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
Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 6:28 PM
To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Collition
with surface vessel
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...
Jeg beskyttes af den gratis SPAMfighter til
privatbrugere.
Den har indtil videre sparet mig for at få 13970
spam-mails
Betalende brugere får ikke denne besked i deres e-mails.
Hent
en gratis SPAMfighter her.