Hattip to commenter Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. How could one of our most advanced subs accidentally have a collision? Why don’t we know what was collided with? Was this due to human error? Lots of questions and thus far zero answers from the navy. We have seen a lot of human error in the Navy in recent years leading to collisions which should have been avoided. This is intolerable, especially in a potential war zone.
For awhile the US surface naval officers were qualified by watching videos. We know that didn’t work…many collisions and loss of life.
Maybe it collided with C’thulhu and they’re trying not to panic the masses…
(Don’s wife Cathy here): This is my favorite version of “Hey There, Cthulhu” : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxScTbIUvoA
Don if you haven’t yet and ever get the chance, you really should try Cthulhu Wars someday.
https://petersengames.com/cthulhu-wars/
Thank you, Donald. For those who may be unaware, submarines outside of active sonar have little in the way of sensor detection. And typically submarines do NOT use active sonar because the sound pings would alert an enemy vessel as to where one is located. Therefore, submarines rely on detailed undersea maps and inertial guidance. So if the USS Connecticut SSN-22 were patrolling near the ocean bottom in the South China Sea, evading a Chinese Naval fleet above, then it would be running silently (no active sonar), and it would be unable to detect a sunken wreck or a dropped shipping contained (which seems likely to have happened). Initial reports indicate damage to the bow sonar dome. The article below explains further details on submarine inability to detect objects in the ocean without active sonar. And no, radar does NOT work undewater owing to the severe attenuation of radar waves in water.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42706/why-multi-billion-dollar-nuclear-submarines-still-run-into-things-underwater
Aaron Amick, former Naval submarine sonar technician, is quoted in the article above. His analysis of what happened to the USS Connecticut is here:
As soon as more information comes out of Guam (to where the Connecticut headed after the collision), I am sure Aaron Amick at Sub Brief on YouTube will post it.
PS, this hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for the US Navy. A naval nuclear engineer – Jonathan Toebbe – and his wife – Diana – have been arrested on charges of espionage and violation of US Codes associated with the Atomic Energy Act of 1954:
Sadly, no one can frack things up like the US Navy.
I saw this on the morning news. According to that story, the Navy officials say this spate of accidents is due to Covid. Somehow that has impacted training.
LCQ – I’m legitimately surprised that after all these years, new sensors haven’t been developed. (or have they…) Heck, do you think we could develop some kind of night-vision camera rig for subs? (probably a lot of money to be made there…)
Nate,
The ocean is very dark once you descend below a few hundred feet. And any infrared radiation from a nearby object is uickly attentuated by the cold water. So there is no such thing as a night vision camera for submarines. Anything that uses electromagnetic waves for detection is pretty much useless. While sensing magnetic anomalies is something with which the Russians have experimented, again, it relied on EM waves and they are easily attentuated. Sound waves work best in the murky ocean depths. But that only works if the object you are nearing emits sound.
Things like neutrino detectors (to sense the reactor of a nearby nuclear submarine) are still science fiction and will remain so for a long time. Too many people expect science fiction miracles in the face of the overwhelming power and murkiness of the ocean. That’s just not realistic. Submarines go blind and in the open ocean (out in the Pacific and Atlantic where the ocean bottom is thousands of feet down) that’s ok. But the South China Sea is rather shallow (300 to 400 ft) with lots of volcanic vent uprisings. It’s a part of the infamous Pacific ring of fire. And it is a very heavily trafficked sea lane. So the ocean floor is littered with wrecks and dropped shipping containers. Subs typically hide down there from surface naval fleets. The good news is that subs are difficult to detect. The bad news is that subs have difficulty detecting objects too. Likely the Connecticut was spying on the Chinese and this hiding, crawling along at about 5 to 15 knots on the bottom, when bang, her bow hit a shipping container or an undersea wreck that wasn’t on many map.
Folks,
There is a lot to teach in how submarines detect other objects underwater that requires a vast amount of explanation. The primary method is always active sonar.
Not neutrino detectors – that’s science fiction
Not radar – doesn’t work underwater
Not infrared night vision cameras – don’t work underwater
Not magnetic anomaly detection – never reliable, only works close range.
Active sonar is the primary method. The problem is this. If you beam out a sound wave to detect something 5000 feet away, then an enemy submarine 10000 feet away can lurk in the shadows and know you’re there before you’re able to detect him. Thus, subs stay silent.
Here are some links to videos by Aaron Amick that explain sonar. I selected those that I thought would help best to explain a difficult subject to lay persons like me (yes, I am a lay person when it comes to sonar, but an expert when it comes to nuclear power – expertise in one area is not expertise everywhere). There is so much to teach that I cannot do it all. Bottom line: if a sub crawls on the bottom of the ocean, then it will eventually hit something.
Whiteboard: Basic Hydrophone
Whiteboard: Hydrophone Arrays
Whiteboard: How does Active Sonar Work
Frequency Analysis in Sonar
Whiteboard: Duct and Layer Depth
Whiteboard: How to Use Layer Depth
Oh I’m not being cavalier about the challenge, just thinking that if God has made plenty of life able to navigate and get around down there, we should be able to rip off some of His designs by now. (Unless He slaps the navy with a copyright claim.)
It does make me laugh because I remember once an internet argument with someone who claimed “there are only 2 sea fighters: subs and targets.” Who knew if we ever wanted to frustrate enemy submarines in a war we could just use litter.
All the latest and best technology in the world is no help in the hands of leftists, where professionalism and proficiency have abandoned ship.
Uniforms have become clown costumes decorated with Participation Merit medals.
Thanks LQC. Always nice when an expert on a subject is a commenter on the blog!