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Makes you wonder why they don't have forward-facing sonar as standard during non-secret ops. I mean, there's not a whole lot of shifty things you can be doing o
by contingencies 4y ago
Makes you wonder why they don't have forward-facing sonar as standard during non-secret ops. I mean, there's not a whole lot of shifty things you can be doing off Guam, if you already own the place.
- count 4y agoThe position of most submarines at any given point is considered actually secret, especially if it is underwater. Great expense is undertaken to monitor and listen for other countries undersea vehicles as well.
- wongarsu 4y agoThere's always training as a good excuse for running silent. Apart from that ... well, I'm not quite sure what these fast attack submarines are doing out and about at all. Maybe looking for other subs in the area? But whatever they are doing probably benefits from being hard to detect. If you are comfortable with announcing yourself with active sonar and are not just on the way to somewhere else, why not just use a surface ship in the first place?
- jakear 4y agoWhat do you think would be easier: tracking a sub when you have tons of data linking your clandestine sensors' information to their location as broadcast by sonar, or when you don't?
- jedc 4y agoformer US submariner here: * forward-facing sonar is always being used at all times while a submarine is underway * however, the sonar that's always used is passive, and since mountains don't move, passive sonar doesn't find them * active sonar could theoretically be used, but the risk of communicating a submarine's position relative to the chance that you'd hit an underwater mountain is balanced strongly on the side of running silent.
- contingencies 4y agoThanks for sharing an informed perspective!