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This message arrived with each paragraph all on one supergiant-long-anaconda line, so here it is reformatted so it can be read:- From: scuba <scuba@uc*.be*.ed*> Date: Thu, 7 Jul 1994 03:28:03 -0700 To: techdiver@opal.com Subject: Old News: Subs I post collections of news stories that I think may interest divers periodically to a local scuba site here...I'm about to put together another post. Here are some of the more interesting posts from the past.... On Submariners: A Navy engineer recently revealed to a Senate subcommittee (not my pun, honest) that the Navy's had a sub-spying operation since the early sixties utilizing a new class of subs designed to lower gear-laden cables for deep reconnaissance, recovery, and manipulation. These subs were typically refitted attack submarines with a crew of thee or four men max, and which were capable of going to extreem depths to acomplish their missions. In '68, one such sub, the Halibut, successfully recovered items from a sunken Russian Nuclear submarine lost in three mile deep Pacific waters. Six year later the CIA built a special ship, costing over $500 million, the Explorer, in only a partially successful attempt to recover the entire sub and its nuclear arms and other highly sensitive equipment. Other items typically recovered by these subs include lost ships, planes, weapons, rockets, spacecraft, nuclear warheads, and foreign intelligence devices like undersea cables and listening devices. Russian scientists have revealed to US experts that a seven year old sunken Yankee class Soviet nuclear submarine lost 500 miles east of Bermuda is deteriorating and leaking radioactivity into to the strong deep sea currents. Bermuda, and its fishing grounds, lie in the direction of the radioactive flow. The sub carried 16 long range nuclear missles two nuclear tipped torpedoes, and two nuclear reactors. It sank after a fire, with loss of all but three men. It was described as in bad condition on the ocean floor, apparently broken apart and with several nuclear missles scattered across the bottom around the wreckage. The Plutonium in the missles is the greatest hazard, presenting a poisoning danger for hundreds of thousands of years. (ed note - Why hasn't our overfunded military used their super-subs, and spent some off their funds to recover all of the nuclear items from this wreck??? They only bother with the useful intelligence items, and ignore completely the tremendous environmental hazard this poses!) Another interesting note, in '89, another Russian sub, the Komsomolets, sank in another fire incident off the coast of Norway, the Russians refused to accept help from the Norways' Coast guard, who where only minutes away. Instead they insisted on waiting for help from the nearest Russian military, which took a half an hour to arrive. Most of the men escaped to the sea, but nearly all drowned due to hypothermia. Those that survived were in the water were with the ships doctor, who advised them to hold onto the rope of an overturned life raft with their teeth. He told them this because their hands, and other extremities, would quickly become to knumb and stiff to hold on anymore, and the men would sink and drown, but their head, and jaws, were the last to succum to the effect of hypothermia. Mark "The man with a new idea is a Crank until the idea succeeds." - Twain -- Send mail for the `techdiver' mailing list to `techdiver@opal.com'. Send subscription/archive requests to `techdiver-request@opal.com'.
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