Russian Sonar Buoys off Ireland
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.
I remember a similar incident when I was on the Coastal Command Com Flt in the very early sixties. We were flying to Scotland daily due to a big Nato Naval Exercise up there when a Shackleton dropped one of the latest Sonar Beacons to monitor under water traffic. Shortly after the drop, a Russian Submarine surfaced, collected the floating Beacon, and then submerged.
Last edited by brakedwell; 30th Sep 2021 at 11:54.
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.
In a recent series of adverts for Royal Navy recruits this year, the ship featured had a rotating spiky spherical radome which clearly was misshapen and irregular, and the windscreen wipers juddered as they crossed the screens.
I did wonder about the quality of 'modern' ship construction when I noticed this - unless of course it was a studio model and not the real thing?
I did wonder about the quality of 'modern' ship construction when I noticed this - unless of course it was a studio model and not the real thing?
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Somewhere flat
Posts: 158
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Edit to add: Being a quarter cheese shape and slightly tilted it certainly looked misshappen as it rotated.
The type that you mention is ;
"The distinctive SAMPSON antenna is mounted in a single carbon-fibre composite frame which holds two hexagonal back-to-back planar arrays. Two semi-circular radomes cover the arrays to complete the ball shape which is about 4.8 meters in diameter. At first glance, antenna appears spherical but when seen rotating it is obvious that it is not symmetrical in all axis and tapers at the sides. Mounted on circular, highly durable race and roller bearing designed to cope with temperature extremes, the antenna is rotated at 30rpm. The 4 “whiskers” protruding from its surface are designed to conduct lightning strikes away from the sensitive array."
Last edited by goofer3; 1st Oct 2021 at 09:08.
Wonder what happened to the captain between first and second show. Either they spent a long time in port to fix the engine or a he was removed. Also I use this series as an example of why australia would be stupid to take these as interim boats for the possible incoming SSN's
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
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.
I can imagine the RN weren’t prepared to spend much on her except for essential repairs and parts. If a sub has the equivalent of a MEL I’m assuming it had flags and stickers all over it for the last trip….
Join Date: Jan 2021
Location: Cambridge
Age: 57
Posts: 33
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Wonder what happened to the captain between first and second show. Either they spent a long time in port to fix the engine or a he was removed. Also I use this series as an example of why australia would be stupid to take these as interim boats for the possible incoming SSN's
Captain was replaced because of that.
Ecce Homo! Loquitur...
Thread Starter
Originally Posted by ORAC
I can imagine the RN weren’t prepared to spend much on her….
Regarding the 'managed risk' - at a grand-strategic level the sudden unexplained loss of an attack boat whilst actively protecting a boomer's passage through home waters, with Russian attack boats in the vicinity, could be the prelude to a disaster. Loss of a single boat may not be the top-level risk.
As an aside, the series so far left many questions from those of us more familiar with aviation. If a boat has 2 of something essential you would presume the second is there for redundancy. When it came to the 2 scrubbers it appeared that the failure of one was enough to deny the crew a breathable atmosphere. Sounds odd to me.
Pretty sure it was Scotland they hit recently in an Astute sub - forgot to turn and drove straight into it. The report didn't stay quiet either! 
https://assets.publishing.service.go..._si_report.pdf
Given the level of stupidity in the incident it is hard to pick a favourite part but letting the sub drift after finally pulling it free and having an expensive collision with the coastguard 'rescue' tug has to be on the shortlist.
https://assets.publishing.service.go..._si_report.pdf
Given the level of stupidity in the incident it is hard to pick a favourite part but letting the sub drift after finally pulling it free and having an expensive collision with the coastguard 'rescue' tug has to be on the shortlist.
Thanks orac and nimrod, assumed something had happened for him to be removed.
The series is probably a little dramatised, like the toilet thing, if you look at the 2 guys putting the chemicals in to clean the pipes, they look to be dock workers, hardhats with high vis safety vests with a companies name on it and yet the doco is saying the sub is out to sea
The series is probably a little dramatised, like the toilet thing, if you look at the 2 guys putting the chemicals in to clean the pipes, they look to be dock workers, hardhats with high vis safety vests with a companies name on it and yet the doco is saying the sub is out to sea
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: UK
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Thanks orac and nimrod, assumed something had happened for him to be removed.
The series is probably a little dramatised, like the toilet thing, if you look at the 2 guys putting the chemicals in to clean the pipes, they look to be dock workers, hardhats with high vis safety vests with a companies name on it and yet the doco is saying the sub is out to sea
The series is probably a little dramatised, like the toilet thing, if you look at the 2 guys putting the chemicals in to clean the pipes, they look to be dock workers, hardhats with high vis safety vests with a companies name on it and yet the doco is saying the sub is out to sea