US Submarine collides with Japanese Tanker
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16533096/

I wonder which boat and I hope nobody is hurt.

USS Newport News was involved.

Both ships are damaged but no reported fatilities at this time.

*Another* collision? Why can't these skippers drive their boats anymore. That's the 3rd collision in the past 6 years. The Greenville, the San Franciso, and now the Newport News... :nope: ... this is becoming a disconcerting trend.

How is it that you just happen to *miss* a supertanker bearing down on you... :doh:

make him walk the plank i say!:arrgh!:

It's easier than you think depending on the sonar condictions, and I should imagine in the Straits the condictions are bloody awful. Not only do you have a constant stream of merchant ships, the depths are quite shallow in some places, and if you're trying to move about unseen and unheard, it limits the areas you can move in (note that the collision took place off the Iranian coastline ;) ).

Just ask Bill how treacherous sonar condictions can be, IIRC there was an incident in the Med with an aircraft carrier.... :oops:

try this:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20070109/D8MHHQD00.html

What, and they've removed the periscopes from them or something?

I mean, seriously, this isn't a sub-on-sub collision, here. To collide with a TANKER, you are at periscope depth!

Well no, PD is not necessary to hit the tanker. Those things have ridiculous drafts, the NN coulda been much deeper.

US Submarine collides with Japanese Tanker
 

Given the intensity of naval patrolling and merchant maritime traffic in the area these things are bound to happen, I guess.

Why is it always the Japanese that get hit?:hmm:

Nah! Can't be!

http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/1897/dec7db0.jpg

;)

Also, bear in mind that any mast stuck up out of the water runs the risk of getting sniffed by radar. Any ship or merchant in the area that picks it up could pass the information on to the Iranians, who might just be able to get one of their Kilos working long enough to deploy it, or send over a little ASW ship to make the Newport News's life a bit more difficult.
So the NN was probably relying more on sonar than visual, and like I said, sonar condictions in Med-like waters can be very misleading.

Either that, or the US Navy is still fighting World War 2 :-?

newport news? what an awful name for a sub.

US Submarine collides with Japanese Tanker
 

The motto of most submariners is: "If it floats, it's a target."
Combine that with the fact that historically Jap tankers are the natural enemy of US subs and there you are...

(This might even happen more frequently after Silent Hunter IV is released!)
:D

I'd hate to be on watch during the Straights of Hormuz or Persian Gulf due to all the merchant traffic. It's funny reading the people complain in the DW forum about 'contact madness' for sonar operator for a game. We had periods of contact madness that they would freak out due to contacts crossing each other on the TA.