Virginia SSN on Discovery Channel

[Sea Demon]

Originally Posted by ASWnut101

It wouldn't happen to be the Futureweapons show that was on last night, would it?

I don't think it was on Futureweapons. I think it was actually a show specifically about the Virginia Class. It might have been Futureweapons, but I don't remember as I only caught the last 15 minutes. But it clearly showed the the crewmembers running some sort of drill against a hostile surface ship. And they used a Tomahawk missile against it.

[ASWnut101]

Originally Posted by Sea Demon

I don't think it was on Futureweapons. I think it was actually a show specifically about the Virginia Class. It might have been Futureweapons, but I don't remember as I only caught the last 15 minutes. But it clearly showed the the crewmembers running some sort of drill against a hostile surface ship. And they used a Tomahawk missile against it.

That was Futureweapons....

[LuftWolf]

That Mackowitz guy has a great job... I think that goes on the list of "Top Ways to Use Your Clearance After Leaving the Government" list.

Cheers,
David

[Henson]

I teach those weapons. That show was full of crap. It used Firing Point Procedures for a weapon that wasn't shot (at the wrong type of target no less), and stock footage of a harpoon(!) leaving the water.

Take these shows with a grain of salt. The Navy only allows them to see so much, the rest is just edited in to make it more interesting by people who don't understand what they're editing to begin with. Do you think your average documentary producer really understands on any level, "match sonar bearings and shoot?"

[SeaQueen]

Originally Posted by Henson

Take these shows with a grain of salt. The Navy only allows them to see so much, the rest is just edited in to make it more interesting by people who don't understand what they're editing to begin with.

I don't know what a producer understands (there's more than a few ex-Navy men who became journalists), although regardless of what he understands or doesn't understand they almost certainly were required to be very vague in the documentary. I know that there is also a lot of misinformation intentionally spread out there to mislead potential adversaries.

Do you think it's possibly the case that they were simulating a future weapons system in an exercise or playing the part of a red sub making simulated cruise missile attacks?

[Fire_Spy]

Originally Posted by Henson

I teach those weapons. That show was full of crap. It used Firing Point Procedures for a weapon that wasn't shot (at the wrong type of target no less), and stock footage of a harpoon(!) leaving the water.

Take these shows with a grain of salt. The Navy only allows them to see so much, the rest is just edited in to make it more interesting by people who don't understand what they're editing to begin with. Do you think your average documentary producer really understands on any level, "match sonar bearings and shoot?"

[joke on]What? Why would the Navy want to keep that stuff secret??? [/joke off] I've seen two doco's on the Virginia Class.. One kept calling it "The Super Sub" and suggested it was an awesome anti terror weapon. The other was more of a "Hey this is a very well designed sub and this is some of how it was built" one.

As with all Documentaries about modern weapons half of what they show is either incorrect or absolute fantasy.

[SeaQueen]

Originally Posted by Fire_Spy

As with all Documentaries about modern weapons half of what they show is either incorrect or absolute fantasy.

I wouldn't go that far. One of the things the Navy is quite keen about is that the taxpayer has a vested interest in what their dollars go towards. The thing is, they often reflect a lot about the interests of the producer, as well as what the Navy feels comfortable making public. My theory is that the fewer submarines that are actually being built, the more likely the Navy is to make public EVERYTHING they can do with a submarine in gorey detail because they want the public to lobby Congress for them. Like the GWOT thing, yeah submarines can contribute some ISR and SOF sorts of things to the GWOT, but really they're sort of a small part of that. None the less, the Navy still wants money for submarines, so if they think it will get some members of Congress to shovel more money their way, they emphasize their contribution to it.

Things you should never expect them to reveal include things like current tactics or specific system parameters. The other things you won't see them reveal is failings, in part because they never want any other nations to be aware of what the shortcomings of the Navy are, so they might exploit them. They tend to only come out in the vaguest of terms in opened sessions of Congress or occaisionally they're leaked to the Washington Times by right leaning officers at the Pentagon.