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US Says North Korean Submarine Missing (cnn.com)
An anonymous reader writes: The North Korean regime lost contact with one of its submarines earlier this week, three U.S. officials familiar with the latest information told CNN.
According to CNN, the U.S. military had been observing the submarine operate off North Korea's east coast when the vessel stopped, and U.S. spy satellites, aircraft and ships have been secretly watching for days as the North Korean navy searched for the missing sub. The U.S. is unsure if the missing vessel is adrift under the sea or whether it has sunk, the officials said, but believes it suffered some type of failure during an exercise. This comes after North Korea has threatened to use nuclear weapons at any time and turn its military posture to "pre-emptive attack" mode.
...At least we didn't lose one of our own submarines...
R.I.P.
Can't wait to here it. Probably something about it being the worlds greatest stealth submarine that even NK can't see it.
Or maybe this just a diversion from the DOD-Apple debacle. Seems the prez has gone "all in" on this and didn't expect the feedback he got. Nothing like an implied nuclear attack, from CNN, to divert attention.
I don't know what's scarier, losing nuclear weapons, or that it happens so often there's actually a term for it.
Looking at you, octubre Rojo...
Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.
Ernest Hemingway
Russia makes nuclear threats against our allies and yet, we still hold meetings with them and recognize their Mafia cartel as a legitimate government.
Though this isn't a modern diesel electric boat. The US know exactly where it is.
http://michaelsmith.id.au
. . . a United States submarine has reported the loss of one MK 48 torpedo.
Did this vessel become inoperable in international waters? If NK wants to save face by not officially declaring this vessel as wrecked they cannot expect it to be left alone under the Protection of Military Remains Act. I'm sure many nations would like to get a peek at the inner workings of this vessel.
I doubt anyone is interested in it. It probably is an ancient Romeo class, sold to a lot of countries.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Another Hunt for Red October scenario?
"You've lost another submarine?"
I was thinking of Under Siege where the rogue operative stole the sub.
I found the prototype
If video games influenced behavior the Pac Man generation would be eating pills and running away from their problems.
Before he tried to hijack a US battleship and steal the nukes, he captured a North Korean sub
We'd better call Steven Seagal
Modern diesel electric boats are very quiet and pose a challenge to those that worry about such things.
True, but I'm guessing this is one of their Romeo class because atsvwhich are quite old. At any rate, she would have had to snorkel at some point which would give away her location. That she hasn't doesn't bode well for her or her crew.
I'm a consultant - I convert gibberish into cash-flow.
Why do I think this sub will suddenly surface off the coast of California or Alaska waving a white flag and everyone asking for political asylum.
Did they think back to all they places they went all day? That usually works for me.
In typical fashion, they will find the sub in the last place they look.
Since it's a North Korean sub, I was thinking somebody knocked on the hatch.
If the sub is really in serious trouble and the US Navy rescued the crew (and maybe took possession of the sub) it might be a pretty good PR coup. Treat the sub's sailors well - good food, some entertainment in SK to see how life is there, etc. - before repatriating them to the DPRK. Treat the sailors as we would expect our sailors to be treated in similar circumstances. Besides, it's the right thing to do.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
Unless you know something about the US Navy capabilities that I don't I doubt this is true. The US Navy has trouble tracking it's own assets. There are incidents of the US Navy running into other vessels at sea, including their own, because they did not see them.
This means that they cannot track vessels, in some cases, even if they could have reached out and touched them. Tracking a vessel many miles out is a much more difficult task.
A tactic used by drug smugglers is to build a semi-submersible built much like a diesel electric submarine. They'd submerge to a level that just the head of the pilot and a breathing tube would stick out. Out in the open waters they'd be powered by an off the shelf V-8 diesel engine but when approaching the (usually California) coast they'd run on batteries so that they would not be detected by passing Coast Guard. The Coast Guard and Navy are in big ships with brightly colored flags while they are in a sub with just a tiny little bubble for the pilot's head sticking out, the pilot can see them for miles but the pursuers would have to be on top of them to see them. If these guys can build a machine capable of this from parts obtained from a Home Depot and a Ford dealership then the North Korean Navy can build a ship with the backing of the Russian and Chinese governments that can be undetected from miles away and under hundreds of meters under water.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.
...its new cloaking technology.
I wonder if North Korea will puff this up into their own Gulf of Tonkin Incident
For those of you too young to have been of draft age during the Vietnam conflict, this pair of (possibly bogus) incidents were used as the excuse get Congress to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, giving the president (LBJ) the authority he used to puff a minor conflict into a major war without a declaration of war.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Have gnu, will travel.
You Only Nuke Once?
Those who do not learn from commit history are doomed to regress it.
Modern diesel electric boats are very quiet and pose a challenge to those
that worry about such things.
True, but I'm guessing this is one of their Romeo class because atsvwhich are quite old. At any rate, she would have had to snorkel at some point which would give away her location. That she hasn't doesn't bode well for her or her crew.
Still, the PDRK aka North Korea have been building submarines, including perhaps the world's greatest program developing some very small "midget" variants, for a very, very long time. Some require the assistance of a mother ship but the largest of the midget type, the Samg-O Class (crew of 15), can operate independently.
It may also be a Sinpo Class (crew estimated of 30~50), the largest vessel and currently under active development to replace the Romeo Class. One has been observed under construction, others may be or have been built, and there is always the possibility of testing gone wrong.
Along with artillery, it's probably the military technology that the North Korean domestic industry is most proficient at. Although understood to be still inferior to the most modern western designs, that does not mean impotent, and the quiet running ability of Diesel-Electric subs is far from new and well understood; a 1970's era (40 years ago) level is sufficient for excellent results.
Next thing you hear is the last words from a US sub will be why is a american submarine shooting a russian torpedo
Nope. Y. Ono.
It's not very quiet.
US Navy finds out commie nuclear sub goes missing. communist nation suddendly remembers their missing sub. US offers help in the search. communist nation refuses. is the sub named Red October?
The U.S. is unsure if the missing vessel is adrift under the sea or whether it has sunk, the officials said, but believes it suffered some type of failure during an exercise.
Since submarines normally operate underwater, how will they know if it's 'sunk'?
Considering how many missiles they've been firing at the sea, I can't be too surprised that the sea would decide to fight back.
Oh, no! You have walked into the slavering fangs of a lurking grue!
Is this some sort of lyric to a Thomas Dolby Song?
One of the great albums of the 80's.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
Maybe it's more like Bahama Vacation.
:P
Wouldn't it be funny if they had been captured and evacuated by somebody else. Totally overwhelmed and completely unharmed, then put up in a nice and comfortable, but secure, modern location to enjoy a week or two off before they get put back in their sub and allowed to return to port?
There'd be some statement about communication issues, or maybe more bullshit claims about NK superscientist developed a new submarine cloaking device that runs on unicorn poop or something. But of course, their leaders would be scared shitless by an event like this and know they have absolutely no chance to win, no matter how much LSD they do. And as to the crew that went through that, they'd be a hell of a lot more likely to say F it, and defect if they got the chance.
That could make a great movie, I'm thinking comedy.
And with all the knowledge already floating out there that a grad student in the USA has build a functional nuclear device that was only missing the fissionable material for it's core, and the fact that the USA made nukes with 1940s technology at a time period that even most scientist doubted it could be done, and North Korea has only in the last 2 years done anything that MIGHT be a nuclear detonation, but it was so wimpy compared to even the two used on Japan that the experts at analyzing this kind of stuff have publicly stated doubts about it having reached critical mass!
So just because someone in this or another first or even second world country could do it with access to home depot, don't make bets that the NK can.
That seems unlikely. Ask Japan for verification. :(
Oh wait! I see, you were trying to make a James Bond reference joke.
I wonder how many people got that.
How is this Technology news?
From everything I've heard people say, just about the only way to lose an NK sub from tracking was to have it implode.
The men and women who serve on submarines all know their real enemy isn't the other side's sailors but rather the sea itself.
It stalks their every move, looks for a weakness, and strikes without mercy.
I am confident US, Russian, Chinese, Indian, British or French navies would send assistance if asked. This is not about conflict between these countries. Under the sea, they face the same enemy.
Sig for hire.
And this is the dangerously-competent scary country that has some people wetting their pants over a possible attack on the US.
Dupers, dupes, and dolts. Sometimes it's hard to tell them apart.
There's no time like the present. Well, the past used to be.
"Chewy! Punch it!" (Engine wines down.) The Millennium Falcon is in trouble!
Self-importance and self-indulgence is the root of ALL evil.
Though this isn't a modern diesel electric boat. The US know exactly where it is.
Perhaps not...
http://thediplomat.com/2015/12...
This is Chinese but the success of the Chinese makes it obvious
that modest priced diesel electric boats have capabilities worth
exploring. Replace the lead acid batteries of a WW2 U-boat with
modern Tesla class batteries and Tesla class electric motors
and Bob's yer Uncle.
The better class of milling machines and NC machine tools on the open
market should allow building a quieter anything. No need for a
pressure hull like a the Challenger Deep class hull.
Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. Mark Twain.
Perhaps they are trying to defect with their top secret "unicorn" drive? I've heard it was designed by their glorious leader himself!