Recent Submarine Curiosities Around Globe

 Curiosity 1  (?)

Can you identify the vessels and location pictured below?

During what event was this?

M.E. Comment:  Answers Friday

Curiosity 2  (US)

  "The Submarine Force is seeking high caliber female applicants from all ratings."

(Actual accompanying photo)

M.E. Comment:  Are those storm clouds rising?

 

 Curiosity 3 (INDIA)

‘Nepotism nuked our careers’  

A critical component of the almost $100 million training programme was a group of 11 officers who were to be trained by Russian experts for operating nuclear reactors on submarines. This group was to play a critical leadership role as India’s nuclear submarine capabilities reached the maturity to launch nuclear missiles.

In a bizarre twist to that pioneering effort, all the senior reactor operators, nine of them, have been denied promotion to the rank of Captain, despite their expensive and exclusive skills in commissioning, operating and maintaining nuclear reactors on submarines. 

 

 M.E. Comment:  Did Vice-Admiral Chatterjee manipulate the promotion process in such a way that he has been the Reviewing Officer for his own son-in-law for family benefit, or because the unpromoted officers are too valuable to INS nuclear subs to promote?  Well, read the linked story. 

 Curiosity 4 (Canada)

Partner with Australia for submarines

The Canadian government has an opportunity to partner with Australia to build DCNS Barracuda-class subs for the Royal Canadian Navy. 

 M.E. Comment:  But read the next curiosity --- is the price of those boats about to rise with India cancelling its big INS order?  India Drops Plans to Add 3 More French Stealth Attack Submarines.

Curiosity 5  (India)

   India Drops Plans to Add 3 More French Stealth Attack Submarines

The Indian Navy has purportedly shelved plans to add more French submarines to its fleet following the DCNS leak.  The INS will not procure additional Scorpene-class (Kalvari-class) diesel-electric attack submarines from France's DCNS, following the leak of documents detailing the top-secret combat capabilities of India’s new submarine fleet, according to media reports.

“India has ordered only six Scorpene submarines and orders have not been placed for three more as reported by some media. Therefore question of cancellation does not arise,” an Indian naval officer told Reuters.

 M.E. Comment: The less work for DCNS, the higher its residual overhead costs per hour of production.  If there was no agreement for 3 additional subs, why has justification been cited? India's defence official said he did not expect any movement on that project until the investigation into the Scorpene leak was completed and new security measures put in place. In other words, for leverage.

 Curiosity 6 (United Kingdom)

Morale: How The Internet Cripples SSBN Operations

In Britain the Royal Navy has found it impossible to attract enough qualified sailors to operate all its nuclear submarines, especially the SSBNs (nuclear powered subs carrying ballistic missiles). The reason is that SSBNs stay at sea for 90 days at a time .... The problem is that too many otherwise qualified sailors and officers are not willing to spend 90 days without Internet access. This shortage has already reduced the number of days British SSBNs can spend at sea.  

 

 M.E. Comment:  What has changed since the Cold War has been the waning interest of the recruiting pool in military service and modern youths' dependence upon their communication culture. (U.K., France, U.S., etc.).  

 Curiosity 7 (Australia)

Submarine Data Leak Roils Three Governments

The revelation Aug. 24 by an Australian newspaper that thousands of pages of presumably secret submarine documents were on the loose shook governments in Canberra, New Delhi and Paris. The news threatened the operational security of India’s new Scorpene-class submarines, embarrassed French shipbuilder DCNS, and raised security questions about Australia’s recent Australian $50 billion deal with DCNS for 12 Shortfin Barracuda submarines, of a design similar to the Scorpenes.

As reported by The Australian newspaper, a reporter was shown samples of up to 24,500 pages of highly technical data on the Scorpene submarine, an advanced, non-nuclear design that has been exported by DCNS to several countries. The documents, said The Australian, include highly technical drawings, specifications and operational capability descriptions of the submarine’s stealth features; noise signatures at different speeds; range, endurance, diving depths, magnetic and infrared data.  

DCNS has been made aware of articles published in the Australian press related to the leakage of sensitive data about (the) Indian Scorpene,” the company told Defense News on Aug. 23. “This serious matter is being thoroughly investigated by the ...  French national authorities for defense security,” DCNS said."

M.E. Comment:  There is ample blame to go around, hence very expensive learning opportunities.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

ANSWERS Submarine Multiple Choice Questions of the Week - 18 July 2016

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

Questions of the Week with ANSWERS

1 -  What 'Consumer Discretionary' company recently agreed to assist the U.S. Navy in development of hydrogen fuel cells for fleets of submarine drones (UUVs)?
a) Duracell
b) Eveready
c) ANSWER > General Motors  
d) Electric Boat

The following relate to the Royal Navy's ballistic nuclear missile subs:
2 -  What are"letters of last resort"?
a)  pleas by ballistic missile sub sailors addressed to wives / girlfriends.
b)  ANSWER > identically-worded, handwritten letters from the Prime Minister to commanding officers of his four British ballistic missile submarines.  many sources
c)  pleas by creditors addressed to ballistic missile sub sailors to make payments before repossession.
d)  offers from the Chief Admiral of the Royal Australian Navy to transfer to his Collins-class subs.

3 - Does Brittain's royal monarch sign or receive a copy of such"letters of last resort"?
a)  absolutely
b)  definitely not
c)  never even consulted about them
d)  ANSWER >  unknown: no authoritative reference was found 

4 - What part does BBC-4 Radio play in using such "letters of last resort"?
a)  BBC-4 has a strong reputation for comedy, plus experimental and alternative comedy.
b)  BBC-4 broadcasts a wide variety of of spoken-word programmes including news and science.
c)  BBC-4 never goes off air.
d)  ANSWER > BBC-4 signals British Trident ballistic missile subs when to open "letters of last resort"?  (According to Peter Hennessy's book The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War, 1945 to 1970, the process by which a Vanguard-class submarine commander would determine if the British government continues to function includes, amongst other checks, establishing whether BBC Radio 4 continues broadcasting. ^[8])
 
5 - Is it necessary for British Royal Navy (RN) Trident ballistic missile subs to ascertain the health or disposition of the Royal Monarch prior to opening "letters of last resort"?
a)  unnecessary
b)  absolutely
c)  ANSWER > unknown: no authoritative reference was found
d)  not possible

6 - In what section of a Trident sub are "letters of last resort" maintained?
a)  the mess deck
b)  ANSWER > the control room
c)  the commanding officer's stateroom
d)  the reactor compartment

7 - Within the above submarine section how are "letters of last resort" stored?
a)  in a locked file cabinet by sailor name
b)  under a sailor's mattress, usually
c)   ANSWER > in a double safe (outer and an inner)
d)  they are immediately incinerated after reading

8 - When must "letters of last resort" be destroyed?
a)  Only when a new skipper assumes command.
b)  Only when related debts have been paid.
c)  Only when the British government, Prime Minister and his "second" have been been incapacitated.
d)  ANSWER > When a newer version is authorized by a successor PM.     

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine (Multiple Choice) Questions of the Week

This week's theme: Paradoxes in recent (the past 30 days) news...

The Questions

1 -  What 'Consumer Discretionary' company recently agreed to assist the U.S. Navy in development of hydrogen fuel cells for fleets of submarine drones (UUVs)?
a) Duracell
b) Eveready
c) General Motors
d) Electric Boat

The following relate to the Royal Navy's ballistic nuclear missile subs: 

2 -  What are"letters of last resort"?
a)  pleas by ballistic missile sub sailors addressed to wives / girlfriends.
b)  identically-worded, handwritten letters from the Prime Minister to commanding officers of his four British ballistic missile submarines.
c)  pleas by creditors addressed to ballistic missile sub sailors to make payments before repossession(s).
d)  offers from the Chief Admiral of the Royal Australian Navy to transfer to his Collins-class subs.

3 - Does Brittain's royal monarch sign or receive a copy of such"letters of last resort"?
a)  absolutely
b)  definitely not 
c)  never even consulted about them
d)  unknown

4 - What part does BBC-4 Radio play in using such "letters of last resort"?
a)  BBC-4 has a strong reputation for comedy, plus experimental and alternative comedy.
b)  BBC-4 broadcasts a wide variety of of spoken-word programmes including news and science.
c)  BBC-4 never goes off air.
d)  BBC-4 signals British Trident ballistic missile subs when to open "letters of last resort"?

5 - Is it necessary for British Royal Navy (RN) Trident ballistic missile subs to ascertain the health or disposition of the Royal Monarch prior to opening "letters of last resort"?
a)  unnecessary
b)  absolutely
c)  unknown
d)  not possible

6 - In what section of a Trident sub are "letters of last resort" maintained? 
a)  the mess deck
b)  the control room
c)  the commanding officer's stateroom
d)  the reactor compartment

7 - Within the above submarine section how are "letters of last resort" stored?
a)  in a locked file cabinet by sailor name
b)  under a sailor's mattress, usually
c)  in a double safe
d)  they are immediately incinerated after reading

8 - When must "letters of last resort" be destroyed?
a)  Only when a new skipper assumes command.
b)  Only when related debts have been paid.
c)  Only when the British government, Prime Minister and his "second" have been been incapacitated.
d)  When a newer version is authorized by a successor PM.

ANSWERS: Thursday, 21 July

Submarines are always silent and strange.





 


 

UK Submarine Quote of the Week - 6 April 15

Background

George Kerevan, (born 1949) was in the International Marxist Group for several years between 1968 and 1982.

In 1996 he joined the Scottish National Party (SNP) and was Edinburgh East's candidate for the 2010 General Election. SNP, which supports Scottish independence, is also the third-largest political party, by membership, in the UK.  

As a jounalist, Kerevan was associate editor of The Scotsman from 2000 to 2009, and chief executive of What If Productions (Television) Ltd. 

Submarine QUOTE of the WEEK

  "The ultimate reason America maintains the Mutual Defence Agreement with Britain [note 1] is political – to make sure the UK, as a junior partner, can never use its nukes independently of the White House. Every Lockheed Trident D5 missile at sea today is rented from the Pentagon. Royal Navy submarines must visit the US base in Kings Bay, Georgia for the maintenance and replacement of these missiles – so much for referendum scare stories about the strategic importance of Faslane." - George Kerevan, THE NATIONAL, April 6 2015, "How the nuclear option is chosen for us by the US".

********

note 1 - The treaty is renewed every ten years, and currently extends to 31 December 2024.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Synthesis = "the combination of ideas to form a theory or system."

Background
From March 2014 HMS Tireless Mystery :

"Making news today, it has just been revealed that a Briritsh SSN, HMS Tireless (S88), was refused entry to the United Arab Emirates.  The Royal Navy downplayed the refusal, hinting that it amounted only to a "delay" rather than a safety issue. Curiously, UAE authorities have not commented."

A week after the vessel had first been refused clearance, the Royal Navy finally decided to dock at Goa, India.

 "We do not discuss submarine movements for reasons of security." - The Royal Navy

"A small number of families did travel to the region at their own expense in anticipation of the visit. They were kept informed of the situation by local Royal Navy personnel ashore." 

 The Foreign and Commonwealth Office denied there were any diplomatic issues between the UK and the UAE.
Was the port denial a cover story to explain a detour to the Indian Oean for a secretive intelligence gathering mission by the British SSN Tireless? 


Synthesis 

• [T]he Indian media reported that a type-093 attack nuclear submarine was on deployment (December 2013 to February 2014) in the Indian Ocean and that the Chinese Ministry of National Defense (Foreign Affairs Office) had informed the Indian military attaché in Beijing of the submarine deployment to show ‘respect for India’. Apparently, the information of the deployment was also shared with the United States, Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan and Russia.
• On 1 April 2014, Tireless arrived in the southern Indian Ocean to join the search for a missing Malaysian airliner, where its sophisticated underwater listening equipment was used in an unsuccessful to attempt to detect the underwater locator beacon of the aircraft's flight recorders. 
• China had deployed a number of ships, aircraft and satellite in the southern Indian Ocean in its attempt to locate the debris of MH 370. These factors may have encouraged the Chinese Navy to dispatch the submarine to the Indian Ocean.

 Read the rest here.

Tireless had been scheduled for retirement during 2013, but its service was extended until eventual decommissioning on 19 June 2014.

Had China deployed an SSN to the Indian Ocean as speculated above, some rather nice technical data about it could have been discretely collected by a properly equipped HMS Tireless. 

On 1 April 2014, Tireless arrived in the southern Indian Ocean to join the search for a missing Malaysian airliner, where its sophisticated underwater listening equipment was used in an unsuccessful to attempt to detect the underwater locator beacon of the aircraft's flight recorders.  On 1 June 2014 Tireless returned to Plymouth for the last time before decommissioning, and was formally decommissioned on 19 June. 

 "We do not discuss submarine movements for reasons of security." - The Royal Navy

What was Tireless's secretive mission?  Who injected the bogus MH370 locator signals. Was the Chinese submarine responsible for the little-mentioned MH370 encrypted chirping as a warning to the U.S. that their technology has already been hacked?  

Tireless will be replaced on active duty by HMS Artful^,[5][4]  which only completed its maiden dive recently.

Submarines are always silent and strange.