Comments on: Comments on 7258

Post number 7258

hmgovt — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 06:15:00 -0800

Underwater Warpdrives Some naval experts believe that supercavitating systems could alter the nature of undersea warfare, changing stealthy cat-and-mouse stalking contests between large submarines into something resembling aerial combat, featuring noisy high-speed dogfights among small, short-range "subfighters" shooting underwater bullets at one another after having been launched from giant "subcarriers."

By: holloway

holloway — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 06:28:43 -0800

Darwin has so much more power today than we realize...

By: gimli

gimli — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 06:38:21 -0800

Not that I expect them to give a damn, but I wonder what kind of environmental impact this technology will have. Impacts with animals aside, shockwaves and turbulence could be brutal. This isn't the same as flying.

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 06:51:56 -0800

I'm looking forward to seeing Tom Cruise and Val Kilmer in "Top Gun: Underseas".

By: aladfar

aladfar — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 06:51:59 -0800

OK, I haven't slept much. As a result, my usual pacifist leanings are buried a bit, and I can honestly say that this sounds really cool. Reminds me a bit of that one GI JOE vehicle that was really cool. I can't remember what it was called - it was that boxy looking white plane/submarine thing. It could literally fly out of the water, and dive into the sea without skipping a beat. Not often featured on the television show, the toy itself made for hours of fun in the bathtub. Anyone remember what it was called?

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 06:58:00 -0800

gimli's right. this can't happen. i've been searching in vain for an npr (i think) story recently on the effect of naval activities on a certain species of whales. anyone else hear it? the impact on ocean fauna would be absolutely devastating. i can't imagine this program would last once animals start washing up on shore by the hundreds.

By: starvingartist

starvingartist — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 07:00:23 -0800

aladfar - I believe that would be the S.H.A.R.C.. Amazing what you can find on the web. I'm going to go look at all the old G.I. Joe vehicles now. No more work for me today!

By: SentientAI

SentientAI — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 07:00:59 -0800

damn, what was the name of toy? . . .and knowing's half the battle. Yo Joe! sorry, reverted for a bit.

By: mohican

mohican — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 07:49:04 -0800

This sucks, at least leave the water for the fishes

By: Postroad

Postroad — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 07:56:17 -0800

jpoulos: a short time ago there was an article that indicated that the navy use of sonar was causing harm to dophins and whales. I do not recall where I had seen this report however.

By: silusGROK

silusGROK — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 09:06:06 -0800

There was a television report on the sonar blasts which killed whales in some straights off of Miami... it was Nova or FrontLine or 60 Minutes. I've searched their sites, though, and can't find it listed. *grumble*

By: Mocata

Mocata — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 09:16:41 -0800

Mohican, you rock.

By: TractorInc

TractorInc — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 09:44:58 -0800

Regardless of the final outcome of this project, I still think the the whole concept behind this is just, well... cool.

By: dhartung

dhartung — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 10:37:42 -0800

S.H.A.R.C? Pfaugh. In my day we had the Flying Sub! I thought it was ridiculous even as a kid, but today I recognize it as a prettified version of a lifting body. In any event, dogfights might still be a problematic issue -- there's that tough visualization problem -- but I could certainly see this revolutionizing underwater strategic defense. Right now much of our nuclear policy rests on the near-invulnerability of our submarine fleet. Notably, one of the key reasons we were said to be running those coastal China "spy" flights was to keep tabs on Chinese submarines, which are also rumored to be difficult for our subs to track. (I'm doubtful that China is close to supercavitation yet, though; they've only recently begun to build a strategic navy.)

By: rodii

rodii — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 11:10:42 -0800

I want an underwater car. I was going to link to the Spy Kids car, but...www.spykids.com = Flash hell.

By: rodii

rodii — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 11:13:53 -0800

Oh, forgot: here's another supercavitation article.

By: aladfar

aladfar — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 12:12:53 -0800

Starvingartist, I am in your debt. The SHARC was without doubt the coolest vehicle ever produced for Government Issued Joe. I remember it came with a special figure who was the pilot. So cool.

By: john

john — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 14:54:09 -0800

Yes, that's a cool link Starvingartist. when I first saw aladfar's post I put this on the scanner. GI JOE was such a great cartoon, but despite the fact that COBRA soldiers couldn't ever seem to hit anything, they had this amazing ability to exit their vehicle right before it was destroyed EVERY time. In fact, I'm sure that COBRA's forces consisted of only a handful of Houdini protégés. I'm sure GI JOE inspired the A-Team with their ability to fire endlessly without ever hitting a single person.

By: kindall

kindall — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 15:43:27 -0800

Hint to John: the other slash. Here is the corrected link. Now that i've beat you up for the broken link, I have to say that is a pretty excellent 404 page you have there, dude.

By: john

john — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 17:14:26 -0800

Once again it it shown that HTML in not my native tongue. "I only speak two languages. Good english and bad english." - Bruce Willis as Corbin Dallas in The 5th Element Really, I'm in such a silly mood and was wondering where all the Seattle mefi members went after I posted my little Douglas Adams reference(it was the 42nd post).

By: ellis

ellis — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 22:45:43 -0800

This is quite old.. =)

By: chiheisen

chiheisen — Thu, 26 Apr 2001 23:21:30 -0800

The action figure that came with the S.H.A.R.C. was called Deep Six. He was neat because he came with a pump that you could use to make him dive and do whatever the opposite of dive is. However, only his arms moved. More on topic, reading the article I got the feeling that (the Russian Squall thing aside) this was a lot like superconductors in that it has a very strong "if-we-could-do-this-it-would-change-everything-but-we-are-nowhere-near-able-to-make-this-technology-practical" type of feeling. Anybody else get the same vibe?

By: john

john — Fri, 27 Apr 2001 02:01:42 -0800

Not the best name for a guy that spends his time at sea. Sort of like calling a pilot Crash & Burn...A race car driver Twisted Metal...a porn star VD...