Sign in / up

back to article New airlock mini-sub for US Navy SEAL 'operations'

The US Navy SEALs, America's secretive frogman-commando elite, are to get a new and enlarged pocket submarine which will allow them to travel most of the way to an objective inside in the dry and then exit through an airlock before swimming on for their final approach. Navy Swimmer Delivery Vehicle Ordinary "wet" SDV mini- …

COMMENTS

House rules Send corrections
This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. GilbertFilbert

    new and enlarged pocket submarine!

    So Mrs Seal will be saying:

    Is that an elarged submarine in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me?

    1 0
  2. gray_
    Stop

    Why so complicated?

    "With a normal SDV, the frog-trooper isn't inside a pressure hull - he is immersed in the surrounding water. This can be a problem, as hours spent unmoving in cold water can sap the strength of even the steeliest underwater warrior."

    Why not just heat the water inside the SDV?

    1 2
    1. Dave Harris
      Reply Icon
      FAIL

      RTFA

      Because there is no inside?

      0 0
      1. gray_
        Reply Icon
        WTF?

        Contradiction?

        OK, OK, so I RTFA and it says:

        "With a normal SDV, the frog-trooper isn't inside a pressure hull"

        But the caption under the picture says:

        "Ordinary "wet" SDV mini-sub in action."

        And clearly the picture shows some guy getting inside it!

        0 0
        1. NathanD
          Reply Icon

          re:contradiction

          He's not actually "getting" inside it, he's already inside it - thats as far in as you can get on these things.

          0 0
  3. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Thumb Up

    They are pretty discrete

    Not like the usual merkijn website at all.

    So the 64$ is will the Navy build a bigger shelter to accomdate this or can it achieve the feat of locking to a subamrine escape hatch *without* being ripped from it when the submarine is running at cruise speed.

    Looks quite comfy.

    0 0
  4. Dave Harris 1

    A simple solution

    I'd guess that the craft would be towed to the ops area by the mothership (most SSNs, I believe, are already equipped for towing sonar arrays & they are *heavy*) On reaching the minisub departure point, near the surface (to avoid lengthy compression/decompression cycles) the frogmen exit the mothership's lock & enter the minisub via its lock. Now warm & dry, they drop the tow & proceed to their target. That way, they could get to their target area much. much quicker as the minisub could be made to survive high speed towing relatively easily, I'd have thought.

    0 0
  5. Abremms
    Paris Hilton

    title!

    interesting article, doesn't it sorta defeat some of the purpose if you need a surface ship to tow the sub within 10 nautical miles of the destination? kinda takes away a bit of the stealth, one would think. hopefully they can figure out a way to use it with the big nuke subs.

    Paris, cuz she knows all about Advanced Swimmer Delivery Systems.

    0 0
  6. asdf
    Joke

    anybody else thinking

    of the covert storm the oil platform mission in single player COD MW2. Lol I guess that is many layman idea of this topic (very grateful for men and women in uniform but they lost me when your job is not only running up a hill in full gear but then having to kill people when you get there).

    0 0
  7. Dave Bell

    Nothing new under the surface.

    Towing the minisub near to the target, and then putting divers aboard?

    Operation "Source", September 1943.

    Towing is not going to be trivial, and they'll want to be quiet.

    This reeks of amphibious pork barrels.

    0 0
  8. Elmer Phud

    New tech?

    Maybe they've been studying the mini-subs used for transporting Colombial marching powder.

    The US most liklely paid for thier development via anti-drug campaign hand-outs and are now reaping the benefits.

    Well, there's history of extensive use of aircraft for this purpose so why not subs?

    0 0
  9. Bounty

    Suit

    Then why don't they just put better insulation in the suit? If they need a longer range, more robust sub, then deploy a real mini-sub from a nearby boat. Don't compromise our real subs please.

    0 0
  10. James Gibbons
    Black Helicopters

    Not a new thing that Mark 9

    "Mundanely the Mark 9 seems to have been intended for torpedoing ships at anchor or in harbour from a distance"

    PBS's Nova TV science show recently had a special about the five mini-subs Japan turned loose in Pearl Harbor during WWII. Four were lost but the show had convincing evidence that one got through and let go with a torpedo that helped sink one of the US ships.

    0 0
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Unhappy

    Too many confused cooks...

    The development was plagued by constant design requirement changes (all toward bigger, stronger, more capable systems). No small wonder that they couldn't make it work. It needed a mini Rickover to bring it into successful existence and the USN doesn't allow that type any more.

    0 0
  12. Alex-TheManfromUncle
    Go

    Красный Октябрь

    Wonderful :-)

    Carry on.

    0 0
  13. Triggerfish

    RE:Why so complicated?

    Staying immersed for a long time can fatigue muscles as well due to offgassing, at least with nitrogen, dunno about other gasses as I would assume that if they are underwater for hours they would be using some other gas mix rather than a standard air mix. Plus the water would have to be quite warm even diving in warm waters off about 24 degress can start to chill your body and you notice the difference if you drop a degree or two in a thermocline whilst diving.

    0 0
This topic is closed for new posts.