Submarines - 'Boats' Equipment

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Pelican
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Submarines - 'Boats' Equipment

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Royal Navy Sub Appears In Gibraltar Equipped With A Wake Detection System

This non-acoustic sensor could supplement the boat's sonar when hunting for especially quiet enemy submarines.

The U.K. Royal Navy’s Trafalgar-class attack submarine HMS Talent has emerged in the British territory of Gibraltar equipped with what appears to be a specialized system to detect hostile subs without using sonar. The concept of using various sensors to pick up the non-acoustic signatures of other submarines is hardly new, but Talent’s added equipment follows years of reports of increasing underwater activity from potential opponents, such as Russia and China, in both the Atlantic and the Pacific, among other bodies of water. It also comes as both of those countries continue to develop and deploy quieter nuclear-powered and advanced diesel-electric subs.

THE SCOPE, NOT THE SCALE OF RUSSIAN AND CHINESE NAVAL OPS IN THE ATLANTIC IS WORRISOME
Photographer David Parody grabbed some great pictures of Talent as she entered the Bay of Gibraltar on May 8, 2019. Observers were quick to spot the never before seen piece of equipment on top of the forward hull. Parody subsequently found another picture of the same boat from April 2019, showing the system installed. However, he said she had lacked the apparent sensor arrangement during another visit in 2018, which followed an extensive refit, suggesting the addition was relatively recent.

It’s not clear whether the new addition is permanent, either. Talent is the second to last of the Trafalgar-class submarines, having gotten commissioned in 1990, and one of only three of them left in service. The Royal Navy plans to decommission her in 2021 as it phases out the entire class in favor of the newer Astute-class.

The system has four individual probes in front and is visually reminiscent of features most commonly seen on multiple types of Soviet and now Russian submarines. Though there are various different configurations with their own specific nomenclature, these are commonly referred to collectively as System Obnarujenia Kilvaternovo Sleda (SOKS), which translates Wake Object Detection System. SOKS allows these submarines to detect underwater opponents without using sonar, but more on that later.

Long the default for submarine warfare, sonar still has certain limitations. Modern sonar systems typically have both active and passive functionality. In their active mode, they operate similarly to radar above the waves, but use acoustic energy instead of RF energy, sending out “pings” that then bounce off objects undersea and on the surface. The passive functionality gives operators the option to just listen for certain noises in relation to their surroundings using the system’s highly sensitive and largely omnidirectional receivers.

However, active sonar can quickly give away a submarine’s position, while the passive mode may pick up all manner of background sounds and is impacted by the constantly changing ocean environment around the submarine. The two videos below give a good sense of the factors involved.

* A closeup photo is attached.

Full article including many photos at - https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/2 ... pKrEeLy4D4
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HMS Pelican 1938 - 1958 GGCV L86 U86 F86 What I Have I Hold ~ A wonderful bird is the Pelican its beak can hold more than its belly can.
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Little h
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Re: Submarines - 'Boats' Equipment

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NavyLookout on Twitter
@NavyLookout
May 8
Replying to @dparody @MalJ999 and

Looks similar to wake-detection device fitted to top of HMS Trafalgar’s fin
D6CfFR4XsAEY57S.jpg
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Little h
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Little h
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Re: Submarines - 'Boats' Equipment

Unread post by Little h »

This link to SinoDefenceForum titled:-

Royal Navy Tragalgar Class SSN in 1/350 Scale

Discussion in 'Members' Club Room' started by Jeff Head, Jul 31, 2015.

the first image is captioned:-

My Review and Build of Airfix 1/350 scale Kit #03260,
Trafalgar Class SSN, HMS Triumph S93

Looking at the patterns of missing Anechoic tiles depicted; might I suggest that the image is in fact that of Trafalgar and is one of several in the class used in the model build of Triumph S93
Little h
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