Saturday, June 13, 2009

Submarine Inaccuracies

As a former submariner, I am frequently dismayed when the infrequent reports regarding submarines make it into the mainstream media, because they often are salted with inaccuracies.

Case in point, the following headline as written by CNN.com.

Sub collides with sonar array towed by U.S. Navy ship

Reading the story, we learn the following.

In what a U.S. military official calls an “inadvertent encounter,” a Chinese submarine hit an underwater sonar array being towed by the destroyer USS John McCain on Thursday.

The array was damaged, but the sub and the ship did not collide, the official said. A sonar array is a radar towed behind a ship that listens and locates underwater sounds.

The headline specifically states that the sub “collided,” but the article specifically states “the sub and ship did not collide.”

What actually happened, is the Chinese submarine became entangled in the USS John McCain’s tactical towed array; which is simply naval lingo for a extremely long cabled passive listening device towed behind either a U.S. warship, or submarine; because the Chinese were operating their sub quite close to the USS John McCain (within one (1) mile most likely).

Here’s the real question this story begs.  Were the sonar operators on the USS John McCain aware that the Chinese submarine was operating in such close proximity prior to the Chinese becoming entangled in the towed array?

UPDATE:  A submariner’s blog, out of Idaho, The Stupid Shall Be Punished, also noted this story in a post here.  This blog will be a new daily stopping point for myself.

Posted by John Venlet on 06/13 at 10:05 AM
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