Blogs

Admin

If You Happen to Find One of Lost Undersea Robots, Please Call Navy

Posted by Morli on June 11, 2010 at 5:43pm

Comms problems can happen to 100k$ drones too , even Navy has to face such losses. So choose well.

Undersea-Drones.jpg


The Navy lost four submersible unmanned drones over the weekend in the Chesapeake Bay near Norfolk, Va., and is asking the public for help in finding the errant torpedo shaped drones.

E-mail me when people leave their comments –
Follow

You need to be a member of diydrones to add comments!

Join diydrones

Comments

  • Admin
    Morli June 19, 2010 at 7:02am
    thanks for the feed back, having seen the size of decent size ship props in dry dock , probabilities are more towards eternal sleep. It would have to be real James bond style snatch and run to grab one of these from such a massive exercise .involving 2 navy. No way, Brian , too difficult for too little value IMHO.
  • Bill Porter June 19, 2010 at 6:44am
    And Brian, they would be very little chance of getting one of these guys stolen without it finding a way to call home. Even if they were captured underwater, as soon as the broke surface they would have called home. The bad guys would have to have Jame-bondish style boats with underwater hatches to keep it from seeing the surface.

    They pose no danger to the public. We almost always operate them in public water. If anything, the public is more a danger to them. Leave it to the masses to motor up to a shinny yellow torpedo on the surface to see what it is. We always have support boats to try to keep people away, but sometimes there is no telling where they might surface.

    And remember, the point of the operations was to pretend clear the main shipping channel of terrorist explosives, so they were most definitely in the heart of the channel.

    And we have done similar operations in ports in the past with no problems.
  • Bill Porter June 19, 2010 at 6:33am
    Ahh, Morli, VERY good question.

    I imagine the size and power of the super tanker's props would easily shred these guys to pieces. Even if they don't get shredded, since they are made up of a single pressure chamber, a single breach and they become a new artificial reef on the sea floor.
  • Moderator
    Brian June 18, 2010 at 9:34pm
    To be a fisherman does not mean one is a fisherman by trade... Could have been a very deliberate net. Someone knowledgeable of the operations could have been fishing for the opportunity to knab one or two of these swordfishes.

    And you are right, generally not so much fishing in the shipping channels, but you assume that because they were operating in a channel area that they were "In the channel". I'd bet that proceedures have them on the fringe rather than smack in the middle. Too many variables with different drafts of vessels and the like. They are operating with one constraint that we share, to not put the public in any danger while operating. I'm sure that if a reasonably sized ship tangled with one of these it would be chopped to little pieces. The article said they are about 64 inches long and 7ish inches in diameter, a good sized motor vessel can chop a small fishing boat into small debris so these wouldn't even phase a ship of size.

    We'll never know for sure, seems like they are practicing an age old method of silence... Tight Lips! '
    Cause loose lips sink ships...
  • Admin
    Morli June 18, 2010 at 8:31pm
    Fisherman's net in middle of busy shipping lane? What happens if these have/had contact with one of the ships props ?!! Will they survive or sink to bottom for eternal sleep?
  • Moderator
    Brian June 18, 2010 at 8:28pm
    Sounds like they got caught up in a fisherman's net and not returned for reward.
  • Admin
    Morli June 18, 2010 at 7:57pm
    Thanks Bill, I understand the need to be cryptic. The article explains it all and also the reason for 23+ of those drones working in same area at the same it :) Hope , they all turn up safe , else wish they ( one will be ok) washed up near my shore. :) ,
  • will y. June 18, 2010 at 7:53pm
    Your post could be interpreted a variety of ways, some very alarming and some that I wouldn't really care about at all XD
  • Bill Porter June 18, 2010 at 7:23pm
    Well, now that the press has died down, i think i can divulge more. Hopefully NCIS won't be in my office waiting for me on Monday. To answer your questions, the main battery will last for days in standby. Pretty much every other time one of these has gone missing, it was latter found. If not by acoustic transponder or satellite phone, they would then show up on shore somewhere with a reward if found sticker attached.

    It amazed me that no one really got close to guessing what happened. I think because many people didn't know that the point of the exercise was "designed to safeguard shipping in the area from attacks both on an...

    Meaning they were working in a live shipping lane into Virgina. So if you take that into account when I say that i'd be VERY surprised if any of them were found washed ashore even though they float, you can get a better idea of what happened to them. Let's just say I'm sure Davy Jones is enjoying his new toys.

    Sorry for being cryptic, but I'm trying to answer you with the least amount of information possible; sometimes not being able to talk about what I do is such a bummer.
    attached.it
  • Admin
    Morli June 18, 2010 at 5:59pm
    Bill , any update on the news about lost drones? It has been week since they went MIA. How long does the battery for locator beacons last in these? Any other search and rescue programs for such cases? thanks
This reply was deleted.