Submarines

Ignoring the classic joke that says you look out through the screen door, there are a number of ways of "seeing" outside.

Some submarines (especially small submersibles, research subs, and "tourist subs") do have glass windows.

Most submarines do not. They use other means.

A. On the surface, they have periscope (either direct sight or fiber optic). They have navigational radar. They have direct vision from the bridge of the sub (if it is fully surfaced and not simply at periscope depth).

B. Underwater, they have active sonar and passive sonar. Active sonar is like what bats use to echo locate what is in front of them. Passive Sonar is like using sound to figure out what is coming your way (like using your ears to safely walk around town with your eyes covered). Another primary method is Inertial Navigation. Using inertial navigation equipment tells you how fast you are going and in what direction. As long as you know where you start from, combined with good ocean charts, you know what is in front of you, above you, below you, behind you, and on each side of you. Fathometers (a lot like active sonar) can tell you how far you are above the bottom of the ocean, while pitot tubes can tell you how fast you are moving and how deep you are.

Combining all of these different sensors can be quite powerful. Much more powerful than looking out through a big glass window... you would not be able to see very much anyway.

"Spooks" in cold war US military usage meant "secret stuff" like the CIA, etc.

It could "sub" or "U-Boat".

Same body designs to swim through the same environment-water. In addition, WWII US Navy subs were named after fish.

The designation "SS" for Submarines means "Submersible Ship". SS is also a warfare designation for sailors who are qualified in submarines.

For older Navy surface vessels and current merchant ships, the "SS" designator means "Steam Ship", referring to it's power source.

Submarine cable is constructed in much the same way direct bury cable is made. The major differences involve "what" is done rather than "how" it is done. What is done is that a whole lot of extra armor and waterproof jacketing is added. Check out the information posted by our friends at Wikipedia by using the link. The pictures alone are worth the time.

The United States currently has the largest blue-water Navy on the planet. China's Navy is largely coastal more than anything else, and though they seek to expand, having ships and submarines and knowing how to use them strategically is another story. Even the Russians, who had a substantial blue-water Navy during the Soviet years, have substantially curtailed their global naval operations over the last 15 years after the breakup of the USSR.

The United States has Carrier Battle Groups or Task Forces in every major regional area of the globe, most of which are standing fleets that are rotated on a regular basis. For areas that don't have standing fleets, the speed capability of a CBG or CTF ensures that it can be within striking distance within 24-48 hours.

The union used there only submarine to combat the hunley that the confederate built.but it also would have ben used to stack confederate ships and ports along tge coast

Germany - the term is an abbreviation of the German word for submarine, "Unterseeboot", or "Undersea Boat".

Absolutely, and they do so more often than people realize.

All submarines are designed with many strategic variables in mind, including passage through strategic waterways such as the canal.

It depends on the type of submarine.

Fast-Attack submarines are normally named after fish or previous submarines; Ballistic Missile submarines were originally named for famous Americans in history, though today they are named for States of the Union. This is done in no small part to foster good will and political support.

Some attack submarines are also named for famous politicians who have been more than kind to the Navy over their years of service in Congress or the White House, and the USS Hyman G. Rickover is named for Admiral Rickover, "Father of the Nuclear Navy".

The word "submarine" simply means "under the sea". (Sub meaning below, marine meaning sea)

They were smart, they put it in writing; they didn't want them repeating World War One. Then they became "un-wise" (a diplomatic nice word) and let them do it all over again for World War Two. There's a saying, "...do it once, shame on you (meaning you're at fault); do it twice, shame on me (meaning I'm at fault for letting you do it again)." Shame on Britain (since they were the only ones fighting in Europe/Russians had things under control) for being "un-wise" (again, these are diplomatic words) after they should have learned their lesson the first time in WWI.

Same as subs from other nations. The first German U-Boats, such as U1 (launched in 1906) which originated from a batch of subs sold to Russia during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904 had one torpedo tube. By WWII some subs had 6 tubes, plus a deck gun.

Very soon they will.

The Americans, ever the firm and steadfast allies of the British, have recently allowed women to serve on a combat submarine.

The USS Maryland, whose current skipper (Feb. 2011) is Commander (CDR) Jeffrey Grimes, is an American ballistic missile submarine whose compliment and crew lately includes female sailors.

The United States Navy has also benefited lately from a complete repeal of the DADT (don't ask, don't tell) rule, which had previously endangered the careers of many good sailors who happened to be gay or lesbian and would not shut up about it. It seems we may finally understand that a good sailor is a good sailor, and that is that. The Brits have us Americans beat on that account, having accepted gay soldiers and sailors for some time now.

I served, as an enlisted sailor, under Jeffrey Grimes aboard the attack submarine USS San Juan, circa 1997. He was a lieutenant then, and the Weapons Officer of the San Juan. I found him to be professional, unflappable, likeable, and decisive.

I am not surprised he was chosen to command, or to command the first American submarine with female sailors. I believe that very soon the United States Navy will be completely unrestricted as to the sex or sexual preference of any volunteer who wishes to serve on any vessel, submarine or otherwise.

And Great Britain, ever the example of reason and democracy, will not long suffer the upstart "colonies" to whip them in the arena of who may or may not serve on submarines.

Russian submarine Alexander Nevsky was created in 2012.

If you're referring to Sonar personnel such as myself, Sonar on most Fast-Attacks comprised of a division of about 12-15 Submarine Sonar Techs (STS). All Sonarmen were minimum 6 year enlistees, as Basic Sonar and Advanced Sonar typically took around 18 months from Boot Camp to their first afloat command. That included BT, Submarined School, Basic Sonar, Basic Electricity/Electronics, and Advanced Sonar Maintenance. A Sonarman's desired career path generally chooses which systems he'll train on for advanced training since FBM and Fast-Attacks typically have different systems, and they have different missions. For a true Sonar career, a Fast-Attack is the only real choice.

Sonar watch comprises several crewmembers, who are overseen by a Sonar Supervisor. The Sonar Sup is typically a 2nd or 1st class STS, and has been through advanced acoustic and sonar training, as well as having been a veteran of key deployments. Aside from the Contro Room personnel, the Sonar Supervisor is considered one of the most important underway submerged positions on the boat, being responsible for reporting the acoustic tactical situation to Control.

Under normal watch, Sonar was comprised of the Supervisor, Passive Operator (primary) Passive/Active Operator (normally run in secondary Passive on the Active console), Narrowband and Auxiliary systems Operators. Watch was rotated between personnel so ears remained fresh, and most importantly for coffee runs. For Battle Stations or Tracking Parties (key targets), typically senior Sonarmen were assigned to the main consoles in Sonar, while others were assigned to Damage Control duties. I was the Primary Passive Sonar Stack operator during Battle Stations on my boat for about 2 years, the key operator for the boat. "Hot Seat" doesn't even come close to a description during those days.

If you're referring to Sonar equipment, the Sturgeon class and its variants were initially outfitted with the BQS-11/12/13 Series Sonar suite and BQR-7 as its primary sonar systems. After upgrades, all boats were eventually outfitted with the BQQ-5 Sonar Suite, which was an Analog/Digital hybrid of the original BQS-13 system. The other significant upgrade was a retractable Towed Array - original boats had a fixed TA which had to be deployed by a support Mike boat when the boat left port, and manually hauled in by a support boat when it entered port. This limited a boat's port call choices. LA Class boats were outfitted with the BQQ-5 system from the start, receiving upgrades as time went on. The biggest difference between the BQS-13 and BQQ-5 is that the 13 system was primarily an analog system, with fixed Passive and Active consoles. The Q5 was a computer core driven system that could load any stack program into any one of the consoles, though the configuration was typically standard throughout the fleet based on previous BQS-13 layout.

Few jobs in the Submarine Force at the height of the Cold War were as cool and stressful as being a Submarine Sonarman on board a Fast-Attack. I experienced things before I was 30 that few people ever think about. My own cousin followed in my footsteps about a year after I joined the Navy - he was a Sonar Tech in my Squadron on another boat, and a good one to boot.

To give you an idea of what we were required to learn, aside from the electronics maintenance and repair aspect, I remember going to a class called "Enlisted Sonar Principles". Naturally, those of us who went figured it was going to be a gravy week. That was blown when we walked in and saw 2 notepads, a box of #2 pencils and a Math textbook. As it turned out, the course was how to perform by hand all of the oceanographic geometry and math calculations that the Sonar systems do automatically, accounting for all physics and enviromental variables. To this date it is the hardest course I have ever taken.

If you saw Hunt for Red October, it's not even close to reality as far as Sonar goes. Though I can't confirm or deny any events in Blind Man's Bluff (I'm still bound by security oath), I can say it's a "fairly accurate" account. While I and others of that era aren't happy with how the Submarine community has opened up some of its secrets, there is at least some material that my family can read to get an idea of what I used to do that I've never been able to specifically tell them about.

You should also Google AZORIAN or Project Jennifer, which are the names of the CIA sponsored project to raise the Soviet Golf II submarine K-129 using the Hughes Glomar Explorer. A DVD was released last week documenting the project, which took place in 1974. It shows you the lengths at which our nation was willing to go to maintain the acoustic edge over the Soviet submarine fleet.

If you're wondering, my old boat was USS RAY (SSN-653). Though now gone, it was then the most decorated boat in the Atlantic Submarine Fleet. You can see some pics on my bio page.

Yes. all except some specialized spy and observation types ( which are normally overseen by a submarine tender ( ship, not a job title!) have some form of anchoring device. location may be different than surface ships as there are conflicts with built-in ballast tanks, ballast vents, diaplanes ( called by the Germans the Depth Rudder and the French call the rear ones Elevons ( takes her up and down!) also torpedo tube openings- the location poses some problems. all modern Navy subs have some form of anchor, though.

complete subject

Very small. The radiation is shielded by all the water that is around it. As a rule of thumb... for every 2 feet of water, the amount of radiation is reduced to about 10%. (so for 4 feet of water it's reduced to 1% of it's original value) As long as the core is intact and surrounded by water, almost none. There are a wide range of variables, like what happened when the boat went down. Did it implode? Crash into the bottom at speed? Usually, even if implosion and a crash occur, the danger isn't great. Far and away the greatest radiation hazard is from damaged and leaking fuel elements. They'll put nasty stuff into the water, but they're pretty safe welded into a core assembly and stuck inside the pressure vessel.

Because the soon to be sunk merchant ship was radioing the subs position to the allies the whole time the sub was standing by awaiting for the ship to get it's passengers safely off. The sub was spending TOO MUCH TIME on the surface exposed to enemy hunter killer teams. German subs were being sunk and experienced skippers (captains) and their men were being killed because they were "being kind" (also known as "too nice"). If "ships to be sunk" did not radio off the sub's position, and if enemy hunter killer teams didn't destroy so many German Subs/Skippers/and crewmen; then the "Restricted" warfare would have cost the Germans nothing, and they would have and could have...continued.

Emergency submersibles are called DSRV's - Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles. They are different from Bathyscaphe's in that they are specifically designed to dock and seal with a submarine's access hatch to rescue surviving crew members.

The most notable DSRV's are the U.S. Navy's Mystic (DSRV-1) and Avalon (DSRV-2). They have no specific homeport, and they are designed to be able to be transported by C-5 Galaxy aircraft anywhere in the world within 24 hours. The Mystic was used for filming part of the movie "Hunt for Red October". Though the underwater scenes are realistic, they're computer generated. The surfaced scenes showing her on the after deck of the USS Dallas (SSN-700) are authentic, though not necessarily the Dallas herself.

All hatches have 4 welded metal rings which are used by the DSRV to grab onto and then pull itself tight against the hatch surface (which is flat and kept well maintained). Once it has pulled itself against the hatch surface, the water is forced out and a sealing system keeps the water out at deep depths.

DSRV's have limited range, speed and propulsion, and as such they are carried to a site by a "mother" submarine - it docks itself over the after engineering access hatch for transport.

DSRV's are also used in recovery operations of lost aircraft, ships, weapons, etc., and other classified operations. It should be noted that though they are specifically designed for submarine crew rescue, their purpose is more psychological, and one of search and recovery than search and rescue. Most submarines operate in water depths far exceeding their design limits should they ever sink, and a DSRV rescue, while feasible, can only occur if the boat in question is not on the bottom of the ocean at an angle preventing it from docking to the access hatch. Depths at which the ocean is beyond the design limits of submarines isn't very far from the shorelines of most countries - only about 100-200 miles (past the edge of the Continental Shelf). All submariners, myself included, always know that in the event of a major casualty, rescue is pretty much hopeless. If the casualty is significant enough to sink the boat, it'll likely result in the loss of all hands as well, and even if there are survivors, the boat must be located first. This was the case with the Russian submarine Kursk - several survivors died after the accident because it took time to locate the wreck.

The notable exception is if a boat is struck by a surface vessel while transiting to and from homeport and isn't submergedt. Since submergence typically doesn't occur until the boat reaches deeper water, if struck and sunk it would likely be in shallower water and rescue would be feasible. However, submarines have a huge pscyhological effect on surface ships as well, and most tend to give surfaced boats a wide berth (don't irritate the guy who can sink you with the push of a button).