:57 AM PDT by G Larry
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To: bitterohiogunclinger

heat seeking suppository?

ieeeee


14 posted on 06/08/2010 5:17:18 AM PDT by silverleaf (Every time history repeats itself the price goes up)
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To: Izzy Dunne

very odd indeed. Incompetence in spades or intentional act??


15 posted on 06/08/2010 5:18:37 AM PDT by silverleaf (Every time history repeats itself the price goes up)
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To: bitterohiogunclinger

I’m forming a picture of idiots getting these vehicles ready for ‘duty’


16 posted on 06/08/2010 5:23:37 AM PDT by Carley (For those who fought for it, freedom has a flavor the protected will never know.)
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To: silverleaf
Slow learners? Or maybe they had a software guy in charge. (I can make fun of software weenies 'cause I are one ;-) ).

"Hmm, alpha went off the screens, send in bravo." ... "Hmm, bravo had some kind of malfunction, bring charlie over here to check it out..." ...

17 posted on 06/08/2010 5:25:15 AM PDT by ThunderSleeps (obama out now! I'll keep my money, my guns, and my freedom - you can keep the change.)
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To: silverleaf

I am thinking aliens.

Or perhaps something very big that lives there that does not want ot be discovered.


18 posted on 06/08/2010 5:29:50 AM PDT by Only1choice____Freedom (FDR had the New Deal. President 0bama has the Raw Deal.)
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To: Jonah Hex

Tally of unmanned submersibles lost:
BP — Zero
Navy — Four in one day

Remind me again why the government is supposed to take over for BP.


19 posted on 06/08/2010 5:34:20 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom
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To: ThunderSleeps
Tinfoil hat here- but I am wondering if we are getting the real story here

Were these guys surveying drilling platforms and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge supports (and tunnel) for suspicious activity?

Terrorist acts to destroy offshore oil rigs- ? Do we think the govt would admit this and has a protection plan?

If the terros have subs to place explosives capable of collapsing the bridge and/or tunnel - mass casualty disaster and also close off the Chesapeake Bay to shipping-

If a hostile entity gets all the way up the Bay and the Potomac to DC, they could emulate the British in 1814. And of course halfway up the Bay is Calvert Cliffs.

20 posted on 06/08/2010 5:37:06 AM PDT by silverleaf (Every time history repeats itself the price goes up)
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