Lets think about what they could do with a
sub...
1) Sink ships by firing torpedos: Maybe in a movie. In
real life, it would be a ridiculous plan for dozens of reasons.
2) Infiltrate a harbor to place explosives on ships:
Their chances of doing so undetected would be infinitely better with SCUBA
gear that is easily purchased off the shelf. In particular
with rebreathers. A sub on a trailer is about the worst possible plan if
you're trying to go unnoticed. And I presume a sub is easier to detect when
submerged as well.
3) Place explosives at great depth: Sure,
but evil as I may be, I cannot come up with any useful targets at depth
beyond SCUBA.
4) Smuggle things like people or explosives: This is the
only viable nastiness I can think of, but you'd need a big diesel electric
sub in the range of Peter or Carsten's. I can count the people building
such boats, worldwide, on one hand. Building a boat that size would also be
pretty hard to do unnoticed, and the effort is huge when compared to
conventional means of smuggling. Anyone proposing a diesel electric sub for
smuggling would have an exceptionally poor sense of cost/benefit. The drug
subs I've seen in the news are not really subs at all, they're
just David boats designed to run on the surface while keeping a low
profile.
Having said that, it is amazing how many people, when they
find out I have my own sub, are amazed that it's legal. They assume a little one
person K-250 has potential as a weapon. It doesn't at all!
I presume the fact it's legal is due to someone in the Navy or Coast Guard
having a more educated notion of what our toys can and cannot
do.
cheers,
Alec
The contents of this e-mail are intended for the named addressee only. It contains information that may be confidential. Unless you are the named addressee or an authorized designee, you may not copy or use it, or disclose it to anyone else. If you received it in error please notify us immediately and then destroy it.
Hopefully their isn’t anyone on
this forum using a fictitious name… quietly lurking in the background… gathering
up all kinds of notes on building a viable submersible…
Nah… what was I thinking.
From: "Stephen Pearce" <sjpearceqld@bigpond.com>
Reply-To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org
To:
<personal_submersibles@psubs.org>
Subject: RE:
[PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUBS and FBI
Date: Fri, 24 Aug 2007 08:00:26
+1000
Jon
It’s
very sad really that every post on this forum is very probably being monitored
and assessed by the US Fed’s. So much for an innocent hobby!
I had to
laugh when I read his last name was “Smith”. Did he have dark sunglasses too!
J
Steve
Pearce
-----Original
Message-----
From:
owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
[mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org] On Behalf Of Jon Wallace
Sent: Friday, 24 August 2007 2:48
AM
To:
personal_submersibles@psubs.org
Subject: [PSUBS-MAILIST] PSUBS and
FBI
Given
the growing popularity of using submersibles for illegal and/or suspicious
activities, the federal government is interested in knowing more about psub
type submersibles. One thing I've not seen anyone talk about regarding
the convention yet, is that we were approached by a special agent of the FBI
on Friday at the dive site. I had accounted for all participants except
for Frank D, and not having met him before I didn't know what he looked
like. Shortly after we arrived at the dive location, I saw a gentleman
walking down the path. I approached him and said "Frank?" anticipating
that Frank D. had arrived. He said "no", then looked at me and said
"Jon?". I said "yes", and he then pulled out his FBI identification
(Special Agent David Smith), explained why he was there, and asked to learn
more about the submersibles we use.
Agent
Smith made it clear from the outset that we were not doing anything illegal
and he was not there to stop us from using our submersibles or continuing with
our convention. I brought him around to the various subs we had on site,
explained how they functioned, and also explained the difference between
1-ATM, ambient, and wet-subs. I then invited him to speak to us the next
day at the seminar we were holding, which he agreed to do. Agent Smith
spoke to the assembled group on Saturday and explained that after the sub/QE2
incident in New York recently, the FBI was researching small subs. He
explained that in the post-9/11 environment, the FBI would like us to remain
vigilant and report any suspicious requests, discussions, or activity that
might seem out of the realm of what a recreational/personal submersible might
be used for.
Given
another drug sub capture, we can expect continuing attention to our
hobby.
A new home for
Mom, no cleanup required. All starts here.
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************ The
personal submersibles mailing list complies with the US Federal CAN-SPAM Act of
2003. Your email address appears in our database because either you, or someone
you know, requested you receive messages from our organization. If you want to
be removed from this mailing list simply click on the link below or send a blank
email message to: removeme-personal_submersibles@psubs.org Removal of your email
address from this mailing list occurs by an automated process and should be
complete within five minutes of our server receiving your request. PSUBS.ORG PO
Box 53 Weare, NH 03281 603-529-1100
************************************************************************
************************************************************************
************************************************************************