somebody doing the Crazy-Ivan???
Posted on 02/15/2009 5:06:02 PM PST by Velveeta
No. But they used to have land-based missiles. Not sure if they do now. I just googled around, and the Trident force seems to be the only point of contention when arguing about nuclear deterrent.
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/uk/doctrine/sdr06/index.html
IF so, then this was indeed a quarter of their entire nuclear deterrant at risk. Which is kind of scary.
That sounds like a good guess too - testing the boomer's stealth vs the attack sub's listening abilities, and would explain them colliding in the middle of the Atlantic ocean like that.
I thought the sonar operator on the following sub was supposed to listen for the sound of the sub in front turning - but I guess it's hard to be sure and things can happen fast.
I think that tidbit of information was revealed in the third sentence of the article: "Between them they had around 250 sailors on board."
getting kind of crowded above and below and in between.
It does make one wonder.
Sorry my fault, I was going to post “no injuries” in post #1, but I hit the post button instead of the edit button.
Did it collide too?
Lighten up Francis!!! LOL! :) ;) etc.
somebody doing the Crazy-Ivan???
Actually both boats are boomers. And both have the mission of not being found - as in running extremely silent. Getting pinged by sonar can make a bit of a divot in a boomer boat commander’s career, since getting pinged by active sonar pretty much indicates the boat has been found. Happened to an Ohio boomer, pinged by an RCN vessel. Anyhow this collision is likely to be a career ender for two captains, if the RN and French Navy policies are anything similar to the USN.
The question is if this is what happened to the British and French boats what do you think happened to the oppposing boat.
Although it's *possible* that the French and the Brits were engaged in a common action, I believe that to be a remote possibility. Both of these subs are missile boats - their usual mission is one of maximum stealth, not defensive interdiction. The U.K. and France both have Fast Attack boats for those purposes.
This sounds more like a Charlie Foxtrot at the E.U. level - with both boats being tasked to arrive at the same coordinates, at the same time (but no word of the other boat's presence transmitted to either captain). Something of that sort had to have increased the odds of those subs trading paint in the middle of the Atlantic.
Patton would be turning in his grave about skynet..
Future wars will be run by computers,imagine a bunch of geeks defending..
weapons that don’t need soldiers.
“Wonder weapon”?
My God, I don’t see
the wonder in them.
Killing without heroics. Nothing
is glorified, nothing is reaffirmed.
No heroes, no cowards, no troops.
No generals.
Yes it does.....
Yes, I think there’s more to the story.
That one cracked me up. ;-)
Boomers aren't there to fight shooting wars. Boomers are there to deter nuclear attack by Russia or China.
Once a boomer has to fire its missiles, it has failed its primary mission of deterrence.
A boomer is effective only because its location is not known and, thus, a Russian attack on France or Britain results in Mutually Assured Destruction. Once you make your location known to the French or Brits, chances are you have made your location known to the Russians and the boomer has lost its deterrent power as it can be killed by a Russian fast attack sub prior to a Russian nuclear strike.
What is so funny about a collision between 2 submerged vessels?
bump
You follow a car down the road with its right blinker on for 3 minutes, just when you pass on the left, they turn left. It's uncanny.
You always look for the knuckles on top of the steering wheel and the lady with the blue hair peering over the dashboard.
Given the Chinese and Russian espionage efforts, is it possible an operative managed to get those two subs tasked to the same location at the same time?
If so, it was a master stroke, as British sub deterrence was dropped by 25%, and French deterrence capability also reduced. And, all was accomplished without any danger of a war, any risk of political repercussions, potential damages, etc.
Just wondering.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.