Saturday 9 October 2021

Submarine Collision

 
The American submarine USS Connecticut has had an accident while on routine operations in the South China Sea. The sub is one of the Seawolf-class nuclear powered hunter-killer kind. The class only has three vessels; it had been originally intended to be the principle attack sub for the US Navy, but the Cold War ended and the line was reduced. It's an ageing design, but very powerful. What kind of accident could such a submarine have? Very little information has been published. The incident happened in international waters and the damage is not severe. Eleven crewmembers were injured, but not seriously. The boat is heading to the island of Guam in the South Pacific for repairs, but its powerplant and pressure hull were not damaged. The most likely answer is it struck another submarine. The South China Sea is a regular theatre of conflict because of the rising tensions between China and Taiwan; also other territorial disputes. China will no doubt be deploying submarines to the region and when foreign subs turn up they attempt to stalk each other. This activity went on throughout the Cold War and continues today. Occasionally submarines can get so close they do bump each other. These collisions are often not reported in the media. If USS Connecticut did crash into a Chinese submarine during one of these pursuit manoeuvres then neither nation has made a formal protest. At the same time it is unlikely that the sub collided with a neutral or friendly vessel. Considering the vastness of the ocean one would have to be extremely unlucky to be in the same place at the same time as another ship or submarine randomly. The same goes for large marine organisms like whales. What's more a whale would get out of the way of an approaching sub. This YouTuber, a former US Navy submariner, believes Connecticut simply ran aground. The South China Sea is notoriously difficult to navigate for submarines because it is a maze of shoals, islands and abysses. Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VKQPBhu0z0. On the other hand, could this be a USO encounter? USO, Unidentified Submerged Object, are the same as UFO's except they are underwater instead of being in the air. However, they are basically the same phenomenon; indeed one can become the other when they leave or enter the water. The "Tic-Tac" UFO was seen in connection to a USO in 2004. See here for more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcDwHxTbGTk. The YouTuber "Sub Brief" has put out an appeal for anybody living on Guam to try and get a photograph of USS Connecticut when she puts into the harbour. Any visible damage to the hull might give us a clue; and I repeat that appeal.

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