35 ms·
USS Connecticut (SSN 22) struck an object while submerged on Oct. 2
- protomyth 5y agoUSS Connecticut (SSN 22) struck an object while submerged on Oct. 2, while operating in international waters in the Indo-Pacific region. A Sea Wolf attack submarine struct something in the South China Sea. I get the feeling it hit another sub or some anti-sub defense. This is definitely a non-good event.
- executive 5y agoTwitter says it did not hit another sub. https://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/1446190294693781509 https://twitter.com/LucasFoxNews/status/1446190294693781509
- Sebguer 5y agoI think you're being downvoted for "Twitter says", when the reality is a "tweet from a reporter, quoting an official source" says.
- speedybird 5y agoThe Drive says > As for what the submarine hit, details remain limit. U.S. officials have reportedly said that there are no indications at present that the "object" was another submarine. "No indications at present" does not mean the same thing as "did not." Neither gives a proper quote of whatever statement they're paraphrasing, but I can easily see the former being transmuted into the latter by a careless journalist.
- jvanderbot 5y ago"no indications" sure does lower probability, since "I know we hit a sub" is an indication.
- paranoidrobot 5y agoThere's a lot of shipping in that region. A lot of cargo containers are lost overboard. They don't all immediately sink to the bottom (sealed air, bouyant cargo, etc) What's the sonar signature of a 40 foot shipping container that's just floating below the surface? Are you even going to hear it without going active? What kind of damage does that do, if your submarine plows into it, even at a slow speed? My understanding is that the bow isn't entirely metal, that there's fiberglass (or something similar) where the sonar equipment is located.
- EastOfTruth 5y agomaybe it hit a pipeline while it was trying to splice fiber-optic cables? You know what these subs are doing, right?
- xxpor 5y agoYou don't need a nuclear powered sub to do that.
- EastOfTruth 5y agoDepends who is watching.... and do you need a Lambo to go to the launch pad?
- jedc 5y agoFormer Navy submarine officer here. This sucks, but it happens. (It happened to a boat I was on.) It could be hitting the bottom of the ocean (which nearly killed 130+ people on the USS San Francisco years ago - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Francisco_(SSN-711)#Collision_with_seamount https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_San_Francisco_(SSN-711)#Co...), it could be hitting another ship above it (coming to and/or operating at periscope depth is dangerous), or potentially another sub. Invariably people get fired, and whatever happens becomes a lesson learned that the Navy trains on in the future.
- nicoburns 5y ago> coming to and/or operating at periscope depth is dangerous Is there any reason why they can't check what's above them before ascending?
- ethbr0 5y agoHow would they check what's above them? Visual is out. Passive sonar will only detect noise sources. And pinging with active sonar loudly announces to everyone around exactly where you are.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoMagnetic induction tomography. Detection at a distance isn't yet practical, but the physics are known (eddy current effect).
- kfarr 5y agoWhy is visual out? Cameras are cheap
- bayindirh 5y agoBut water is not always transparent or clear enough. Also there's not enough light all the time. Also pressure proofing cameras are not cheap I presume.
- zozin 5y agoSome additional information. https://news.usni.org/2021/10/07/breaking-attack-submarine-uss-connecticut-suffers-underwater-in-pacific https://news.usni.org/2021/10/07/breaking-attack-submarine-u... Looks like 11 sailors were hurt. Very interesting indeed. Some sort of reconnaissance buoy? Or perhaps they were traveling close to the bottom of the South China Sea and hit the bottom? China considers the South China Sea an internal lake, so they would think they’re within their rights to mine it or otherwise defend it with submarine nets or booms. I imagine within the context of a larger conflict the PLAN would enact all sorts of submarine countermeasures in the South China Sea. This is why the lack of clarity/conflict regarding ownership of that body of water is so dangerous for the rest of the world.
- AreYouSirius 5y agoownership of that land by US?, or you ment ownership of hormuz strait by us ... ?? https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57066277 https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-57066277 or maybe you though ownership of russian waters ? https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-coronavirus-pandemic-health-business-3581667136e1cabd6a19d5fcf5bec531 https://apnews.com/article/europe-russia-coronavirus-pandemi... and do NOT forget that those ships in South China Sea are transfering GOODS TO AND FROM CHINA TO US XD hillarious
- pvarangot 5y agoIt's not dangerous for the rest of the world, it's dangerous only for people wanting to get into a submarine and patrol it.
- xxpor 5y agoThose same guys also have SSBNs, so it is in fact dangerous for everyone.
- speedybird 5y agoIf the Chinese were really so hot-headed to start a nuclear war because they were annoyed by an American submarine doing typical submarine things (an SSN no less, with no nuclear weapons of its own..), then there is no telling what other petty incident might also set them off. But I don't think they're so sensitive as that.
- skunkworker 5y ago"As for what the submarine hit, details remain limit. U.S. officials have reportedly said that there are no indications at present that the "object" was another submarine. "An official who requested anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on the record said that the area’s topography at the time did not indicate there was a land mass in front of the boat," Military Times reported." https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42669/one-of-the-navys-prized-seawolf-class-submarines-has-suffered-an-underwater-collision https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/42669/one-of-the-navys...
- slg 5y agoI understand the motives behind keeping it vague, but at a certain point doesn't the vagueness remove all value? What is the point in releasing a statement effectively saying "Our sub hit an unknown object for an unknown reason in an unknown location and the damages are unknown but do not threaten the ship"? Why say anything at all at this point?
- bostonsre 5y agoI'd guess it was for the families of sailors. They may hear through the grapevine that there was an accident, but think it would be good to get out in front of it to state there was an accident but there were no life threatening injuries so that no undue grief is caused. It seems like it would be a little nerve racking thinking about a loved one even just working on a submarine.
- ethbr0 5y agoAnd also presumably for the Chinese. Who, if the preliminary reports are not to be believed, possibly received a notification that one of their UUVs or subs was damaged. While tensions are high with Taiwan. And there are five(?) international carriers / amphibs conducting manuevers off Japan.
- dmix 5y agoThe Navy’s of the worlds job is a whole lot of high tech ‘watching’ of the other Navy’s. So having an official statement seems to make sense. (But I don’t think the GP really meant they shouldn’t say it at all, they just want more details.)
- AreYouSirius 5y agomakes sense now ? https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/us/pipeline-broken-oil-pacific-ocean.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/03/us/pipeline-broken-oil-pa... 25 miles per hour ! XD
- slg 5y ago
- GeorgeTirebiter 5y agoIt's important to note this is a Nuclear sub. https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a37898620/uss-connecticut-suffers-underwater-collision/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a37898620/... If the Navy can't successfully run these complicated machines, perhaps we need to re-think the USA's need for submarine assets in the first place. Or at least, the role of the Nuclear Submarine in 21st Century warfare; perhaps fewer, higher-tech units --- with crack seal-type units only operating them --- might make more sense. High automation. Robotics. Things like that. For sure, never give a meatbag a job better performed by automation.
- AreYouSirius 5y agoUS needs atleast 30 MIRV // MITRV inside submerged submarines at all times, to be succesfull in MAD US means it can be US + UK because reasons.
- dandotway 5y agoUS could lose all SLBM nuclear missile subs and still assure destruction, because of the triad. Land based ICBMs are more accurate than SLBMs and would launch in retaliation. The US has stealth cruise missiles it can launch from bombers. The US has the B1 and B2 bombers that can deliver nukes. Many Navy ships can launch nuclear cruise missiles. The USA is the only superpower that has such robust nuclear weapons delivery via a triad (land, air, sea). With Russian SLBM subs it is said they are so noisy that US attack subs are always silently tailing them after they leave port and can take them out before they can launch. Russia and China really only have robust land-based ICBMs. If all of those could be preemptively attacked (by stealth strikes and commando raids) then the US could potentially win a nuclear war. Not that we'd want to try.
- whatshisface 5y agoI have a hard time imagining the odds of raiding every silo in Russia at the same moment.
- beej71 5y agoDid it hit Facebook's market cap?
- arthurcolle 5y agoMaybe it was one of the USOs that have been hanging out off the coast of California that like to mess with the USS Nimitz
- spoonjim 5y agoThis article from Navy Times is worth a read: “Maybe today’s Navy is just not very good at driving ships.” https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/08/27/navy-swos-a-culture-in-crisis/ https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2017/08/27/navy-swo...
- mpyne 5y agoSubmarines were hitting things every 1-2 years for a fair period of time between 2003 - 2013. If anything it's gotten better... but complaceny kills, a lesson we continuously have to re-learn.
- qwertyuiop_ 5y agoPerhaps Chinese subs break checking Americans.
- gojomo 5y agoSo, a UUO? (Unidentified Underwater Object)?
- dirtyid 5y ago7th fleet being 7th fleet. Being accident prone is better than the alternative - UAV tech out there Seawolf can't detect, or worse UAV tech that can detect Seawolf and decided to touch.
- ngcc_hk 5y agoFinally aware this is one of the 3 most advance submarines of USA !
- hulitu 5y agoThe hunt for blue-red october can start :).
- ragnot 5y agoI wonder if this is all part of the game China and the US are playing. US gives AUKUS nuclear sub tech, China bops one of our most advanced nuclear sub classes...
- fooqux 5y ago> "The safety of the crew remains the Navy’s top priority." Can any military really say this with a straight face? It's obviously not their top priority. If it was, they wouldn't be packing actual live humans into a pressurized nuclear-powered tube packed with explosives and send them into the black. Not to mention that whole "going to war" thing they occasionally do. That's pretty risky stuff, or so I hear. Sorry for the snark. One can only take so much BS per hour, and I just got out of a meeting so my tolerance was low.
- wycy 5y agoWhen we're not at war, US Navy submarining is extremely safe. No one has died on a US Navy submarine since 2005, and even that was just 1 person.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- sgarland 5y agoThe number of suicides and general decline in mental health is astounding, though. Source: was submariner.
- simmerup 5y agoYou sound like you would benefit from a more positive attitude
- dsign 5y agoDid they finally find the MH370?