USS Connecticut has undersea collision

USS Connecticut mistaken for sub-sandwich by polar bear in 2003...


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originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: MDDoxs

There were multiple sub collisions with manned Soviet boats when they were playing Cossacks and Cowboys. Colliding with a USV, even with China, would barely be a blip on the radar. They aren't going to want to admit that they have programs of record developing USVs or how far along they are, and we don't want to admit that we're still playing Cossacks and Cowboys.

Once pictures get out, and they probably will, you'll have a pretty good idea what they hit. A whale would leave very specific damage as opposed to a manmade vehicle.

Pardon my sonar capabilities ignorance but

Wouldn't something that crushes the nose cone has to be massive? wouldn't it have a sonar signal that our SO could at least find the range to target?

Could it have been following a target and the target stoped and they slammed into it. While I cab see a whale denting a sub, it's no gonna scratch and penetrate like a metallic nose cone is it?

a reply to: putnam6

Subs very rarely use active sonar, so if it's not generating noise, the tracking sub can't hear it. The USS San Francisco ran into a seamount in 2005 and barely made it back to Guam. They ended up cutting the bow off USS Honolulu and transplanted it because it was cheaper than repairing the bow that was damaged.

Many collisions occurred because the sub being chased would turn to check behind them, and the trailing sub didn't recognize it in time.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I was just going to post the same answer. They rarely use active sonar but do use passive broadband analysis that "usually"
can tell if an object is too close to the ship.

In an area like that, active sonar instantly gives away your position and being where it was and what it was doing there is probably not what the US would like known.

"Captain" Bill Clinton? Or did I read that wrong?

objects that don't ping tho? Hmmmmm...?a reply to: Bigburgh

a reply to: Zaphod58

Thanks, I knew you or some other ATSer would know.

But in regard to this, the potential is even if they re ended a China sub, TPTB isn't going to tell us.

originally posted by: charlyv
a reply to: Zaphod58

I was just going to post the same answer. They rarely use active sonar but do use passive broadband analysis that "usually"
can tell if an object is too close to the ship.

In an area like that, active sonar instantly gives away your position and being where it was and what it was doing there is probably not what the US would like known.

Thanks my submarine knowledge pretty much begins with the Hunt for Red October and ends with Crimson Tide. So I imagined after 30 years there would have been some improvements. Not saying fool proof by any means.

When I served on the USS Albuquerque a long time ago, we had a snapped sail plate when coming back into port. These steel plates are pretty heavy duty, so I was stunned that one had been broken. I always thought maybe we hit a whale and asked a few times about it, but never got an answer. So I doubt we get any further news on what exactly happened.

On another note, I was serving on the USS Albuquerque when the USS San Francisco ran into that underwater mountain. I actually knew a guy from sub school that was in it. He is fine, but said that will probably haunt him for life. Even a minor crash on a submarine would be hell. High pressure systems and valves everywhere. Tomahawk missiles and torpedoes, and squeezed into a steel tube surrounded by water pressure that could kill in an instant. I still can’t believe I volunteered for that, but leaves me with a bunch of great stories I can’t tell.

originally posted by: Middleoftheroad
When I served on the USS Albuquerque a long time ago, we had a snapped sail plate when coming back into port. These steel plates are pretty heavy duty, so I was stunned that one had been broken. I always thought maybe we hit a whale and asked a few times about it, but never got an answer. So I doubt we get any further news on what exactly happened.

On another note, I was serving on the USS Albuquerque when the USS San Francisco ran into that underwater mountain. I actually knew a guy from sub school that was in it. He is fine, but said that will probably haunt him for life. Even a minor crash on a submarine would be hell. High pressure systems and valves everywhere. Tomahawk missiles and torpedoes, and squeezed into a steel tube surrounded by water pressure that could kill in an instant. I still can’t believe I volunteered for that, but leaves me with a bunch of great stories I can’t tell.

Yea it takes something different or so I have heard to be a submariner. I can't imagine as I've gotten older I sometimes feel semi-claustrophobic.

a reply to: putnam6

Yea we are a different breed of people for sure and weird in our own ways. When I was in school, the statistic they would tell us was only 7% of us would finish our first tour, 5 years on a sub. Some failed out of the school, some didn’t pass all the physicals, some the psych evals, then you have to be able to get at least a secret clearance, even the cooks and the rest just couldn’t handle the schedule and workload for submariners.

It gotta be Aliens. No hull damage now but next time.....

So Asimov, I must say .

a reply to: Middleoftheroad

Really respect you submariners. You really have to have it all together to be in such a dangerous environment and live, sleep and work with all your shipmates for such extended periods of time.

I was an SS1 in P3c's and we did a number of exercises with US subs. Of the few times we ever found you, it was because you let us, by making purposeful noises that tested if we caught you or not! Otherwise, you were ghosts.

a reply to: HumanGodAgain

Wrong forum and a T&C violation to boot, soliciting exposure of personal information.
Got it?

originally posted by: penroc3
a reply to: generik

there is passive sonar and other interments that don't require a sub to 'ping' a target

Which requires objects outside the sub making their own sound. If the object hit was silent, or could not be detected above background noise, there was nothing to detect.

a reply to: Middleoftheroad

My hat is off to you guys! Seriously! I don't know how you do it / did it. I don't think I could have handled the psychological part of it. Not knowing where I was, where I was going, not being able to see outside and knowing that we were driving with effectively duct tape over the windshield would have drove me nuts! For even a few hours, not the days, weeks and months you guys do!

I've known two guys who were submariners. Both of them very dedicated and extremely focused professionals. And both of them eventually flipped completely out and went koo-koo...like full-tilt straightjacket / rubber room type koo-koo! This was like years after they'd been in the service too. One guy, a mechanical engineer, freaked out so bad I showed up to work one morning and the office was crawling with feds in all their body armor, had large sections of the building taped off, it was crazy! Never did find out exactly what happened, but I heard it had something to do with him coming home to find the locks changed on his house. He went completely off the deep-end. Never, ever, would I have expected that from this guy! He was the most level headed guy I ever knew. Never heard from, nor saw him, ever again. It was like one day life was normal, and the next day...BOOM!

Anyway, my point here is, the psychological stresses of that job must be unimaginable.

Thanks for all you do / did!

originally posted by: neutronflux

originally posted by: penroc3
a reply to: generik

there is passive sonar and other interments that don't require a sub to 'ping' a target

Which requires objects outside the sub making their own sound. If the object hit was silent, or could not be detected above background noise, there was nothing to detect.

Well, not really true. If you were a sonar operator in either environment you know what I am talking about.... Been so many years I do not know if it is still classified, but cannot take a chance on that.

originally posted by: charlyv
a reply to: Middleoftheroad

Really respect you submariners. You really have to have it all together to be in such a dangerous environment and live, sleep and work with all your shipmates for such extended periods of time.

I was an SS1 in P3c's and we did a number of exercises with US subs. Of the few times we ever found you, it was because you let us, by making purposeful noises that tested if we caught you or not! Otherwise, you were ghosts.

Nice to finally hear from the other side. When I was fresh on the sub my first job was electronic support measures. I’d literally listen for your radars, one of the few that could detect our periscopes. I’d always be like dammit, here we go again. Please go away so I can get my email P3…pretty please!

I eventually moved on to the comms side of the Radioman job, unsure what they’re referred to as of now.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Thank you, I’d have to back that up. I’ve known a few that committed suicide. A few that lost their lives to just the natural dangers of being on a sub. You just can’t make mistakes for the most part. Everything around you can kill you. The hardest part for me was the family side of it. My kids didn’t even know who I was really for the first couple years of their lives, which was brutal on my mental health. I’m sure everyone was going through their own struggles in some sort of way. Then you have those old salty master chiefs that were just born for that life.