What damaged the Japanese oil tanker

UPDATE Nov 23, 2010: -Nov 21 (Reuters) - according to a U.S. Maritme Administration advisory issued November 1, the U.S. has concluded that a militant group's claim of responsibility for the attack was "valid". The Abdullah Azzam Brigades claimed that a member of the group had launched a suicide bomb attack on the tanker on July 28.

UPDATE Aug. 18, 2010: - 2 small ships detected near Japan tanker damaged in Strait of Hormuz
The radar data showed the small ships sailing parallel to the tanker, passing it and then turning around. They also showed that at some point, one of the ships disappeared from the radar, a move believed to indicate that it had moved to its blind spot around the tanker, according to the sources. ... Later, the UAE’s state-run news agency WAM, citing a UAE coast guard source, reported that local explosives experts ‘‘found a dent on the starboard side above the waterline and remains of homemade explosives on the hull.’‘ ‘‘Probably the tanker had encountered a terrorist attack from a boat loaded with explosives,’’ the source was quoted as saying in the report.


A great starting place to follow events maritime in general and related mysteries in particular is EagleSpeak.
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The Japanese oil tanker M. Star shuddered suddenly as it sailed the Strait of Hormuz early Thursday morning. Investigators say collision with a submarine is among the 3 leading causes.

Whatever it was that shook a 260,000-ton Japanese supertanker as it sailed through calm waters between Oman and Iran just after midnight Wednesday, it was not a freak wave.

Crew reported seeing a flash of light followed by loud sound. What caused the flash of light? If this was another U.S. submarine collision (the third in the Strait of Hormuz?) repercussions for the chain of command could be naval-career shattering at the flag level.


The eventual finding (or cover story) will have to be very compelling for several reasons...
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+ As the world's premiere navy, with superlative satellite and discrete tracking gear, the U.S. is hardly unaware of traffic through the strait, where 40 percent of the world’s tanker oil passes.
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+ After prior submarine collisions in the strait, the U.S. would be extremely reluctant to admit to another; U.S. sub COs, however, would also be even more unlikely to permit another collision. No, it will not be one of our subs this time, even if things went awry in a submarine training exercise simulating an attack on an oil tanker.
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+ Ditto the logic against a terrorist or pirate attack. Not an Iranian sub, either. Does the imploded hull plating remind of an explosion? No, well that would rule out internal explosion, too.
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+ M. Star's hull was found to be punctured about four meters above the waterline, per The National in Dubai. The newspaper also quoted a local expert as saying that a collision was not a possibility (when was the last time even a Russian submarine intentionally rammed a target?).
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+ Iran had guarded its territorial waters with thousands of floating mines during the Iran-Iraq war; some of the mines remain to this day.
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note 1
Italy exported land and naval mines both to Iraq and Iran before and during the Iran-Iraq War. Overall export value amounted to more than US $110 million. To skirt UN embargoes, the company set up a new branch abroad in Singapore, where assembled mines with Vasella components and explosive from Bofors in Sweden, for shipment to Iraq in 1982. Mines were exported to Iraq until 1986.
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note 2
In 1988, an Iranian M-08 mine made a 25-foot (8 m) hole in the hull of the USS Samuel B. Roberts (FFG-58) wounding 10 sailors and forcing the ship to seek temporary repairs in a dry dock in Dubai, UAE.
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note 3
Iran deploys a variety of non-magnetic, free-floating, and remote-controlled mines. It is suspected of taking delivery of pressure, acoustic, and magnetic mines from Russia, and negotiating with China for rocket-propelled rising mines.
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note 4
"The military utility of Shkval-type, supercavitating rocket torpedoes has been minimized by many analysts and observers. However useful this torpedo may be (besides type 'E' Shkval's ability to generate export revenue for Russia), more clandestine application is not beyond possibility. China's unguided, EM52 rocket-propelled mine is laid on the sea floor to blast surface vessels." source: Molten Eagle, Supercavitating Naval Mine Fields, 4-27-06.
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note 5
"Iran is thought to have the 4th largest sea mine inventory (around 5000) in the world behind the United States, Russia, and China. Up to 1000 of the sea mines are of the Chinese EM11 bottom-influence mine; the EM31 moored mine; and the EM52 rocket-propelled rising mine. All of these mines are of Chinese domestically produced designs, and the Chinese are the largest supplier of mines to Iran since 1998." source: Galrahn, INFORMATION DISSEMINATION, 9-25-07.
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note 6
The most dangerous mine in the Iranian inventory is probably the EM-52. As a bottom dwelling rocket-propelled mine, up to 4 can be laid by a single small boat or dhow, and dispersed properly could heavily influence the channels in and out of the Persian Gulf. source: Galrahn (ibid)
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Submarines are always silent and strange.

An Unanswered Submarine Mystery and Possible Political Football Solution

Background

To observe items discussed below, viewing the zany YouTube filmed in, on and around a submarine moored (pier ?) at Sub Base Groton (circa March 1979) is highly recommended.

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TIP: It is not necessary to watch the entire 8:54 YouTube; simply hit PLAY, then PAUSE, and slide the CURSOR ball to the desired scenes.

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Issue One: Submarine Mystery

Not asking the name of the former U.S. submarine featured in the Kodachrome film converted to the linked YouTube; with a little effort you can find that. Not asking the names ot the other 2 subs Iran was buying from the U.S. in that deal--- with a lot more effort, you can find those, as well. The pier, then? Wrong again; someone you know remembers that, too.

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The mystery is what are those two (one black, one white) haystack-shaped structures behind the ex-566 on the other pier? Those mystery objects are most clearly seen in the linked YouTube at 0:48 - 0:59 and 6:21 - 6:27. Can you get the right answer before the current champ, Cookie?

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Issue: Possible Political Football (DADT) Solution

As the days dwindle before the congressional August recess commences August 9, “don’t ask, don’t tell” repeal advocates are angling for a firm commitment from Senate majority leader Harry Reid for a September vote on the defense authorization bill, to which the repeal measure is attached.

Perhaps there is better way to make all sailors happy without risks for incumbent politicians: Suppose the cheek kiss practice observed as the CO thanks the formation (YouTube 8:25 - 8:37) were implemented. Now, imagine a female CO. Everyone still happy?

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine Mystery Questions - 7/27/2010

Submarine Mystery Questions of the Week

1) Identify item #1 pictured above (must be nomenclature specific).

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2) Identify item #2 pictured above (must be nomenclature specific).

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3) Name four characteristics the pictured items have in common.

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ANSWERS: SUNDAY (unless pressing submarine news intervenes).

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Jarring and Ugly UPDATES

From August 16, 2008 - Finally Disclosed! UPDATE (July 24, 2010 ) Damage found to submarine HMS Resolution at Rosyth Dockyard Resolution, along with the other subs, is under attack from a common microbiological organism that emits sulphuric acid.
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From November 25, 2009 - Friedman Unwittingly Reveals Unwholesome Fear and Dirty SECRET Solution Friedman fears ordinary Americans are living too well, and as hordes in developing nations aspire to our middle class lifestyles, cumulative demand will deplete energy and water resources. UPDATE (Jul 15, 2010) The Middle Class in America Is Radically Shrinking. Here Are the Stats to Prove it The 22 statistics detailed here prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the middle class is being systematically wiped out of existence in America.

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From April 29, 2010 - Submarine Cover Up - Fire Casualty - Almost Sank! UPDATE (July 26, 2010) More submarines coming to the Black Sea The only submarine of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, the Alrosa, had an accident last November. Alsosa's minor repairs in Novorossiysk were planned for completion by Navy Day (July 25), so she could participate in a naval parade. Unfortunately, repairs are overdue. The main bulk of the fleet, however, may be ready by 2035, Vysotsky said on Saturday.

Is Obama Administration Planning to Disenfranchise Our Overseas Military Voters?

In early 2009, bipartisan legislation was passed to reform state abuses in not providing reasonable time for mailing, receiving and counting military-voter absentee ballots. Congress then mandated that all absentee ballots must be mailed to military members at least 45 days before an election unless the state seeks a limited waiver from the Federal Voting Assistance Program (such as when some states mail absentee ballots 35 days before an election, but add 10 days after the election to finalize ballot counting).

The New Rub... [emphasis added]
Since February, the section has continued to advocate a position that would grant waivers freely and even grant them if a state failed to provide a military voter with 45 days to receive and return his or her ballot. In other words, notwithstanding Congress' clear mandate, the section continues to argue that military voters should have less than 45 days to receive and return their absentee ballots. - Eric Eversole, director of the Military Voter Protection (MVP) Project, formerly a litigation attorney in the Voting Section of the U.S. Department of Justice.

In the elections of 2008, over 17,000 thousand military votes were never even tallied. In the Minnesota race alone uncounted military votes could have decided the outcome in the U.S. Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken.

The Washington Times Tuesday published:

By most accounts, the 2008 presidential election was a disaster for military voters. Thousands of them were disenfranchised when their absentee ballots were sent to wrong addresses, lost in the mail or mailed too close to the election for the ballot to be returned. To make matters worse, thousands of ballots were rejected by local election officials because the ballot - through no fault of the military voter - arrived after the election deadline....

Nearly every military-voting expert agrees that absentee ballots must be sent to overseas military voters at least 45 days before an election to give those voters sufficient time to receive and return their ballots. The Military Postal Service Agency goes one step further and recommends that absentee ballots be sent to war zones 60 days before an election.
Unfortunately, states have been slow to revamp their voting laws to accommodate a 45-day mailing standard. Before the 2008 election, at least 10 states and the District of Columbia provided military voters with just 35 days or fewer to receive and return their ballots. Overall, the Pew Center on the States found that "more than a third of states [did] not provide military voters stationed abroad with enough time to vote or [were] at high risk of not providing enough time."

In states such as Minnesota, which mailed absentee ballots just 30 days before the election, military absentee ballots were twice as likely to be rejected as nonmilitary absentee ballots. The sole reason for this higher rejection rate was that more than 500 military and overseas ballots arrived after the election and had to be rejected. Had Minnesota mailed absentee ballots at least 45 days before the election, most of those votes would have been counted and could have made a difference in the state's historic Senate race.

The authority responsible for protecting military voters, the Voting Section, decided not to pursue those states even though federal law (i.e., the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act) gives the Voting section wide latitude to protect military voters. Applicable law requires only proof that a state did not provide a military member with reasonable opportunity (read sufficient time) to vote by absentee ballot.

Overwhelming evidence on mail delivery times means such cases were actionable.

Different kind of fish story - The Shrimp that get away

Fish story - noun, fishermen's traditional exaggeration of size of the 'one that got away'.

Sharks are punching holes in shrimpers' budgets -Trawl for shrimp a couple hours, then patch the shark-chomped nets for a few more.

"It's always been an issue in the summertime," Reaves said. "But it's probably the worst we've ever seen it this year. The sharks are just eating our nets up on a regular basis."

The most common shark in the Lowcountry is the relatively small, (about 3-4 ft, 16 pound) Atlantic sharpnose. The Atlantic sharpnose shark feeds on small bony fishes, shrimps, crabs, segmented worms, and mollusks. The sharpnose is considered harmless to humans who don't like shrimp.

Mel Bell, director of fisheries management for the S.C. Department of Natural Resources guesses that years of tighter restrictions on shark fishing have thinned out one of their two main predators -- humans. This year's 6-month ban on catching small coastal sharks ended in June.

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Maybe it is a good thing worldwide sales of shrimp from Thailand and Malaysia have increased. Recent price $8.99/lb. 24-count jumbo, from Bangladesh (if you bother to ask the source).

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Short/Skip and Procurement Tips

..................Opinions expressed as Categories 1 and 2 are Molten Eagle's
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Category 1 - Something both more relevant and serendipitous than you thought. 12 pages of text, maps and photos. From page 5...

Ritualistic endocannibalism (eating of relatives as part of mourning ritual; Fig. 3)was practiced not only in the kuru area, but also in the many surrounding Eastern Highland groups in which kuru never developed [4, 31, 41, 43].

Kuru: a half-opened window onto the landscape of neurodegenerative diseases - Pawel P. Liberski and Paul Brown, 2004 Via Medica
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Category 2 - Not worth the battery power in your laptop; you will likely learn little you did not know, and read almost nothing credible of value. From page 4...
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TOP SECRET AMERICA, A Washington Post Investigation -by Dana Priest and William M. Arkin

In an Arlington County office building, the lobby directory doesn't include the Air Force's mysteriously named XOIWS unit, but there's a big "Welcome!" sign in the hallway greeting visitors who know to step off the elevator on the third floor.

Category 3 - Procurement Hint - Modern source for old world piles ("GUARANTEED ANONYMOUS")
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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Alleged Submariners soon OUT! ... and not a moment too soon...

Kitsap County explosion puts 2 sailors in critical condition with obvious nose, throat, lung, face, arm and hand burns at Harborview Medical Center Friday night. The men, ages 22 and 28, are on active duty for the Navy at the Bangor-Kitsap Naval Base and work on submarines (not submariners, however, as first hinted by Seattle Times below). A Navy investigator was also on scene to investigate.

July 17, 2010 2:45 AM
The sailors were reportedly in possession of OBA canisters and were including a campfire and gasoline into the mix, which resulted in the explosion. “They are exceptionally lucky,” said Wilson. “There is scrap metal that was flung across the street and landed behind the gas station and around Cutter’s Coffee.”

July 16, 2010 at 10:50 PM
The men, both active duty and assigned to a submarine at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, had apparently taken Oxygen Breathing Apparatus equipment, Deputy Scott Wilson said. Wilson said the men had apparently knocked off the tops of the canisters and were using them to "huff" or get high. The men were also apparently throwing the canisters onto an open fire in the yard in order to make them explode.

July 16, 2010 10:15 p.m.
AP - PORT ORCHARD, Wash., PT KOMO-TV reported the men's roommate says the two tossed an oxygen canister into a fire Friday night in the backyard of a home near Port Orchard to see what would happen. The roommate says the men were burned in the ensuing explosion.

These sailors are certainly unlike any submariners I have known. If they were really submariners, it is no wonder women are headed to subs! Exactly whatever happened to psychological and intelligence testing for acceptance into submarine service?

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Primer: Venous Risk (in pear-shaped females) and Submarine Service

Venous thromboembolism (VTE), also called deep vein thrombosis (DVT), is a significant cause of death in adults.

Good news, bad news or neutral? M.E. suspects it is medically neutral (no medical justification for excluding pear-shapes from the sub service), but results of the study are probably bad news for any adolescent-minded bubbleheads anticipating hour-glass shaped, female submariners.

Pear-shaped women - - - a definition (and periscopic photo below):
Their hip measurement well exceeds their bust measurement.[1] Fat tends to deposit in their buttocks, hips and thighs. Women of this bodytype tend to have a relatively large rear, stout thighs and small(er) bosom.

Danish scientists tracked more than 50,000 men and women to see how many suffered a deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or a clot in the lung called pulmonary embolism (PE). Findings were published in the journal Circulation. During the 10-year study, there were 641 cases of DVT or PE among the men and women. (see Note 1)

After eliminating known risks like smoking, diabetes and elevated cholesterol, a pattern between body shape and clot risk emerged, independent of body weight alone. Pear-shaped women with big hips and thighs were at elevated risks for dangerous clots, even if they had an "ideal" body weight.

According to the study's lead researcher, Dr. Marianne Tang Severinsen, of Aarhus University Hospital,

"Until now, the importance of fat distribution and venous thromboembolism risk has not been evaluated. ... For health professionals, the implication is that all types of fat distribution should be taken into account when evaluating risk of venous thromboembolism."

Women who carry excess weight on the hips and thighs risk dangerous blood clots, say experts.

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

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Note 1 -

For the purpose of the study, researchers examined the relationship between body mass, weight distribution, and incidence of blood clots in veins among 27,178 men and 29,876 women. All the participants were aged between 50- and 64-year-old at the time of the commencement of the study that spanned 10 years. During the course of the study, 641 VTE events occurred.

History of Nikola Tesla in under 3 minutes: Memorable and fascinating

Smart would be an undertatement applied to this engineer.
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Born an ethnic Serb in the Austrian Empire's Military Frontier (today's Croatia), Nikola Tesla was an Austrian subject who later became an American citizen.[1] After his demonstration of wireless communication through radio in 1894 and after being the victor in the "War of Currents", he was widely respected as one of the greatest electrical engineers who worked in America.[2]

Hat tip to bookof joe:



Does it help NASA make Muslims proud? Apparently not:
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Today Buddhism and Christianity are the greatest religions both in number of disciples and in importance. I believe that the essence of both will he the religion of the human race in the twenty-first century. - Liberty, February 1937 - by Nikola Tesla as told to George Sylvester Viereck source

There will be enough wheat and wheat products to feed the entire world, including the teeming millions of China and India, now chronically on the verge of starvation. The earth is bountiful, and where her bounty fails, nitrogen drawn from the air will refertilize her womb. I developed a process for this purpose in 1900. It was perfected fourteen years later under the stress of war by German chemists. source

Submarines are always silent and strange.

ANSWERS: Submarine Questions of the Week for 7-5-2010

ANSWERS to QUESTIONs of the WEEK for 7-5-2010 (background)
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1) Identify the concept illustrated by the drawing [in July 5th post]: what was its abbreviated name?

ANS: Ushakov's Flying Submarine; LPL - [per History Channel (1 min 08 sec) YouTube]
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2) What was the approximate year of the concept and describe its weapons?

ANS: In 1934 the cadet OF VMIU im. Dzerzhinskiy Of b.P.Ushakov presented the schematic design of the flying submarine (LPL).... On 10 January, 1938, in 2- m the division Of nIVKa did take place the examination of sketches and basic tactical-technical elements LPL [per Gennadi Petrov]

ANS: (describe its weapons) Two 18- in torpedoes and two coaxial machine guns. [ibid]
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3) What country attempted to develope it and did it ever become viable for service?

ANS: Russia (the former Soviet Union) pursued the LPL concept until 1938, but the design never "got off the ground."[1]
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4) Two major obstacles needed to be overcome before a submersible aircraft like the one illustrated could become viable; what were they?

ANS: Weight was limiting for storage battery and underwater propulsion, but ordinary fuel required air and the snorkel limited maximum depth. [DARPA has identified the major challenges to its current flying-sub concept as (1) weight, (2) fluid flow regime, (3) structure, (4) lifting surface geometry, and (5) power and energy storage. Moreover (see note #1)

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5) {Answers still OPEN} DARPA's concept will be unmanned, like this, (a fact journalists omit); have the 2 major design obstacles (see question 4) been overcome?

ANS: Yes, for unmanned flying subs.

note #1 - For DARPA's requirements for a vehicle with an airborne tactical radius of 1,000 nautical miles, low-level flight radius of 100 nautical miles, and a submerged tactical radius of 12 nautical miles, however, the answer is still OPEN given the specification of hauling eight men and their equipment for a total cargo weight of 2,000 pounds [payload 500 - 1500 lbs].

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Something here seems very strange given the announced abandonment of the (photo at top) Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) under suspicious circumstances. The ASDS was to transport 2 Crew + up to 16 SEALs, depending on equipment.

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Academy females wearing shirts? - What is your guess?

Volume 184 v Summer, 2005 - MILITARY LAW REVIEW - (page 5) Military Appearance standards - 19 see e.g. ,Deweese, 812 F.2d at 1367 (finding unreasonable a blanket prohibition on shirtless jogging).

27 July 06 - Common (Heat Exhaustion safety) medical sense NMR CWO (Europe)

20 May 2009 - Wednesday: Shirtless plebes climb a phallus [Herndon monument]

17 May 2010 - Academy supe wants to end Herndon Climb

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — The Naval Academy’s outgoing superintendent took aim Wednesday at the decades-old tradition in which midshipmen struggle to climb a campus monument, citing the risk for injuries and his belief that new team-based training is a better way for plebes to finish their first year at Annapolis.

Vice Adm. Jeffrey Fowler said he wasn’t canceling the annual climb of the Herndon Monument, scheduled for May 24, nor would he predict when it might go away, but said he wants the “focus” for plebes to be the intensive training called “sea trials,” which he said give a better team-work experience for students.

7 July 2010 - Naval Academy says 4 treated for heat exhaustion
(AP) – ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Four midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy are being treated for signs of heat exhaustion after running an obstacle course in near 90-degree weather that is part of an Eastern heat wave. Naval Academy spokeswoman Judy Campbell says said they were being treated and monitored. She did not know if the individuals were men or women or if they were taken to a hospital.

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How many think the heat exhaustion victims were women wearing shirts?

Rear Admiral Russian Roulette, Momentary Forgetfulness, or Shooting Under the Influence

Patient readers will be rewarded with a very obscure and most remarkable coincidence relating to submarines revealed in the following write-up of M.E.'s recent research.

Kochi/New Delhi, July 7 - Tribune News Service - It was an accident, says Navy; police suspects [sic] suicide - Mystery shrouds the death of Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command, Rear Admiral SS Jamwal, who died today after a bullet pierced his skull. While the Navy said that the highly-accomplished officer accidentally shot himself, the police suspect suicide.

THE POLICE CASE for SUICIDE
The Rear Admiral, Commodore Kumar said, had said he himself would do some firing practice and first used the Insas and later the 9 mm pistol at the INS Dronacharya's small arms firing range. Unfortunately, the pistol misfired twice. While he was inspecting the muzzle the second time to ascertain the cause of the misfiring, it suddenly went off. [If Kumar was present with the admiral why did he not bother to remind the admiral about the hazard of looking into the muzzle of a loaded gun? Had the good admiral been drinking?]

“The muzzle was pointing towards his head and during that time the gun went off accidentally,” Commodore Kumar said.

Russian roulette is a potentially deadly game of chance in which a loaded handgun aimed at one's head is fired. A U.S. study (Kentucky) concluded almost 80% of Russian roulette victims were male caucasions with an average age of 25 years, and that alcohol drinking plays a more evident role than in other suicides by shooting.[1]

Rear Admiral Satyendra Singh Jamwal was a very happy man, according to Kumar, who said, “I had never seen him in despair.”

Admiral Jamwal, a specialist in anti-submarine warfare (ASW), was an alumnus of Grechko Naval War College in the then USSR.

On promotion to Flag Rank on September 1 last year, he took over as Chief of Staff of the Southern Naval Command, which also handles all training activities of the Navy. Prior to this, he had been a Naval Attache at the Indian Embassy at Moscow, Russia.

Condolences go to Admiral Jamwal's wife, daughter and son.

The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) claims that William Shockley, co-inventor of the transistor and winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics, had attempted suicide by playing a solo game of Russian roulette.[6] Curiously, during WW2, Shockley had also been a brilliant ASW specialist, having changed the way the U.S. Navy searched for German submarines and successfully improved the German sub kill-ratio.
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Submarines are always silent and strange.

In the Public's Benefit 2010-#3

The giant terrestrial crab has been kicking again after a U.S. court put another one away.
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The latest installment of In the Public's Benefit is ready here for those interested.
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U.S. military submarines do not yet include lawyers among their crews. You should be glad of it.
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Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine Questions of the Week for 7-5-2010

Background

05 Jul 2010 - Telegraph UK - Pentagon plans 'flying submarine' Pentagon researchers are attempting to develop a military vehicle which can travel underwater like a submarine before bursting out of the waves and flying like an aeroplane.

-------------------

BAA09-06
Posted Date: October 03, 2008
Response Date: December 12, 2008
Archive Date: October 04, 2009

Description
DARPA is soliciting innovative research proposals on the topic of a Submersible Aircraft. In particular, DARPA is interested in a feasibility study and experiments to prove out the possibility of making an aircraft that can maneuver underwater. The proposal needs to outline a conceptual design along with identifying the major technological limitations that need to be overcome in order to maneuver an aircraft underwater. In addition to the conceptual design studies, performers need to outline experiments or computational models that will be used to demonstrate that the major technological limitations can be overcome.

----------------

In development since 2008, DARPA's submarine aircraft has reached design proposal stage, and several outside developers have submitted designs. DARPA could start allocating funding to developers in as little as a year.

QUESTION of the WEEK

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1) Identify the concept illustrated by the drawing above: what was its abbreviated name?

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2) What was the approximate year of the concept and describe its weapons?

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3) What country attempted to develope it and did it ever become viable for service?

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4) Two major obstacles needed to be overcome before a submersible aircraft like the one illustrated could become viable; what were they?

.

5) DARPA's concept will be unmanned, like this, (a fact journalists omit); have the 2 major design obstacles (see question 4) been overcome?

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ANSWERS: 5) - pending until further notice; 1)-4) - SXAXTXUXRXDXAXY MONDAY

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Mixed Signals can be Good Omens for Continued U.S. Independence

Blue wavelength light penetrates water especially well. The United States's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) tried to develop blue laser communication links to submarines around 1980, but failed due to inefficienciies of lasers available at the time.

Seawater not only cloaks submarines, it also complicates communications with our own. Reaching submerged subs has required giant transmitters sending very low-frequency radio waves with limited data transmission speeds, or ad hoc methods like this one that we first described in November 2007.

Deep Siren is designed to deliver communications using acoustic, expendable buoys that, when contacted via a communications satellite in the National Security Agency's Global Information Grid, can send and receive messages to and from submerged subs as far as 175 miles (240 kilometers) away depending upon acoustic propagation conditions. - Scientific American, Navy Mulls New Way to Enhance, Hide Submarine Communications, January 18, 2008.

Although every link made in the preceeding post has since been 'wiped clean', that may actually be a sign of ongoing success and required secrecy. DARPA seems still interested in pushing blue (actually blue-green) submarine laser communications technology for ASW operations.

Perhaps some readers have noted that one method available for clandestine government agencies to hide in plain sight is to obfuscate (to confuse and make obscure) facts which may otherwise be public information in an open-internet society with identical keywords having no relevance whatever. Submarine facts, which are always silent and strange, are obfuscated by ample, ambiguous references to the color Yellow (as in the Beatles song about a sub).

Submarine news lately has also been infiltrated by women and females. This can easily be filtered out, but these examples are intended only to illustrate how obfuscation works in a never-ending fashion that is open to manipulation by government agencies, political organizations, advertisers, etc.

Sticking with the color blue in connection with submarines, we find lately on July 2, 2010, two articles unrelated to each other or to DARPA.

1- Friday, July 02, 2010 - Journal Register berksmontnew.com, Lanterns shine light on truth -

“We tested both a clear lens and a blue lens lantern. Both lanterns were visible with the naked eye at a distance of 1,100 feet.” This proved that the victory lantern could be spotted after the Hunley sunk the USS Housatonic in 1864, disproving some critics who believed it was not possible.

2- Friday, July 02, 2010 - Sacramento Press, The Submarines @ Blue Lamp -

If you don't recognize the band name, you would certainly recognize the music. Their songs have been featured in Nip/Tuck, Weeds, Grey's Anatomy, Gossip Girl, and in maybe the most well-known placement, the songs "You, Me and the Bourgeoisie" and "Submarine Symphonika" were used in Apple commercials for the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS.

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Depiction of Disgraced, Nobel Prize-Winning, U.S. Politician (from Asia, but no language barrier)

Submarines are ALWAYS silent and strange, but this rare YouTube (1 minute and 42 seconds) is equally mysterious. You will not need to understand the asian language to interpret the depiction, and the words Laurie David and DNA can be heard clearly.

Like the Nobel Prize, however, this video's origin and judging remain very murky. Perhaps Skippy-san, an aviation and Far East Cynic guru will enlighten us when he lands.

Presented as a public service, educational 501(c)3...



Mr. Gore is innocent until found guilty of more very poor judgement. His legacy awaits and is not looking very kindly toward him.

Sympathies to the late Alfred Nobel.

Hat tip to Teflon at MoltenThought.

The behavior of career politicians is suspect while the source of their greatest prizes and ridicule are strangely foreign.

3 Updates - You Decide How Deep

Each update (+) is provided with a link (-) to M.E.'s earlier posting.

+ Sevastopol, July 1 (Interfax-AVN) - Only submarine of Russian Black Sea Fleet to be repaired by late July. - Submarine Cover Up - Fire Casualty - Almost Sank
Nov. 24, 2009 - Minor Malfunction on Board Alrosa Submarine Used to Undermine Russia’s Image - PRAVDA


+ (CNN) July 1, 2010 VA hospital may have infected 1,800 veterans with HIV - -- A Missouri VA hospital is under fire because it may have exposed more than 1,800 veterans to life-threatening diseases such as hepatitis and HIV
- VA Healthcare Flubs Piling Up


+ GCN Jul 01, 2010 Russian Spy case shines light on steganography
One of the spy technologies that's come to light in the recently-exposed alleged Russian spy ring is steganography
- Forensic Science Communications July 2004 – Volume 6 – Number 3
An Overview of Steganography for the Computer Forensics Examiner

Submarines are always silent and strange.