Another UK Sub runs aground

[SUBMAN1]

Isn't this #2 now in recent memory?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7422774.stm

-S

[mrbeast]

Sounds like she is showing her age.

HMS Superb was first launched in 1976

Roll on the Astutes! :arrgh!:

[Linton]

It depends what your definition of recent memory is.The one that apeared in the press last week actually happened six years ago.It only re-appeared because a UK citizen asked to see the report and the MOD was obligated to publish it.
The latest would appear to be a repeat of the San Francisco incident.High speed into a seamount.Luckily it is believed that nobody was injured.

[SUBMAN1]

It depends what your definition of recent memory is.The one that apeared in the press last week actually happened six years ago.It only re-appeared because a UK citizen asked to see the report and the MOD was obligated to publish it.
The latest would appear to be a repeat of the San Francisco incident.High speed into a seamount.Luckily it is believed that nobody was injured.Ahh! It was you who posted it too i think. Anyway, sorry that I didn't know it was 6 years ago! :D Good to hear it isn't a weekly occurrence.

-S

[STEED]

We really are............................

http://www.myclassiclyrics.com/artist_biographies/Betty_Boop_Biography.gif

[Linton]

Super-B's age hasn't really got anything to do with it.You could do the same with Astute if your navigation plan wasn't properly prepared.

[Oberon]

The Navy is now trying to work out how to return the vessel to port. It is currently in international waters, but is unable to dive because of the damage to its sonar equipment.



I'm not in the ministry but...erm...don't submarines work on the surface too? :hmm:

Anyway, it's nothing major, well, the cost of repairing the sonar dome will probably be major but there was no breach of the inner hull and no crewmembers killed or hurt.I'm not quite sure how we seem to find these rocks...magnetism perhaps? But it's not as if it's a daily habit, and this kind of incident would probably have been covered up in the darker parts of the Cold War (Falklands conflict notwithstanding because I know an Oberon collided with a rock there and busted a forward tube) but because of all the hype about nuclear reactors, anything happening to anything with the word nuclear in it makes instant dread-news. :lol:

[Linton]

Gibraltar would be my best guess as an interim repair facility.http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/upload/img_400/superb_20080226095354.jpg

[lesrae]

One for Neal - the subsim.com front page shows a photo labelled as Alliance linked to the Superb story, the pic is actually Actute. Not your fault, the original mistake was the Telegraph's.

I agree with Linton, this is nothing to do with age, just a mistake or error in a chart. I presume she's lost her bow array which is why she can't safely dive.

[TLAM Strike]

(Falklands conflict notwithstanding because I know an Oberon collided with a rock there and busted a forward tube) And the Conqueror got tangled up in seaweed. I'm guessing at Burdwood Bank. :lol:

I agree with Linton, this is nothing to do with age, just a mistake or error in a chart. I presume she's lost her bow array which is why she can't safely dive. IIRC on US submarines the bow dome is external to the presure hull. Maybe the UK does something diffrent maybe their just being extra safe I don't know.

[Linton]

Design of an S-boat would be similar to a 688.The Bow array would be in a watertight area.They were not originally fitted with a reelable towed array and had clip-on ones instead.The Bow sonar would give her eyes and ears forward and without them she would be at a disadvantage submerged.It would not affect her ability to navigate on the surface.Problems are going to be logistical with regards to repairs.I said earlier that Gibraltar is the probable destination,but this will seriously affect the relationship with the Spanish neighbours.
Another source suggests that the Red Sea is very well mapped underwater, and this may have been a navigational error.:oops:

[Kapitan]

Yeah id agree with linton on this gibralter for repairs doubt the spanish would like that though well heres my two fingers to them !

We own gibralter so we do what we like tuff if you dont like it.

[lesrae]

IIRC on US submarines the bow dome is external to the presure hull. Maybe the UK does something diffrent maybe their just being extra safe I don't know.

On RN boats the sonar sensors are external to the pressure hull, in a free flood space, covered by the bow dome. As I understand it the safety aspect is to do with them diving in a busy traffic area without 'ears'.

Yeah id agree with linton on this gibralter for repairs doubt the spanish would like that though well heres my two fingers to them !

We own gibralter so we do what we like tuff if you dont like it.

That depends on what's needed, the last RN SSN to do this needed a whole new front end and Gib has no suitable dry dock.

Glad you've not given up your ambition for the diplomatic service though ;)

[Kapitan]

Oh we are very diplomatic in my house hold i decide everyone else agrees.

[Linton]

This report suggests that she may be scrapped.They just have to get her home first:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/news/display.var.2303795.0.Nuclear_submarine_which_hit_ rock_may_have_to_be_scrapped.php

[Kapitan]

Thing is though is it worth keeping a 32 year old submarine in the fleet paying out millions for another years service only then to be decomissioned, personally yes scrap her and spend the money on another astute.

[Cohaagen]

Kapitan-

It is definitely worth keeping Super-B in service as she has a special fit and facilities for deploying special forces, ie. SBS. She also carries a Mystic-class DSRV. If she's scrapped, the fleet will be without either of these capabilities until a suitably modified Astute comes online. To lose the first capability will be a serious blow, and marks the first time in decades we've been without it.

The MoD has a poor record for opportunistic scrapping of damaged vessels as a cost-cutting expedient. Navweaps.com had the cheek to suggest that the scrapping of a carrier in the 60s after a mess fire was evidence of a defective design - the damage was actually minimal but had the misfortune to occur at a time when the fleet was being hacked away.

[Kapitan]

for what its worth mystic is american DSRV we no longer use them, we have our own LR5 and she can be fitted to any submarine in our fleet ive seen pictures of her on tireless turbulent torbay vengence vangaurd and splendid without the need for any adaptions.

the submarine is what 32 years old which means she has done her miles and service i agree she should be kept in service but cost over a few more months maybe a years more service is the expenditure worth it?

[Cohaagen]

The LR5 is strictly for rescue ops, eg. the Kursk incident, or that other Ivan sub that went under. It isn't suitable or equipped for the SBS. They use the American Mk8 Mod 1 SDV minisubs for shore insertion.

Also, apologies: I've mixed Superb up with the actual sub used for SBS operations - Spartan. The point is the same though, since Spartan is actually out of service already. Until an Astute hull converted for SDV use becomes available sometime in the next decade it seems we're back to the old Cockleshell Heroes bull****.

[Ramius]

Ahh the old "Caravan Of Death" :rotfl: :rotfl:

http://media.bmt.org/bmt_media/bmt_images/33/FC1502006-06-01HMSSPARTAN+Attachment1cNAVYPIX.jpg

[lesrae]

I thought that was HMS Spartan that had the free-flood somersault tank?

Edit: Thought so, I remember seeing it at Rosyth - looked a bit cumbersome.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article992458.ece

[Frame57]

Don't the Brits get to drink booze on their ships? "What do you do with a drunken sailor.....":arrgh!:

[Linton]

There are some very good pictures of Spartan with her DDS here:
http://www.alide.com.br/Artigo/HMS%20Spartan/HMS%20Spartan.htm

[lesrae]

Don't the Brits get to drink booze on their ships? "What do you do with a drunken sailor.....":arrgh!:

They do, all of the messes have a bar.

[Kapitan]

so do the russians but they get rationed to one glass of wine and one glass of vodka at one meal a day, gee just give us a bottle of each :D

[Frame57]

Dang it! It seems I joined the wrong Navy!:D