Russian Sonar Buoys off Ireland
I worked with a guy who had been in the submarine service who recounted a story about when they were shadowing a Russian sub from its baffles. Apparently they misjudged its speed and tailgated it - he said the whole crew thought they were a goner (probably the Russians too).
I am watching the HMS Trenchant series. Having scoffed at the BBC farce "Vigil" I am having to eat my words, truth it would appear is stranger than fiction after all! The Russians dont seem to need to infiltrate the crew to cause the boat to surface / return to port.
In the course of the first two episodes, they have had to surface to offload a sailor with a blistered hand, lost half of the refrigeration capacity within 4 days of leaving port, had an engine room fire necessitating a return to port, lost the use of all heads, and had a failure of the air scrubbers necessitating the entire crew breathing emergency air. One can only hope that the reactor and the weapons are more reliable.........
The apparently appalling reliability of the boat is so bad that I find myself asking whether this is a set up by the Navy to garner public sympathy and support for greater investment. The Vigil producers would have discarded this script as being way too far fetched.
In the course of the first two episodes, they have had to surface to offload a sailor with a blistered hand, lost half of the refrigeration capacity within 4 days of leaving port, had an engine room fire necessitating a return to port, lost the use of all heads, and had a failure of the air scrubbers necessitating the entire crew breathing emergency air. One can only hope that the reactor and the weapons are more reliable.........
The apparently appalling reliability of the boat is so bad that I find myself asking whether this is a set up by the Navy to garner public sympathy and support for greater investment. The Vigil producers would have discarded this script as being way too far fetched.
Not yet watched it myself - but I thought that it was filmed during a period of sea training? The FOSTies have never had an aversion to the dictum of 'train hard - fight easy'. Do you watch crime dramas and tell the Police who the murderer was - or do you wait for the end credits?
Didn't HMS Turbulent have a catastrophic cooling systems failure after being the subject of a documentary? Even during the documentary there were all kinds of issues with the boat, perhaps it is a curse to be on TV! Or these boats are getting a little long in the tooth
Not yet watched it myself - but I thought that it was filmed during a period of sea training? The FOSTies have never had an aversion to the dictum of 'train hard - fight easy'. Do you watch crime dramas and tell the Police who the murderer was - or do you wait for the end credits?
Do you comment on programmes without even seeing the opening credits, oh, sorry, you have already answered that...
I think we have to put things into perspective. You've got a 30+ year old nuclear power station crammed into a 100m tube, submerged, under pressure, that has to operate from tropical to arctic conditions for months and keep 130 people alive inside it...and it's also loaded with a few tonnes of explosives and in the case of my last boat, has to be able to put missiles into space, from under water. So yeah, there's defects. It's hard to explain just how much stuff is crammed into that tube. A boat can have a thousand defects and still be able to fight. I don't think I'm giving too much away by saying other nations operating boats the age of ours have the same defects.
The defects in question are not minor, and indeed one of them encroached on their ability to keep the crew alive. The fact that other nations are at least as bad seems like rather cold comfort.
All of the previous "docudramas" I have watched which have been filmed with The Navy's cooperation have ended up seemed like quite good adverts for the service / service life. Im afraid that so far this series has looked more like a Brian Rix production, or a premature start of this years pantomime season.
Have you watched the programme?
The defects in question are not minor, and indeed one of them encroached on their ability to keep the crew alive. The fact that other nations are at least as bad seems like rather cold comfort.
All of the previous "docudramas" I have watched which have been filmed with The Navy's cooperation have ended up seemed like quite good adverts for the service / service life. Im afraid that so far this series has looked more like a Brian Rix production, or a premature start of this years pantomime season.
The defects in question are not minor, and indeed one of them encroached on their ability to keep the crew alive. The fact that other nations are at least as bad seems like rather cold comfort.
All of the previous "docudramas" I have watched which have been filmed with The Navy's cooperation have ended up seemed like quite good adverts for the service / service life. Im afraid that so far this series has looked more like a Brian Rix production, or a premature start of this years pantomime season.
I did watch both episodes last night.
1. Burnt hand - it happens. I am not sure why the guy needed evacuation, but communicating with the frigate and the boat transfer were useful training.
2. Refrigeration leak - it seemed odd that they captured the gas in a plastic bag.
3. Fire in engine room - seemed odd, no signs of water or foam being used. There were guys in white overalls with clipboards, which made me wonder If it was a training exercise.
4. Problem with air scrubbers - another training serial? After it was fixed the atmosphere was back to normal very quickly and EBS sets removed.
5. Coordinated operations working with HMS Sutherland - quite a big thing, either in British waters working with the Fleet Ready Escort and/or Towed Array Patrol Ship (and her helicopter, or possibly Maritime Patrol Aircraft), or as part of a deployed task group.
1. Burnt hand - it happens. I am not sure why the guy needed evacuation, but communicating with the frigate and the boat transfer were useful training.
2. Refrigeration leak - it seemed odd that they captured the gas in a plastic bag.
3. Fire in engine room - seemed odd, no signs of water or foam being used. There were guys in white overalls with clipboards, which made me wonder If it was a training exercise.
4. Problem with air scrubbers - another training serial? After it was fixed the atmosphere was back to normal very quickly and EBS sets removed.
5. Coordinated operations working with HMS Sutherland - quite a big thing, either in British waters working with the Fleet Ready Escort and/or Towed Array Patrol Ship (and her helicopter, or possibly Maritime Patrol Aircraft), or as part of a deployed task group.
Jack
