Originally Posted by
tartare
Can any ex-submariners explain how, if the boat hit an uncharted seamount, the crew or Commander might be held responsible?
If I understand this correctly, if the boat isn't pinging with active sonar - it can't actually `see' any objects in front of it, and is entirely reliant on it's INS and the accuracy of existing charts to know where it is - right?
Not a submariner, but all US submarines will have a fathometer that will use low power directional acoustic signals (not really comparable to "active sonar" as would generally be understood). I presume that there are many circumstances where the use of active fathometers would not be appropriate, but the decision on whether or not to use it is one that could be examined. In addition, there are now published demonstrations of passive fathometers and it is probably safe to assume that, if the technology and signal processing methods are public domain, the US navy has even more developed technology.