Posted on 11/02/2021 1:18:00 PM PDT by Right Wing Vegan
Edited on 11/02/2021 5:12:39 PM PDT by Admin Moderator. [history]
YOKOSUKA, Japan - A U.S. Navy attack submarine was determined to have hit an uncharted underwater mountain last month, officials said in a statement following an investigation.
A statement issued Monday revealed that the nuclear-powered USS Connecticut struck a seamount — or underwater mountain.
(Excerpt) Read more at fox6now.com ...
Between the islands, which is as far as I can go here.
Sure it is. The sea floor isn't static. Seismic shifts and volcanic activity mean the sea floor is constantly changing. And it's not that well mapped to begin with.
Super duper special top secret info, huh?
I was wondering about that, too.
Reports are it stayed surfaced during the trip to Hawaii, so I’m sure there’s some pictures of it SOMEWHERE...
“Super duper special top secret info, huh?”
Not sure, at least today, by why risk it.
I wasn’t a submariner (surface warfare/amphibious ops mostly) but work with and are friends with a bunch of submariners.
Funny you should mention sail boats, a sonar friend described how he got driven nuts trying to figure out a seemingly random, intermittent transient.
Turned out to be a sail boat with a line or something getting blown against the mast occasionally in the breeze.
I remember after the USS San Francisco accident my friend grumping at all the press about their supposed failure of their sonar.
1. Underwater mountains don’t usually make noise and if they do, be else where FAST!
2. In over 15 years, the number of times he used active sonar outside of sea trials could be counted on one hand with enough fingers to flip a ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ finger.
“Any World War II submarine Axis or Allied hit underwater mountain?”
The dive depth of the average WW2 sub was 600 feet. Depending on class the crush depth was 660-920 feet.
The Seawolf class sub has a dive depth of approximately 2,200 feet. The crush depth is estimated to be between 2,400 and 3,000 feet.
Apples and oranges.
He/She's suggesting chrome front bumpers with fish finders attached and air bags thru out the sub.
With over 20 years of Navy experience I can say you are mistaken. Things have improved since I first joined the Navy but we (humans) have far better and more comprehensive maps of the surface of the Moon and Mars than we have of the bottom of the world’s oceans.
Hell, I’ve used charts where the only survey of some of the area happened over 200 years ago with the rest being a big fat unknown.
There’s only so much Hydrographic survey capability in the world and the worlds oceans are a massive and changing place.
Unless the submarine is running around banging away with her active sonar (negating the point of being a quiet stealthy platform), no sub is going to detect a mountain that isn’t on her charts except by running face first into it.
Maybe radar then? I know nothing about the technology. It just seems incredible to me that someone would run into a mountain. I guess there aren’t any translucent metals that can act like a window.
Thank you. Good to know.
Thank you. I am being enlightened.
Why are they covering it up. They either hit a seamount or a very big whale or.... another sub belonging to China.
Underwater LIDAR systems have been around for 25 years... LIDAR obstacle detection systems are in cars for years now but the Navy doesn`t drive ....vidently...
...........well, your Navy experience exceeds mine by 13 years.
That said, what’s your best guess about what happened or do you believe the Navy version?
Your assertion that underwater mapping is not comprehensive or perfect is well taken.
why not go with the most obvious possibility— a giant squid?
Based on what’s known publicly (and the photos I’ve seen of the damage), I’d say it would most likely have been hitting an underwater seamount - either uncharted, incorrectly charted, or the sub screwed up their navigation fix (that’s in descending order likelihood).
Outside of this, maybe (but highly unlikely) she hit a submerged shipping container at speed (thousands of containers are lost overboard every year). The South China Sea is ridiculously filled with lost shipping containers.
Wrong area/time for a whale strike at speed.
If she hit a Chinese (or other country’s sub) they would be screaming about it from the mountains.
good points...
That's a whale of a tale.
>That’s what happens when you don’t pay your sonar bills.
That was my thoughts.
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