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Epic Dive Shop <epic@so*.ha*.ed*> wrote:
>has anyone heard of charts from the navy called non sub contact charts...

"The" navy?  Last I heard there were still several navies in the world.

>have been told that they were recently declassified charts that when
>a sub on a training run in and out of the islands would pick up a
>signature from something underwater they would then check it out..
>when they found either a wreck or dump or whatever they would chart
>it on these charts for the future...

I've heard of the "Non-Sub-Contact" charts too, although when I heard of
them it was the Canadian Navy that had them (I presume that out in
Hawaii, you'd be talking about the US Navy).  They're generated more from
ASW forces than from the subs themselves; Auroras and frigates and Sea
Things and such with magnetic anomaly detectors would from time to time
spot an interesting blip, only to discover that it's an old shipwreck and
not a Soviet submarine.  An "X" goes onto the map so they don't waste as
much time next time they detect it.

These charts were traditionally top secret, since a sub skipper with a
copy could nestle his sub in next to a known contact and evade detection,
or at least try to (in I believe it was Clancy's _Red Storm Rising_, a
fictional Soviet sub tries to hide next to the Doria, unsuccessfully). 
These charts are also somewhat of a Holy Grail to east coast wreck
divers, because a lot of the contacts would be previously-undiscovered
shipwrecks.  I haven't heard anything about these charts being
declassified.

BTW, during WWII, such contacts were prosecuted a bit more vigorously;
the US Navy detected the wreck of the USS Monitor, not knowing what it
was, and depth-charged it just to be sure it wasn't a U-boat.
-- 
Anthony DeBoer             A: "The Net goes right around the world."
adb@he*.re*.or*   B: "Wouldn't want to haul them buggers in on a
uunet!geac!herboid!adb      cold Sunday in February!"
                           -- CBC Air Farce explaining Internet to fishermen

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