It sounds like a set-up to a talk show joke, but is there a rational, possibly justifiable or reasonable reason why--given all the technology available--this happens? Please, a comparison to auto collisions is NOT reasonable--the high seas are not the same as your local metro interstate or arterial street.
2007-01-09 12:40:29 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Military
U.S. submarines are the silent service. They do not use active sonar and instead rely on just listening or passive sonar. This works fine, usually, unless you're surfacing and there is a merchant vessel stopped overhead or, you have an incompetant sonar gang standing watch or even an equipment failure. In life, bad things happen sometimes. It's not always an obvious fault of someone.
I know of a case where a sub hooked a fishing trawler's nets, never even felt it or knew it and swept all the upper deck, superstructure, and cranes used to hoist nets and retrieve them right off. It almost sank the trawler! Hope this helps.
2007-01-09 12:59:06 · answer #1 · answered by akweasel1 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Thats the first thing I thought when I read about it this morning.
The article I read blamed it on busy shipping lanes.
But come on now, what did the tanker do..... make a quick stop or turn??? That I really doubt, after all it was a tanker, nothing is done quickly on a huge tanker.
Someone was obviously sleeping at the wheel.
2007-01-09 20:55:37 · answer #2 · answered by BlueNTexas 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Someone could write a THICK book on US Navy screwups
Uss Liberty....Pueblo...Forrestal...Cole..Stark....Vincennees .the USN even sunk a Jap Fishing boat off Hawaii by surfacing into it.
The USS Saratoga launched a ship to ship missle into a greek cruiser...the USS Vincennes shot down a civil airliner...the list goes on and on
2007-01-09 21:21:35 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
That made me think of something. The U.S. subs are not so hi-tech after all. If that sub haven't detected the huge merchant ship that hit it, then how can it detect an incomming torpedo?.
2007-01-09 22:48:58 · answer #4 · answered by roadwarrior 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
How are submarines supposed to see where they're going without windows. What if the ship has a low profile on sonar? The military, believe it or not, are people too.
2007-01-09 21:22:06 · answer #5 · answered by Captain Moe 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
We're going to have to wait for some more facts before being able to answer the questions, or even knowing what questions to ask.
2007-01-09 23:38:37 · answer #6 · answered by Yak Rider 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
just another stupid media agenda.. or.. another stupid American commander fault.. or.. another stupid Arabian kapten sleep on the job..
either way i'm eating full tonite..
2007-01-09 21:01:26 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋