submarines

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nac

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had a close encounter with a sub on recent trip to scotland. it was using us as a shield between him and the war ship,which i was not too happy about.it was heading straight for us. all we could see was the periscope,and only dived about 200mtrs away from us and only when i called it on my h/held radio,and went straight under us.i was wondering what height the periscope is above the conning tower,and what danger we were in.has anybody been this close and do they always play these dangerous games.
nac
 
In the Irish Yes. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
They do seem to always miss you though. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
I always tend to think they do know what they are doing give them the benefit of the doubt it happened to us once when we had a submariner on board with us and he was not in the least bit concerned. I cant (dare not) really say any more. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I wouldn't have thought it a very succesful ploy hiding behind you when you are clearly telling all and sundry by VHF where they are!

Personally I would find it very unnerving as no doubt you did.
 
We had a similar encounter just south of Cartagena, with a Spanish submarine and he made VHF contact first. I just had to alter course for half an hour, no probs. Note: I was sailing through an area clearly charted as Submarine Exercise Area!
 
[ QUOTE ]
You were in no danger. The submarine knew exactly where you were and was not using you as a shield. Admire the professionalism of the best submarine drivers in the world!

[/ QUOTE ]

Unless there's a learner conning it. Remeber HMS Trafalgar (S107) and the rocks at Fladda Chuain, a small but well-charted islet...
 
We encounter them all of the time off the east coast of Arran. They normally head south down the east side of Arran before diving south of Pladda but have at times seen them at periscope depth. They have never caused me any hassle but at times will call you on the VHF if they think you are going to get in the way, this is normally when they have a towed array extending 1000mtrs astern!!

One would hope they know what they are doing but past form in this area has not been good. Remember they sunk the MFV "Antares" a few years back when they snagged his nets!! whilst east of Arran with the loss of all the FV crew!!! Worse than that they kept quiet about it untill 8 hours later by which time all hope was lost!!!!!!!

Paul.
 
G'day Nac,


Quote:
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You were in no danger. The submarine knew exactly where you were and was not using you as a shield. Admire the professionalism of the best submarine drivers in the world!


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Pigs A**, it was not that many years ago a sub ran down and sunk a yacht in the Whitsunday Islands. NOT one of ours I might add.

Avagoodweekend......
 
Then

In my experience they can be quite unpredictable in their actions.

A few years ago when crossing from the Cock of Arran to Ardlamont (admittedly across a very busy excecise area we had a surfaced sub directly in line. This was before 'Antares' and VHF notices from Clyde CG. in fact we didn't even have VHF in those days.

Our dilemma was whether to pass ahead or astern. It took us nearly an hour to approach the subs vicinity and it hadn't moved, so we decided to pass ahead - clearing it by at least half a mile.

Just as we were approaching, it started moving - albeit slowly, and it passed our stern with about 50 yards to spare.

We didn't see anyone in the conning tower.

Now

It you looks through this months' edition of Yachting Life - you will see that we got redress in a race after mixing it with a sub doing 'ranging' excecises off Helensburgh. We were warned off by the MOD Police and told to go inside navigation marks. You dont argue with these guys.... they have the guns!

Donald
 
krey.jpg


There`s only two sorts of boats,

Submarines and Targets...


.............
 
Everyone else seems to have an opinion. So here goes. I have very little respect for the technical skills of defence force people.
I recall some years back as an example the young lads were training in their Boeing 707 double engine failure and yaw damper failure simultaneously and promptly put the ship in the ocean killing themselves. Expert evidence showed that what they were trying to do was just impossible with that aircraft but being young (and imortal) and not owning the plane they tried anyway. This aircraft was part of the VIP fleet. I don't imagine Oz defense force people are any more or less skilled or trained than other nationalities.

Then of course there have been many "mistakes" made by navy people ie Royal Navy at New Caledonia "up on the reef ..oops" Or 2 collisions by HMAS Melbourne with destroyers years back. One US one Oz.

The whole principal of taking young people training them to take risks when operating complex and heavy gear in an inherantly dangerous environment (war) (then losing them to civilian life as soon as they start to get some wisdom) means that defence force people are not the wise skilled operators we would hope for. So there that should raise a tirade of protest.
They have to take and use young people cos if they were older and wiser they would play their risky games.
Back to the original question. You were right to be afraid. It is the lads in blue practicing for a rumble and anything could happen. olewill
 
Will, I think you are right on this. These subs get too close; clearly there is a risk and what is the reward in getting close to a yacht? The ocean is a big place so why do they have to carry out their training in places where there will be a high density of leisure and fishing traffic? It is dangerous and utterly pointless and should be stopped.
 
William if you were ever in UK and I was able to take you on one of our submarines, you would change your mind. I cannot comment on the antics of young pilots doing stupid things, but I do know that the training environment in UK is heavily controlled, and the professionalism of those who drive our subs is second to none.

I speak from first hand knowledge and observation and have served under several submarine commanding officers who are also yachtsmen.
 
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