Well that’s what appeared to happen somewhere in the dark deep Atlantic as we learnt yesterday when it appears that two Nuclear submarines had a close encounter!
Having spent a number of years in the Navy, but never having served on ‘subs’ ( apart from a three day trip on an old diesel boat – too smelly and cramped for me) I found the story quite funny in that the press seemed to think that one of the ‘subs’ should have sounded their horn to let each other know of their presence!
The whole design and aim of modern submarines is to remain as much as possible ‘invisible’, using only passive listening devices to try and detect others that may be out there!
To me, it sounds a bit like a game of ‘chicken’ – how close can we get without being detected – that got out of hand. So although no one was hurt or equipment was damaged, someone’s pride in both Navies has been dented!
I would have thought that with technology of video surveillance in such prevalence above the surface these days, some of that would have been in use below the waves to prevent this sort of the accident. There is nothing so passive as a video camera!
Must get my copy of The Hunt for Red October out again, great film.
Beasley's Place 