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Peter, I agree with you that a collision on or near the surface is one
of the most likely major accidents to happen to a PSUB. This is supported by submarine
history demonstrating that this is one of the largest causes of submarines
under peace-time conditions. The ABS included the requirements for a small porthole in the
hatch so that you could look up while approaching the surface and hopefully see
the shadow of a vessel overhead that is silent or stopped. Larger submarines
with a periscope have the capability to train the scope’s top lens
upwards to accomplish the same feat. Many sub’s operating procedures
include a pause in ascent near the surface to look and listen for other vessels
in the near vicinity. If you do not have much internal noise in your PSUB, you should
hear most power vessels while still at some distance. A trainable hydrophone
will help discern the direction. The cabled camera is a good substitute for a
periscope but will be difficult to obtain a stable image with known viewing
direction on the surface. Just remember that gadgets just require more
maintenance and can detract from pleasurable operating time. R/Jay Respectfully, Jay K. Jeffries Andros Is., Bahamas A skimmer afloat is but a submarine, so poorly built it will not
plunge. From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Peter Madsen Hi
Psubbers, When
people talk of submarine safety the situation most often assumed is a sub in
distress on the seabed. This is of cause a very critical situation, and
we all design boats that are redundant in many ways so that we hopefully never
get in that situation. In
my practical experience - however - getting hit by a passing surface vessel
when being at or very close to surface is a much more likely incident.
Depending on the speed and size of the vessel and submarine any level of damage
is possible - and the sub I likely to sink with its pressurehull ruptured to some
extent after the collision. We
are currently adding hydrophones to Kraka for detection and classification of
surface sound contacts, and we are designing a cable camera for the UC3 - that
can be send up prior to surfacing. We hope these technical gadgets
may make it more safe to operate our subs. The
professionel submariners ( navy ) that I have talked to say that they
solely depend on their passive sensors - hydrophone arrays - and they have zero
way of detecting a drifting - stopped or sailing vessel. What
do other non navy submarine operator do - how do you psubbers handle this
safety issue ? Most people ask me why we don't just have an underwater radar ?!
- or is it sonar - a sea surface hull detection device...like the navy... Well
- what do you do ? Regards, Peter
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