Author Archives: jasonlockley

Indian submarine in distress gets Egyptian help

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India’s submarine INS Sindhurakshak received help from Egyptian Navy when it encountered extreme bad weather and rough sea on its way back home after mid-life up-gradation in Russia.
The Sindhurakshak, a Russian Kilo Class submarine built in 1997 at Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard in St Petersburg, underwent mid-life up-gradation.

The Egyptian Navy towed the submarine to Port Said along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in March, sources said.
Indian submarine in distress gets Egyptian help

Welcoming the gesture, Indian ambassador to Egypt Navdeep Suri praised the professional handling by the Egyptian Navy.
Indian submarine in distress gets Egyptian helpIn thank you cable to Egypt’s Defence and Military Production Minister Gen Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, Suri said, “(Egyptian) Naval troops towed the submarine in a professional way to a safe Egyptian port”, the official MENA news agency reported.

Source – Zee News

Applied Integration, in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, wins contract to supply control systems for HMS Agamemnon and HMS Ajax

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Applied Integration, in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, wins contract to supply control systems for HMS Agamemnon and HMS Ajax

One of the Royal Navy's astute-class submarines

One of the Royal Navy’s astute-class submarines

NUCLEAR-POWERED Royal Navy attack submarines will defend the nation backed by North-East technology firm.

Applied Integration, based in Stokesley, North Yorkshire, has secured a multi-million pound deal to design and develop control systems for HMS Agamemnon and HMS Ajax.

The company, which already designs software for the HMS Audacious and HMS Anson submarines, will devote a 12-strong engineering team to a four-year programme building visual mechanisms allowing Royal Navy operators and sailors to manage conditions on the UK’s largest and most powerful fleet of submarines.

One of the Royal Navy's astute-class submarines

 

Garry Lofthouse, director, said the contract, with BAE Systems, was one of the most technical in the world, and similar to building a space shuttle.

He revealed it had helped the company create three engineering jobs and hoped to increase that number in the near future.

He said: “To be involved in the defence of the nation is amazing.

“It was a lot of hard work getting there but we’re unbelievably proud to be designing and developing the most complex build in the world here in the North-East.

“It is a massive challenge but we’ve already proved we are more than up to the job.”

Mr Lofthouse said it has achieved its five-year targets in only fine months, and the latest contract is the company’s third submarine deal with BAE.

My Raywood said: “Our first contract five years ago gave us stability and acted as the launch pad for us to grow the business, and to secure deals three times ahead of some of the UK’s largest systems manufacturers has been a major coup.

“It is a very tough and challenging programme but we have built our reputation on delivering world-class results to the Ministry of Defence and Royal Navy.

“It’s been an extremely steep learning curve but the experience we have gained means we are now in the perfect position to continue to meet the highest standards every time the bar is raised.”

“Our senior engineers are truly exceptional and our staff deserve great credit for our success.”

Source – The Northern Echo

World’s biggest Russian nuke-submarines to be scrapped

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Russian nuke-submarine

Russia will decommission and scrap two of the world’s largest submarines by 2018, a defence industry source has said.
The Severstal and the Arkhangelsk, both Project 841 (Typhoon-class) ballistic-missile submarines, are based at Severodvinsk on the White Sea. They will be withdrawn from the Navy by this year-end and will begin to be dismantled.
“This process is to be completed before 2018-2020 at the latest,” the source said, adding the boats are outdated and it is too costly to modernise them.
A third submarine of this class, the Dmitry Donskoy, has been modernised as a test platform for Russia’s new Bulava submarine-launched ballistic missile It will remain in service in that capacity for some time yet, the source said.
Six Typhoon-class submarines entered service with the Soviet Navy in the 1980s, and remain the largest submarines ever built. Three have already been scrapped.

Source – India Today

Spain just spent $680 million on a submarine that can’t swim

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The S-80, clearly computer-generated.Navartia

One of Spain’s largest defense splurges may also be one of its most embarrassing. After spending nearly one-third of a $3 billion budget to build four of the world’s most advanced submarines, the project’s engineers have run into a problem: the submarines are so heavy that they would sink to the bottom of the ocean.

Miscalculations by engineers at Navantia, the construction company contracted to built the S-80 submarine fleet, have produced submarines that are each as much as 100 tonnes (110 US tonnes) too heavy. The excess weight sounds paltry compared to the 2,000-plus tonnes (2,205 US tonnes) that each submarine weighs, but it’s more than enough to send the submarines straight to the ocean’s floor.

Given the mistake, Spain is going to have to choose between two costly fixes: slimming the submarines down, or elongating them to compensate for the extra fat. All signs point to the latter, which will be anything but a breeze—adding length will still require redesigning the entire vessel. And more money on top of the $680 million already spent.

Spain’s defense ministry, the government arm responsible for overseeing the project, has yet to say how much the setback will cost in both time and money. But Navantia has already estimated that its mistake will set the project back at least one or, more likely, two years. And the Spanish edition of European news site The Local reported that each additional meter added to the S-80s, already 71 meters in length, will cost over $9 million.

It’s a costly mistake on many fronts. The state-of-the-art submarines were meant to be the first entirely Spanish-designed and built. Incompetence is likely going to cost the country at least some of the glory. Electric Boat, a subsidiary of US-based technology firm General Dynamics, has already evaluated the project and could be hired as a consultant to save the job.

Another bailout for Spain. This is getting all too familiar.

Source – Quartz

UK – HMS Trenchant returns home after 11 month deployment

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A NUCLEAR submarine that has been deployed for 11 months is due to  return  home tomorrow.

The captain of HMS Trenchant, Commander Irvine Lindsey, said it is believed  to be the “longest ever” nuclear submarine deployment.

The crew, seven of whom have been onboard for the entire trip, will be  reunited with their loved ones at the boat’s home port, HM Naval Base Drake late  on Wednesday afternoon.

The hunter-killer submarine left Devonport  on June 22 last year. When it  arrives home it will have been away for 335 days – 30 days short of a year.

 

On high alert as the United Kingdom’s frontline strike asset, the submarine  spent 267 days east of Suez, continuing the nuclear-powered submarine presence  that has been established there since 2001.

Operating under joint command, the submarine has completed several periods of  national tasking and contributed to NATO operations against terrorism and  counter narcotics.

Cdr Lindsay said: “It is believed that this 11-month period away from the UK  is the longest ever UK nuclear submarine deployment.

“The ship’s company have met every challenge head-on.  They have achieved  success on operations, maintaining the material state of the submarine in a  harsh environment  and demonstrating the unique and potent military utility of the submarine.

“Whilst I am enormously proud of the achievements of my ship’s company I do  not believe that they are a unique body of men.

“I am convinced that the resilience, dedication, professional pride and sheer  grit demonstrated by this ship’s company is indicative of the high calibre of  personnel serving across the whole of the submarine service and indeed the Royal  Navy.”

During the deployment the vessel has visited six different ports: Fujairah,  UAE; the British Indian Ocean Territory – Diego Garcia; the Kingdom of Bahrain;  Aqaba, Jordan; Souda Bay, Crete; and Gibraltar.

HMS Trenchant conducted training and multi-national exercises with seven UK  warships, a French submarine, multiple US warships and auxiliaries, a US  submarine and a range of multinational aircraft.

During the deployment the chefs onboard have cooked 103,350 meals, and  produced over 44,000 homemade rolls.

The deployment has spanned 38,800 nautical miles – the equivalent of 1¾ times  around the world – and the submarine has spent over 4700 hours underwater the  equivalent of 6½ months.

Source – This is Plymouth

 

UK – Submarine business fined after hand crush

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A submarine maintenance company has been fined after a labourer crushed his hand while working on a submarine refit project at Devonport Dockyard in Plymouth.

The 19 year-old worker had to have plates inserted to repair broken bones after his right hand was drawn into the rotating bar of a drum rolling machine while working for Thales Underwater Systems on 22 April 2012.

Plymouth Crown Court heard that the labourer had been working on the exterior of a submarine prior to the incident. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) found that Thales Underwater Systems did not conduct any risk assessments in relation to the operation of the machine.

Thales Underwater Systems, of The Bourne Business Park in Addlestone, Surrey, was fined a total of £50,000 and ordered to pay £15,236 in costs after pleading guilty to single breaches of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

“This incident could have been prevented had the guard not be removed from the drum roller,” said HSE inspector Georgina Speake. “Thales Underwater Systems clearly failed to ensure the safety of its employees, with painful consequences for the injured worker.”

Source – InsiderMedia

WWI German submarine has an underwater Lake Michigan grave (Video Clip)

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Click on picture for Video clip

A view of the German U-boat, UC-97

It is no secret that one of the major attractions at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry is a World War II German submarine.

What you may not know is that Chicago also has a World War I German submarine but it happens to be resting in a place where very few people can see it.

We are turning the clock back to 1919 which was an incredible year in Chicago’s history.

There were race riots that took lives and others died when a hydrogen blimp crashed in the loop.  There was a transit strike, political scandal, the Black Sox lost the series and the City of Chicago became host to a German submarine that has disappeared, but never left.

It was something of a trophy from the Great War.  The German mine-laying sub U-C 97 was brought to the states in the summer of 1919.  It toured some of the Great Lakes making stops in Racine, Milwaukee and its final destination Chicago.  Along the way people could see, board, touch, perhaps curse this modern machine of war.

“The U-Boat was on tour.  It was kind of a post-war, ‘we won’ tour, and so people got to go on to it and see it, and then as a condition of the armistice, it had to be sunk,” Pritzker Military Library CEO Ken Clarke said.

Indeed, the order was to sink the UC-97 in deep water.  In June of 1921, the sub was towed 20 to 30 miles off of Highland Park.  The USS Wilmette was brought within rang, and fired her four inch guns.

“My understanding is they fired about 15 shots and they hit her about the water line and she went down pretty quick.  She nose down and down she went,” well-known maritime searcher Taras Lyssenko said.

And out there she rests – on the bottom of Lake Michigan.

“You know where the submarine is.  I can take you right to the submarine and put you in the hatch if you want to go,” Lyssenko said.

How about the aft hatch?  It’s there  In 300 feet of water.  Sleeping with the fishes.  Here’s a hole from one of the Willmette’s shells.

Cold, fresh water has kept the sub in pretty good shape as the years have passed.  Lyssenko and colleagues spent four years searching for it, and found it back in the 1990s.

In the years since, he’s recovered numerous World War II fighter planes from the Lake – now restored and displayed, but Lyssenko’s continuing dream is to do the same with the sub.  But raising, restoring, and finding a home for it would cost, he says, upwards of 50 million dollars.

“That’s huge, but the value to this city and state and country is far, multiplier.  It’s an exponential multiplier of the value,” Lyssenko said.

“If I was a betting person, it’s going to take somebody with a very particular specific interest and desire to see this piece of history come alive again,” Clarke said.

And here’s one more piece of history.  The ship that sunk the UC-97, The USS Wilmette, had different name and purpose a few years earlier.  It was the Steamship Eastland that in 1915 turned onto its side while docked in the Chicago River.  Over 800 lives were lost in one of the worst maritime disasters ever.

The Eastland, later the Wilmette, was cut up for scrap after World War II.  The UC-97 sits at the bottom, this appetizing, unseen pearl of history.

Pearls are expensive, and raising this one, while doable, will most definitely require “digging deep” in many respects.

Source – ABC Local

South Africa – Submarine open days turn ugly over delays

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        SAS Charlotte Maxeke
Tempers frayed and tensions rose as hundreds of people who had queued for hours to see the SA Navy’s attack submarine in Port Elizabeth harbour were turned away yesterday.

A few hotheads became aggressive after the long wait.

The SAS Charlotte Maxeke docked on Friday and was berthed near the port’s naval base, the SAS Donkin, where it was to be open for public viewing between 9am and 3pm on Saturday and yesterday.

But the submarine was relocated to another berth on Saturday, causing a three-hour delay. This led to a lot of sightseers being turned away on both days.

Lieutenant Gert van Staaden, of the Port Elizabeth naval cadet base, said port control had ordered the relocation of the submarine because another ship was due to dock near the naval base.

“Moving the sub is not a simple task and takes time,” he said.

In addition, a pontoon, which keeps the vessel from colliding with the side of the quay, had to be put in place at the new berth.

“The submarine was moved at 10am and was open to the public again at 1pm,” said Van Staaden.

“A decision was taken to issue tickets to people, some of whom had been waiting for many hours.

“There were about 100 [people] left at the end of the day and they were given tickets and instructed to return early on Sunday,” he said.

The tours finished at 7pm on Saturday.

But frustrations in the queues arose again yesterday, when scores of ticket holders, some of whom were said to have brought others with them, arrived later than requested and demanded to be taken to the front of the growing queue.

Harbour Master Rajesh Dana said the relocation was in the interests of public safety because another vessel had docked nearby, causing “heavy truck movement” .

“We were also completely overwhelmed by the public interest. Adding to the logistical challenges was that only 10 visitors could go on board at a time.

“To avoid people standing for hours and not getting on board we closed the gates early.”

Dana said improved public access would be introduced as soon as possible.

Source – Times Live

Landlocked USS Dallas to be site of major maritime museum

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The USS Dallas, a 362-foot nuclear-powered submarine, will be displayed next to the museum building. The submarine is scheduled for decommissioning in 2014.

Plans are afoot to build a major maritime museum in Dallas. You heard right.

The $80 million Dallas Maritime Museum will be on a 3.5-acre site near the Trinity River, but more than 250 miles from the nearest body of salt water. Plans will be officially announced Friday morning by Mayor Mike Rawlings and members of a foundation formed to create the new facility.

“Dallas is a city of big ideas, and this is just one more example,” said Phillip Jones, president and CEO of the Dallas Convention and Visitors Bureau, which is backing the idea. “Lots of people are excited about this.”

One big idea is to acquire and display the 362-foot nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Dallas next to a 30,000-square-foot museum building. Foundation officials said naval authorities have approved the transfer once the vessel is removed from active duty.

The submarine is scheduled for decommissioning in 2014. It would be another 21/2 years before the vessel is ready for public display.

“By that time we want to have the museum ready,” said John Shellene, the foundation’s executive director. “We’re in the early stage of the fundraising process.”

Shellene said the money will largely come from private sources, though he said backers may apply to the city for additional funding.

Museum plans call for two other major acquisitions besides the submarine. Shellene declined to elaborate, other than to say that one of the exhibits “would excite people not just on the national, but the international, level.”

Rollie Stevens, a retired Navy captain who is the foundation’s president, said the idea was launched in 2009 after he and other local military supporters became aware that the USS Dallas was scheduled to leave active duty.

The idea was also conceived as a way to create an attraction in southern Dallas along the Trinity River Corridor, he said. The foundation has acquired land on Riverfront Boulevard in the Rock Island area for the project.

“We look upon its purpose as education, but also as a living memorial to the contributions North Texas has made to the Navy, the Coast Guard and the merchant marine,” he said.

While the city is not usually regarded as a major seaport, Dallas is still a logical place for a maritime museum, he said.

“It’s important to know that North Texas is the No. 1 recruiting area in the country for the Navy,” he said. “Last year in the Veterans Day parade, the Navy had 100 new recruits, as big as the Army.”

Jones, too, believes North Texas’ strong military tradition makes the museum a logical step. The facility would draw national tours specializing in retirees and military veterans, he said.

“This gives Dallas a good balance of attractions. It’s a needed addition in South Dallas,” Jones said.

The Cambridge, Mass.-based research firm ConsultEcon, commissioned by the foundation to study the feasibility of the museum, did not estimate the number of visitors the facility might attract. Its executive summary concluded, however, the Dallas Maritime Museum “has the potential to be one of the strongest tourist attractions in the city and the state.”

Stevens said visitors would be able to walk through the three levels inside the submarine. Though other cities have submarines, he said, Dallas would be the only place a nuclear-powered attack submarine could be viewed entirely out of water.

The USS Dallas has been part of the American naval defense for 32 years. There has been a lack of major sea battles during that time, but the USS Dallas achieved a kind of notoriety, if only a fictional one, by being a major component of the Tom Clancy thriller The Hunt for Red October.

Its journey to the city after which it is named may be its most epic journey.

After decommissioning ceremonies in Connecticut, the submarine will be towed along the Atlantic seaboard, through the Panama Canal and up the Pacific Coast to Puget Sound, Stevens said.

There the nuclear reactor and other classified components will be removed. The stripped-down vessel will then be towed back through Panama to Houston. The vessel, which is longer than a football field, will be dismantled, and its parts hauled to Dallas on the backs of trucks.

Once here, it will be reassembled.

“It will take a lot of planning,” Shellene said. “But it can be done.”

Description: Los Angeles-class, nuclear-powered, fast attack submarine

Length: 362 feet

Beam: 33 feet

Speed: Greater than 25 knots

Dead weight: 375 long tons, which are each 2,240 pounds

Commissioned: July 18, 1981

Homeport: Groton, Conn.

History: The USS Dallas was the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for the Texas city. It was initially attached to Submarine Development Squadron 12 in New London, Conn., and was used for research and development projects. In 1988, it became a member of Submarine Squadron 2 in New London. It has had one Indian Ocean deployment, three Mediterranean deployments and seven North Atlantic deployments.

Source – Dallas News

UK – Nuclear submarines banned on two lochs following safety failures

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DEFENCE watchdogs took action after Navy exercises at Loch Goil and Loch Ewe showed up inadequate plans in the event of accidents.

HMS Ambush
HMS Ambush
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NUCLEAR submarines have been banned from two lochs over safety fears.

Three Royal Navy exercises to test responses to simulated submarine accidents in March and April failed assessments by Government safety regulators.

And the MoD’s internal watchdog, the Defence Nuclear Safety Regulator (DNSR), have responded by imposing the ban.

It prohibits nuclear subs from berthing in Loch Goil, near the Faslane naval base on the Clyde, and in Loch Ewe in Wester Ross.

Nuclear subs have been banned from Loch Goil

Loch Goil

 Loch Goil is used for testing the noise range of the Navy’s 11 nuclear subs to ensure they can navigate oceans undetected.

But the DNSR are demanding a satisfactory rerun of Exercise Strathport, which was staged last month, before the subs are allowed in the loch again.

The Office for Nuclear Regulation, who work with the DNSR, said: “Exercise Strathport was deemed an inadequate demonstration as their plan was considered inadequate.

“This needs to be revised and reissued, after which the DNSR and ONR will reinspect as a basis for providing consent to use Loch Goil on a case-by-case basis.”

Nuclear subs have been banned from Loch Ewe

Loch Ewe

Emergency exercises at Loch Ewe have been plagued with problems for years, prompting the DNSR to secretly ban submarines from the loch in 2008.

An exercise late last year failed “due to an inadequate plan, communications and facilities”, said the ONR spokesman.

The DNSR have also ordered an emergency exercise at the nuclear weapons depot at Coulport, near Faslane, to be rerun.

The specifics of the exercises are classified so it is not known what failures were recorded. But in past exercises, there have been communication breakdowns, radiation exposure risks and
failures to properly account for the number of casualties.

John Ainslie, of Scottish CND, said: “We cannot sleep easily in our beds so long as these floating Chernobyls remain in our lochs. The MoD has been given a red card by its own internal regulator. It is clearly not ready to respond to a nuclear accident at Coulport, Loch Goil or Loch Ewe.”

SNP defence spokesman Angus Robertson promised to raise questions in Parliament.

He said: “Any suggestion that there are inadequate safety plans in place will be deeply disturbing to the local communities and to Scotland as a whole.”

The MoD last night declined to say what impact the loch bans might have on their submarine operations.

A spokesman said: “The MoD takes its nuclear safety responsibilities seriously and conducts regular training to maintain high standards.

“We are taking steps to address issues raised by regulators following recent exercises but there is no risk of harm to the public or to the environment. The Royal Navy continues to operate submarines safely out of HM Naval Base Clyde.”

Source – Daily Record