Nuclear subs collide in Atlantic
 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7892294.stm

the thing that really shocked me... was... what are the chances of that?!?!?!

seriously... isn't 80% of the worlds surface covered in water.... the chance of 2 subs colliding must be ridiculously small...

There's some additional information about nuclear subs "seeing" other subs when they are both trying to be hidden here: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/02/16/subs_crash/

Trevor

good article...

I find it very easy to believe that 2 objects that were purposely designed to be as 'invisible' as possible would not detect one another.... I find it staggering that they could be in the exact same place at the exact same time and hit each other... the worlds oceans are vast... :eek:

The oceans are vast, but everybody takes the same routes.

Kind of how France is a big country, but travellers always run into each other over and over because they're all going to the same 5 sights in the book.

I guess if they were travelling without sonar there would be an optimum route that would ensure they get where they're going efficiently without colliding with any underwater features or coming to the attention of any surface vessels.


Uh, yeah... what he said.

lolz, someone got fired over that.

Some american captains have been known to follow brand new russian subs out of the docks on their maiden voyage, to get their acoustical signature for future use.

http://tinyurl.com/chwuf2
http://www.teelajones.us/uw/ontheedge.html

And they collided with more than one Soviet sub.

It's likely that these two were trying to tail one another. That's always a dangerous task given that both are stealth vehicles.

Bit of an embarrassing way to give away your position.

yeesh. I wonder what the deductible is on that?

Hmmm. Two nuclear subs, on alert in stealth mode, collide in Atlantic. Perhaps the authorities aren't telling us the whole story about what the subs were actually doing.

Maybe the French sub was trying to defect, ala Hunt for Red October.:)

In order to enjoy the fabled British cooking? I don't think so. Perhaps the other way round.

heck, maybe the subs were evolving, and were trying to mate. :D

hump for Red October :)

No, not the "fabled" British cooking--these are submariners. They wanted the fabled British beer. The French make fantastic wines and great food, but seem completely incapable of brewing a good beer.

Trevor

Trevor, all the newbies whom you have helped should pass the hat to send you to a certain country where the food is the best in the world, better even than France, the beer is the best in the world (they say; it's not my thing), and in the north of the country people are very friendly and speak English. A gourmet friend of mine, when we visited together, pronounced it "France without the attitude". No nuclear submarines, though.

Answer: Belgium :)

It did snow in Paris.... a sure sign of the end of time.

We're getting WAY off-topic here, but I've already been to Belgium, and of course I love the beer there. And yes, I do think they've got the best beers in the world. Great chocolate, too.

Trevor

a very good point that I have never noticed.... your right!
There was a French larger I tried last time I was in the south of the country... it was brewed in Champagne casks... it was really odd... it was like someone had mixed larger with white wine!... not nice...

If you get chance to buy any 'Leffe'... (a beer from Belgium).. do... its ace.

http://www.theonion.com/content/amvo...r_subs_collide

Trevor

Back on topic...
Despite what the movies say detecting another sub that doesn't want to be detected is not easy. Especially if you don't really believe that it's out there.
This surfaced (ahem) a while ago when one country's submarine, in a wargame situation, was able to photograph the propellers of the opposing side's aircraft carrier.
This from inside a windowless tin can.

One might assume France & England have developed incredibly effective stealth submarines. Then again, maybe their ability to detect submarines really sucks.:)

Really an event that had to happen sometime. Two submarines with sound absorbing skin, moving slowly, passive sonar only simply won't see each other.

I know a guy who served on a boomer -- very dull was his summary -- but their strategy is straight-forward. Steam out from Newport News (or wherever) to the Gulf Stream, run at the slowest speed at which attitude, depth, and direction control are easily maintained, and basically drift with the Gulf stream until they're nearly to Ireland. At that point, another sub enters the stream off the US and the first one heads home.

This strategy can hardly be unique to the USN. I'll bet they all do it. So we're not talking about two subs meeting at random in the North Atlantic, we're talking about two meeting in the Gulf Stream which near the US is only 100 to 200 km wide +/- 40 km.

Had to happen sooner or later.

This is similar to how aircraft vectors work. Airplanes generally travel through invisible 'roads' in the sky marked out by map/radar. I can't find the article, but I recall a few years ago a civilian 757 almost collided with a stealth F-117 bomber (yes, it is technically a bomber even though it has a F designation).

Offtopic: I just found out that all of the F-117s were taken out of service in 2008 and been replaced with F/A-22s!

There's a beacon system of air lanes marked out on every air chart and domestic flights are directed to these and passed along from controller to controller. A military jet would normally be visible to controllers and military pilots know where (their maps show) where these routes are. When I was a kid in the RCAF we were supposed to stay the hell out of them.