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Absolutely - there are few sounds more distinctive than that of a torpedo in the water on Sonar.
Modern Submarine sonar can detect torpedoes in the water by their main sonar arrays, as well as torpedo detection systems. Quick reaction, speed, countermeasures, and constant, precise torpedo sonar bearings are key for evasion, though with most modern homing torpedoes, if it gets a lock on you, you're history. Modern torpedoes use both active and passive sonar to detect, lock on and track their targets, and some are even wire guided - meaning that if it misses, the Fire Control tech monitoring the torpedo can steer it manually to the target if Sonar on the attacking submarine has a good Sonar Bearing and Target Solution. Once a Torpedo is shot however, it is much more difficult to hear anything else, as the noise produced by the Torpedo engine and screws pretty much drowns out everything. It's like putting your head underwater next to an outboard motor propeller that's running at full speed.
Towed sonar arrays are not used for such detection - while the information is classified about what they ARE used for, and how they're employed, they're essentially useless for torpedoes.
There are few things I remember from my Submarine Sonar days (see my bio) more chilling than the sound of a torpedo tube door opening, or the sound of a torpedo in the water aimed at us (exercise shots of course). I remember one particular operation in which I was in the Control Room rather than my normal station in Sonar on the main stack during Battle Stations, and as the exercise shot passed under us you could hear its active sonar pinging the hell out of us. I remember the CO saying "That could be the last sound you ever hear".
The sound of the high-speed screws of a Torpedo in the water is absolutely unmistakable - it sounds like an electric shaver underwater. Though all Sonarmen are trained to know what torpedoes sound like, in modern submarine warfare, it's the boat that hears its enemy first that has the tactical advantage. This is why sonar systems with long detection ranges have been continuously developed.
It's important to note here the Rules of Engagement for engaging/shooting a torpedo at another submarine or ship, and it was demonstrated in the movie "Hunt for Red October". No submarine commander may shoot at another unless the other boat has shot a weapon first - hearing a tube door open wasn't enough. These rules were followed by Soviet and NATO submarine commanders, and was in large part a huge reason there were no attacks between boats, no matter how adversarial. The plain fact of personal responsibility was key - no skipper wanted to be the one to start a war.
Of course that didn't mean that if the other guy wanted to try, we wouldn't evade his weapon and sink him either.
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How can you confirm approach of a submarine under water?
Using Sonar, you normally assume any contact is on a closing range rate, since you've come close enough to pick it up on Sonar. From there, it's a matter of listening and determining the acoustic signature of the contact, and ruling out any surface vessels. Most submarine on submarine contacts are usually pretty close-range affairs, as Sonar technology as well as acoustic silencing technology continues to improve. Of course, if you hear a torpedo tube flooding and its muzzle doors opening, it's a good bet that it's not a trawler on the surface.
What do bats use to hunt?
Echo location, also called SONAR. This is just like the pinging you hear in a submarine movie
How do dolphins hear underwater?
they use SONAR. :)
Are pink dolphins and submarines the same because they use the same sonar?
Though they both use SONAR (SOund Navigation And Ranging) to navigate, submarines and marine mammals that use sonar are both very different in how they use it.Marine mammal sonar uses a much higher frequency than submarine active sonar systems transmit at. Also, submarines rarely use active sonar due to the fact it immediately gives away your location and range to an enemy. Marine mammals use their active sonar constantly to navigate through the water, communicate, and to find food, while passive sonar is the primary means of submarine navigation.Dolphin sonar sounds like a fast clicking sound, with occasional high frequency "squeals", similar to a dog toy, though at a much higher frequency range. The frequency is high enough that it must be demodulated by special equipment to a lower frequency to really hear it. Usually when submarines go to periscope depth, dolphins set off the torpedo warning alarms since their frequency is at a similar range. As a former Submarine Sonarman, I can also say that it also drives you nuts, especially when there's a whole group of them around the boat.
What is sonar to people?
Most people do not hear the sonar signals used by animals, such as bats or dolphins.
What part of the dolphins body do they hear from?
Dolphins hear with their ears BUT when it comes to their sonar they 'hear' with their jaw.
What is defense against torpedoes?
Torpedo nets were effectively used for the first time during the battle of Port Arthur on 08 February 1904, during the Russo-Japanese War. Today, the main defense against acoustic homing torpedoes are decoy active noisemakers, which attempt to mimic a ship's sounds, and lure the torpedo away from the ship or submarine which it was targeted at. In terms of passive defense, surface ships use a variety of noise-masking technologies to make it difficult for the torpedo to "hear" the ship, as well as de-magnetizing the ship's hull to defeat a magnetic fuse on the torpedo. Submarines use a variety of hull coatings to absorb sonar soundwaves from torpoedo's seeker warhead, and also can utilize maneuvers in the water to generate unusual sounds, which may confuse the torpedo's guidance.
What do dolphins have to have to be able to hear under the water?
sonar
How is a submarine launched torpedo guided?
Torpedoes that have manual guidance capability (e.g., MK 48 ADCAP), use a thin wire guide that is connected to the torpedo itself and a wire canister that remains in the tube after launch, which is connected electrically to the fire control panel aboard ship. While the actual wire length is classified, it is extremely hi-tensile strength wire and very flexible and strong, and very long. If you've ever seen the wire guide on a TOW Missile in flight, it's similar, only much longer. Should the torpedo's active/passive sonar homing modes fail to acquire the target, the Fire Control operator can manually steer the weapon back toward the target coordinates if still held on Sonar. It gets harder to hear after a torpedo is launched though; the weapon noise itself tends to mask out the target noise as it closes range.
How good do bats hear?
They use sonar and hear very well using echolocation .
The reason submarines can detect other underwater objects is largely due to what?
Submarines use sonar to detect other things in the water. Sonar is an acronym for sound navigation and ranging, but there is a bit more to this. Submarines use what is called active sonar and passive sonar. We need to look at it in a bit of detail to see what's up.Contemporary submarines have a active sonar system aboard. This system emits "pings" into the water, and the pings are bursts of sound energy. The sound energy propagates through the water, bounces off things around the submarine, and then returns to the submarine to be picked up and listened to. By "pinging" on things, the submarine can develop a profile of sorts of things around it. The bottom is down there, and there's another submarine over there. Something like that. But active sonar means you can be heard a long way away. Farther away than you can effectively "see" other submarines with that active sonar. Other submarines can "hear you coming" because you are pinging, and can do this before you can hear then with the returned pings. That's bad for the submarine using active sonar.Modern military submarines operate in water that is fairly deep. This means that the submarines don't generally have to worry about hitting anything under the water. As they on patrol, they are listening for other things in the water using their passive sonar array. This array uses the hydrophones to listen to the sounds in the water. These sounds are being made by other ships, other submarines, schools of fish, whales, or whatever else is making "noise" in the water. This is the primary method used by the current military submarines to locate and track other things in the water with them.
Can fish hear the sonar songs that whales make?
yes
