ANSWERS for (17 MAR 16) Sub Questions of Week

Related information, photo(s) and links for questions are found in the original posting..

ANSWERS Submarine Questions of the Week

1  -  What is the significance of Ice Camp Sargo's name?  ANS: USS Sargo's (SSN-538) arctic history.

2 -   In the photo of Ice Camp Sargo (here): 
-  (a)  From what direction was the wind coming?  ANS:  Unknown, as we do not know exactly when the photo was taken. However, a subjective guess based upon March winds may help.

-  (b)  Which of the flags shown represent nations who have claimed portions of the extended continental shelf under UNCLOS? ANS:  Canada and Norway. 
- (c) Which flags represent nations who have not made such claims? ANS:  U.S.A.
- (d) Is there an UNCLOS claimant not participating in ICEX 16?  ANS: Russia

 
3 - Two U.S. subs are deployed for ICEX 16; which subs (names & hull numbers)? ANS: The Los Angeles-class submarines, USS Hartford (SSN 768) from Groton, and USS Hampton (SSN 767) from San Diego, are conducting maneuvers, data collection and training matters. 
 
4 -  Which of the following are not assigned ICEX 16 participants: Alaska Air National Guard assets, MIT students, Mobile Diving Salvage Unit 2, Norwegian personnel, SEAL Delivery Vehicle Team, Royal Navy personnel, Royal Canadian Navy and Air Force personnel, Russian contingents, the USCG?   ANS:  Russian contingents may be actively snooping, but not as ICEX participants.
 
5 - What seems strangely out of place in the © Edgar Su / Reuters ICEX-16 unrelated, U.S. submarine photo below (subjective answer)?  ANS:  M.E. has lightened the published photo to underscore issues raised below:

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submariner's Quotation of the Month - SEPT 2015

Background

We posted our Submarine Quotation of 2015 (first half) only a few weeks ago.  It was a decidedly obscure and an admittedly self-promoting quote from the author of his new book. Yet, we can hardly dismiss the author as out-of-the-loop.  Even an astute non-submariner (the late author Tom Clancy, for instance) managed to obtain and include reliable intel in his commercially successful The Hunt for red October:

“There are multiple instances of the script going from UNCLASSIFIED to TOP-SECRET / CODE-WORD inside the same paragraph.” I didn’t think the Naval Institute wanted to participate in what could have been a huge security breach and I surely didn’t want this lowly Navy commander to be part of that. So my letter back to the Institute stated plainly: “I recommend the Naval Institute not publish this book.” - Captain John L. Byron, USN (Ret.)

 Indicative of the current nature and quickening pace of U.S. submarine operations around the globe, we present this month's second submarine quotation.

Submariner's Quotation of the Month

"The things that our submarine force is expected to do on the first day of some of our potential conflicts are absolutely sobering." 

 -  Vice Admiral Joseph E. Tofalo Commander, Submarine Forces [COMSUBFOR], Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic, Commander, Allied Submarine Command,  "Navy Opens Anti-Submarine Warfare Training Center In Groton", The Hartford Courant, September 21, 2015.


Submarines are always silent and strange.

Guided-missile cruiser holed in 2nd drone "malfunction" of week

Background
  
In the first, stateside drone crash of the week (a multimillion-dollar MQ-9 Reaper from New York's Fort Drum crashed into Lake Ontario Tuesday - the Air Force is still investigating that incident.)

Latest Event

 

The USS Chancellorsville was using one of several different models of Northrup Grumman's BQM-74 drones (13-foot-long, wingspan nearly 6 feet) to test the ship's radar-tracking system, something done on a regular basis. 

Around 1:25 p.m. Saturday, the drone being controlled from Point Mugu suddenly veered out of control and slammed into the port side of the ship with its crew of about 300, leaving two sailors with minor burns and a 2- to 3-foot hole, officials said.

The ship returned to San Diego under its own power for damage assessment, repair, and incident investigation.  The Chancellorsville had set sail Tuesday and had been scheduled to be at sea another seven days, said Lt. Lenaya Rotklein, a spokeswoman for the U.S.Third Fleet.

The BQM-74 series is a turbojet-powered drone used to train sailors and airmen against airborne threats. Some BQM-74 series models can perform at an altitude of less than10 feet at speeds up to 525 knots, the manufacturer said. The cigar-shaped BQM-74E can stay aloft for over an hour and be launched from a ship or land-based station.

***********************

Currently, the incidents are being cast as malfunctions.  In view of Homeland Security's plans to fly drones over the homeland, one must consider that military operators have generally superior operator training and experience to civilian bureaucrats, and while equipment malfunctions are a fact of life, the possibility of hacked control systems is NOT supposed to be a weekly event.

Submarines are always silent and strange.