Not Coincidentally

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Those 345 MPH Supercavitating Torpedoes: Did You Know?

It dealt with Russia's VA-111 supercavitating Skhval torpedo and has received regular viewings ever since 2006.  China had reportedly bought 40 from Russia in 1998.  And, we of course mentioned that the "Shkval 2" had vectored steering capability like guided missile technology, perfect for torpedoes too fast for reliable wire guidance, butlike airborne rockets quite responsive to inertial navigation guidance with directional rocket thrusts.

The next month (April 200) we noted that the highest and best potential uses of Shkval technology had probably not been for torpedo propulsion at all, but actually for Supercavitating Naval Mine Fields, or supercavitating versions of the U.S. Navy's Mark 60 CAPTOR.

Two years later, although we leaked a certain countermeasure to the Skhval torpedo menace that seems to have been completely hushed, but avid readership, much of it apparently from North Korea (spoofed from the South) has persisted.

Now, China is boasting of having overcome: (1) steering difficulties in the decades old shkval technology that allows a smidgeon of friction for rudimentary precision, and; (2) combines liquid-membrane lubricant technology with supercavitation allowing lower launch speeds (misinformation):
Chinese reportedly working on submarine that would ‘fly’ in an ‘air bubble’

There continues to be 'sub'terfuge and great secrecy on all sides of what is actually available and under development, but one thing is for certain.  China and North Korea may some day have strategically placed supercavitating (super fast) fields of directed mines, activatable by enemy sub signatures.
 
Do any M.E. readers really believe the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) had not updated the CAPTOR concept years ago, refined encapsulated torpedo activation capabilities (MK 71 TDD) and has been spoofing our own submarine signatures for enemy consumption?  We can bet that our Russian friends have been working on same.  The difference has been that China tends to steal U.S. technology while importing Russian technology.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Next Blockbuster Submarine Movie: "THE KILLING DEPTHS"

Vigilis promised to review Martin Roy Hill's  submarine novel THE KILLING DEPTHS after reading the thriller. After reading Hill's pageturner, however, he realized the  best way to review it without spoiling the thrills and action was by simple comparison with another outstanding submarine novel, the late Tom Clancy's The Hunt for Red October:

What's to Like

• Action in KILLING DEPTHS, which includes an active NCIS homicide investigation on the U.S. sub, differs entirely from Red October. Interesting updates and enhancements (since 1984) also include:
• female SSN crewmembers
• female accomodation in space commonly occupied by 4 of 12 VLTs;  (most boats in service as of 2011 have a 12-tube VLS) Hmmm!
• slot buoy comms
• CAPTOR (encapsulated torpedoes) intelligent, deep-water, anti-submarine mines anchored to the ocean floor. 
• Helo transport of key civilian character to USS Encinitas was fairly humorous.
• plot keeps reader guessing for a long time.
• CO is a black.
• Engineering officer is a woman.

What's not to Like 

• Use of single ping sonar (common element of both novels) although barely more credible in DEPTHS as  El-Wazir, the enemy sub captain in THE KILLING DEPTHS,  uses his ping from desperation in a deadly kill or be killed action.
• Editing is generally appropriate, but in some rare instances appears to have relied more on computerized text-editng than human skill. Annoying instances were "Condition Dog Zebra", which has an urban definition unlike the navy's Condition "ZEBRA", oddly scattered use of present tense verbs instead of appending an "ed", and a single use of "fairweather" that should have been "fairwater". [Red October was published by the Naval Institute Press. Unlike Clancy, Hill did not sell his to USNI for $5,000.]
• Rather than answering the political question of how psychological screening of U.S. submarine volunteers could have deteriorated to the point of allowing a psychopath on board, the author simply asks the same question I had before reading the book. -Vigilis

Submarines are always silent and strange.