RN submarine seamanship strikes (almost) again.

East Cardinal said:
Try reading “Hunter Killers” by Iain Ballantyne, for an insight into the submarine world.
It is very easy to criticise from a keyboard.
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Having looked at the Service Enquiry Report, referenced earlier on here, it's difficult not to be critical. I quite understand the "retired admirals" attitude, but largely, and certainly in respect of the grounding of Astute, they are defending the indefensible.
 
East Cardinal said:
JumbleDuck said:
Only inasmuch as the submarine department of the navy seems far too often to display wanton disregard for other water users.

Perisher course? How hard can it be? I've watched "The Hunt for Red October" twice.k


Jumble duck, if you could pass the perisher course, I might take you seriously.:)
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If they could pass a Yachtmaster exam, he might take them seriously.
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JumbleDuck said:
Now, now, let's not overstate it. "Day Skipper" is what I wrote, and Day Skipper I meant.
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Now I have in my time passed first time my Submarine part three, Bridge Watchkeeping Certificate, and Ocean Navigation Certificate, [all of which were required to be confirmed as a Lieutenant] plus my diesel to nuclear conversion part three, and a Coastal Skipper practical. I can assure you the Coastal Skipper was very much easier.

Now my time at sea in submarines was a good few years ago so some things may have changed a bit. Clearly from the BOI report they expect a lot more box ticking now that I ever did and my last seagoing job was as a submarine navigating officer. Certainly for Astute it would seem that whilst there was clearly a lack of clarity in what was being done it was mainly the result of 'Channel Fever' a phenomenon caused by the euphoria of getting the job done which tends to cause ones guard to drop and mistakes become more likely. I have seem a perisher close up, very close up, and the result is the very highest standard. I also have seen that standard in action close to the enemy {try reading Blind Mans Bluff mainly USN but it does cover the RN involvement]

Just as an aside a submarine should be able to safely navigate within at least a cable of another ship
 
maxi77 said:
And a Stena spokesman said '"At no stage were the vessel, passengers or crew in any danger.' which would tend to suggest that the incident was not perhaps quite as scary as some would like to suggest.
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Indeed! We were crossing the Straits of Gibraltar a few months ago from Ceuta. The fast ferry from Ceuta was doing 30 plus knots on our port side about 200 mtrs away whilst its sister ship was doing the same going back to Ceuta on the port side!
Not as scary as it sounds!
 
skipper_stu said:
Indeed! We were crossing the Straits of Gibraltar a few months ago from Ceuta. The fast ferry from Ceuta was doing 30 plus knots on our port side about 200 mtrs away whilst its sister ship was doing the same going back to Ceuta on the port side!
Not as scary as it sounds!
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However, both were on the surface!
 
skipper_stu said:
Indeed! We were crossing the Straits of Gibraltar a few months ago from Ceuta. The fast ferry from Ceuta was doing 30 plus knots on our port side about 200 mtrs away whilst its sister ship was doing the same going back to Ceuta on the port side!
Not as scary as it sounds!
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It might be for them if the ferries were aware of your level of competence.
 
maxi77 said:
In busy channels being that close is normal, even down to half a cable is OK especially on a reciprocal course or passing close astern.
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Indeed. One of my abiding regrets is not switching off my AIS as I passed 100m behind a Stena ferry at the entrance to Belfast Lough. Knowing, as I did, that the mother of a young guest was following us nervously on Marine Traffic ...

That said, getting up close with these ferries is perfectly normal. As I wrote they are courteous and efficient about finding a way through traffic, as long as they can see it.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Indeed. One of my abiding regrets is not switching off my AIS as I passed 100m behind a Stena ferry at the entrance to Belfast Lough. Knowing, as I did, that the mother of a young guest was following us nervously on Marine Traffic ...
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Are you assuming she wouldn't be nervous if you'd just disappeared off the screen shortly after having been on a collision course with a ferry? :)
 
lpdsn said:
Are you assuming she wouldn't be nervous if you'd just disappeared off the screen shortly after having been on a collision course with a ferry? :)
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Quite the contrary. I wish I could claim to be nicer than that, but the truth is that I just didn't think of it in time.
 
JumbleDuck said:
Quite the contrary. I wish I could claim to be nicer than that, but the truth is that I just didn't think of it in time.
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May well not have been a problem. As discussed at length on other threads the timing of transmissions means it sometimes doesn't represent reality, and if you zoom out the symbols for ships well clear of each other can intersect anyway (at least on the displays I use).

Of course she may have plotted your transmissions and calculated the CPA. :)
 
Of course. The fun part is watching the ill informed speculators trying to score points that they are clueless about!

Must happen in all parts of life where the experienced and knowledgable get a laugh at the expense of the axe grinders.

How about you, what is your personal part of life that you know about?
 
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