Submarines' anchors

They used (and may still use) the same anchors and chain as you would see on any warship or large commercial vessel, though the anchors might have been slightly modified to allow them to fit in the anchor pocket. When we, anyone, see submarines they tend to be alongside a submarine depot ship, alongside a pier or attached to a fleet mooring buoy. If they are involved in any real conflict there might be no appropriate pier, mooring nor room alongside the depot ship - they then must have the ability to anchor.

Things may have changed and use may now be made, for sone vessels, of high tensile anchor chain (to allow a significant weight saving) and/or dyneema (to reduce noise) they, or some, may use aluminium anchors, think Fortress (don't bother asking why I make this comment - my source is impeccable and is not Fortress).

Jonathan
 
They submerge to the bottom....they ARE the anchor.....

But on the surface, they use an anchor. When stowed it forms part of the fairing of the hull profile. Rarely used but always available when entering and leaving harbour in the event of a propulsion or steering gear failure.Just like your yacht.....;)
 
As a modest 'aside', one of the Hydrographic Office charts of the eastern Bay of Biscay showed the dip-slope 'drop off' into the 3000 metre+ abyss. A point on that slope, well off France, had a symbol depicted. This translated, on investigation, into an underwater telephone point.... :confused:

While it was never fully explained, my understanding from a lady at Taunton was that it was indeed a 'phone plug-in point for submarine(s) and that it had been included in the print-plate by error..... or 'finger-trubl'. It hadn't been deleted from the French military 'SHOM' charts, as perhaps it should have been.
 
As a modest 'aside', one of the Hydrographic Office charts of the eastern Bay of Biscay showed the dip-slope 'drop off' into the 3000 metre+ abyss. A point on that slope, well off France, had a symbol depicted. This translated, on investigation, into an underwater telephone point.... :confused:

While it was never fully explained, my understanding from a lady at Taunton was that it was indeed a 'phone plug-in point for submarine(s) and that it had been included in the print-plate by error..... or 'finger-trubl'. It hadn't been deleted from the French military 'SHOM' charts, as perhaps it should have been.

Sounds like a full explanation to me? :confused: Though just in case someone else wonders "why do Submarines need underwater telephones?". That's an easy one. Radio (nor sat) does not propagate that far through seawater, I believe the maximum depths to receive radio is about 30 meters or so, though a bit deeper if they can reel out a floating antenna most subs operate at -200m. There has been some success with Extremely Low Frequency (ELF) but this is generally used for emergencies and such due to the power demand and possible other side effects. To avoid re-surfacing and possibly revealing their position they can instead connect to an underwater network that provides faster comms at various points.
 
The first reference was written for a US submarine. RN submarine anchors are similar but use a more conventional ships anchor with an attached fairing plate. Anchoring is only ever done as part of trials, after that the anchor is available but not used, and I always doubted its effectiveness since the fairing plate is well and truly faired in with compound to stop it making any noise, so I wondered if it would release when wanted.
Whilst conventional (diesel electric) submarines regularly sit on the seabed, nuclear submarines never do, because their sea water intakes could become blocked.
 
I operated the anchor windlass control panel on an SSN several times. Once to anchor, several times to veer and haul for maintenance in dry dock maintenance periods. They work quite well.

Great zap on the uw telephone plug in though, who said Crabs got no sense of humour? ;)
 
As a modest 'aside', one of the Hydrographic Office charts of the eastern Bay of Biscay showed the dip-slope 'drop off' into the 3000 metre+ abyss. A point on that slope, well off France, had a symbol depicted. This translated, on investigation, into an underwater telephone point.... :confused:

While it was never fully explained, my understanding from a lady at Taunton was that it was indeed a 'phone plug-in point for submarine(s) and that it had been included in the print-plate by error..... or 'finger-trubl'. It hadn't been deleted from the French military 'SHOM' charts, as perhaps it should have been.

Must have been an old chart. That terminal is a proper internet access point now and there is also a phone mast there so the crew can fire up their smartphones and "like" their mates on facebook. Gotta keep up with the times.
 
A mate of mine worked for STC, submarine cables, i.e. fibre optic cables to America etc.
After explaining lots of stuff about the system to some new recruits, one asked 'and where do the submarines come into it?'.

The 'submarine connection point' is probably a junction box for the internet?
 
During practical sailing courses Ive been asked dozens of times how submarines pick up the cables indicated on charts. I always refrain from taking the P.
 
Top