05-11-2021, 04:15 PM
Analysis by Brad Lendon, CNN
Updated 0330 GMT (1130 HKT) November 5, 2021
Some submariners call the USS Connecticut the luxury sports car of submarines. It's a US$3 billion piece of American military hardware that's fast and outfitted with the latest electronic gadgetry only available when price is not a consideration.
But despite its high cost and sophisticated tech, the United States Navy says the Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack sub ran smack into an undersea mountain in the Pacific on October 2.
......
how did this happen?
......
Surface ships or a sub operating at periscope depth can relay on global positioning satellites to give sailors a very accurate location
......
But at depth, the GPS systems are not available. Submariners use their compasses and charts.
Accurate charts (with a resolution of 328 feet or 100 meters) of the sea bottom are compiled by sending surface ships over an area and bathing the bottom in sound waves -- a method called multi-beam sonar.
But the process is expensive and time consuming, leaving as much as 80% of Earth's seafloor unmapped.
......
Submarines do have their own sonar, but using it comes at a price -- loss of stealthiness.
......
Washington issued its first public statement on the collision five days after it occurred. It did not disclose the fact that the Connecticut hit a seamount until earlier this week, nearly a month after the incident.
Much more at: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/04/asia/...index.html
Updated 0330 GMT (1130 HKT) November 5, 2021
Some submariners call the USS Connecticut the luxury sports car of submarines. It's a US$3 billion piece of American military hardware that's fast and outfitted with the latest electronic gadgetry only available when price is not a consideration.
But despite its high cost and sophisticated tech, the United States Navy says the Seawolf-class nuclear-powered attack sub ran smack into an undersea mountain in the Pacific on October 2.
......
how did this happen?
......
Surface ships or a sub operating at periscope depth can relay on global positioning satellites to give sailors a very accurate location
......
But at depth, the GPS systems are not available. Submariners use their compasses and charts.
Accurate charts (with a resolution of 328 feet or 100 meters) of the sea bottom are compiled by sending surface ships over an area and bathing the bottom in sound waves -- a method called multi-beam sonar.
But the process is expensive and time consuming, leaving as much as 80% of Earth's seafloor unmapped.
......
Submarines do have their own sonar, but using it comes at a price -- loss of stealthiness.
......
Washington issued its first public statement on the collision five days after it occurred. It did not disclose the fact that the Connecticut hit a seamount until earlier this week, nearly a month after the incident.
Much more at: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/11/04/asia/...index.html
