Navy Front Page: It's All About The Submarines
It'll be gone pretty soon, but for right now the navy.mil home page has three (!) stories about submarines -- right at the top! For future reference, the stories are about USS Charlotte's recent trip to the North Pole, USS Chicago's departure on a deployment, and, at the very top, a throw-away picture of USS Asheville returning to port.I started wondering why the Navy would put the picture of the Asheville at the top, in a more prominent place than the other two, seemingly more important, submarine stories. Then it hit me -- there must be more to the photo than I had seen at first glance. Maybe they were trying to send a message to potential adversaries. I went back and looked at the picture of the Asheville, and immediately saw what I had missed. Do you see it?
No? How about in this blow-up of the shot, highlighting the important part:
See it now? The import of this picture in terms of international geo-mili-politics cannot be misunderestimated. This can only be a shot of the B1rD system, CGU-11 mod, in action. The Chinese have nothing like it, as this shot of three Chinese submarines shows -- nary a B1rD in sight. The Navy's clearly trying to send a signal to the Chinese to back off from international troublemaking now... if they don't want to be on the receiving end of the CGU-11's deadly payload (known formally as the "B1rD-p00P Bomb").
And did you notice the one attached to the rudder? I didn't at first, but here it is:
I'm just glad that the Submarine Force isn't afraid to invest in the technology needed to keep us a generation or two ahead of our potential rivals. Never can we allow our lead in avian-submarine synergy to lapse. As long as we don't repeat the mistake we made with the "B1rD floating wire install" (where the distant observer would see a straight line of birds sailing along at four knots for no apparent reason), we should maintain our advantage well into this century.
(Cross-posted with minimal editing from The Stupid Shall Be Punished)
posted by Bubblehead @ 9:24 PM
2 Comments:
i hope PeTA doesn't get wind of this developement. recall the grief they tried heaping on the Navy for using killer porpoises and dolphins.
I have long wondered how long it would be before the existance of the B1rD system would be leaked. I think its the oldest Classified Navy system in existance. Even older than the Sea-Bat which the PeTA obviously did not know existed since they were not included in their petitions to halt the training of killer sea mammals.
I think your right, Bo, they're sure to get fired up over this. But like Bubblehead says, the Navy is probably aware of this risk and its worth it just to get the message to the Chinese.
Post a Comment
<< Home