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Atlantic Prang


Gardian
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Not me!  There's no way you'd get me on a sub. I never thought of myself as claustrophobic until I went on a sub tried up at Portsmouth Navy Days.

I take your point though and it would be a completely different matter if anyone had been injured. 

I wonder what the bill will be for fixing them up and is it handled 'knock for knock'?

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Nothing like both parties blasting out anti-sonar waves to make yourself invisible then bumping into each other in the dark!

Why do we need such expensive useless equipment.

Why has UK one of the biggest armies in the world for a third rate nation?

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[quote user="ChrisnJulie"]

Ignoring the unlikely possibility of a nuclear incident, it could so easily have been a disaster on a scale twice that of the Kursk in 2000.

Very easy to be flippant, but there for the grace of God go we.

Chris

[/quote]

The Kursk could have been twice the disaster if the US sub that collided with the Kursk had sunk too.  Alternativley if the Russians had allowed the "other" subs in the area to help then maybe no one need have died. God doesn't enter in to it. 

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When you think about it, this must have been one hell of a fright for the crews.

There you are, bimbling along at 5 knots, middle of the Atlantic, 50m down, and all of a sudden there's one hell of graunching noise.  Sounds of "Merde alors" fill the ears of the HMS sonar operators, with the opposite for the French guys.

Fair enough - this has been a bit flippant, but it was only started once it was clear that nobody was hurt. The cliche, "Lessons will be learned", was never more true. 

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 Teapot,

What a load of cobblers.

You have been reading too many conspiracy theories. There was no US sub collision, it was a torpedo malfunction, in combination with substantial operational mal-practice.

Regarding the French / British boat collision. There seem to be an awful lot of people in UK who's knowledge seems to be locked in WW2 submarine films.

Imagine a scenario:- you and I are in a large room, say a football stadium, that is totally, pitch black. We are both either very very silent or are deaf or are wearing earplugs. We cannot hear each other. We wander around said room for lots of time. At some point we are going to bump into each other.

That's what happens when two very silent missile boats are patrolling, particularly when sea conditions are rough and 'background' noise levels are higher than normal thus masking any passive sonar chance of a very slight noise being heard.  Both boats are designed to be not detectable, that's how they would survive in a conflict.

Sods Law rules OK

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Whats an anti sonar device then?

There's no secret that British boats as far back as Poliaris were able to pick up signals and bounce them as though they had passed through the boat.

I think the point here is that to use sonar would automatically make the boat using it visible.

So the anti sonar would I guess have been the off switch on the signal generator.

It's not all 'Red October' but there are some truths in that film. They do listen for propwash (The sound of water displaced by propellers or jets)

They do measure for changes in magnetic field.

There are listening bouys out there.

Fact is that if one of the boats had been going at full chat there could have been a tragedy. If you think about it if someone shouts to the helm turn! the reasonable response will be which way? Sad thing is that it's only a matter of time before it happens again.

I shouldn't Imagine the French navy are putting out the nuclear equivalent of the one eyed renault 4 avec pi55ed up Pierre but I have my reservations!

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[quote user="powerdesal"]If one of the boats had been going at full chat the other boat would definitely have heard it, cavitating prop and all.
[/quote]

Granted but its a question of which way to jump then when something is bearing down at 25 knots. Even with drive disengaged they will hear the water passing over the hull but it's all a bit like the screech of tyres before the inevitable thump.

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