Submarine navigation

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Submarine navigation underwater requires special skills and technologies not needed by surface ships. The challenges of underwater navigation have become more important as submarines’ spend more time underwater, travelling greater distances and at higher speed. Military submarines travel underwater in an environment of total darkness with neither windows nor lights. Operating in stealth mode, they cannot use their active sonar systems to ping ahead for underwater hazards such as undersea mountains, drilling rigs or other submarines. Surfacing to obtain navigational fixes is precluded by pervasive anti-submarine warfare detection systems such as radar and satellite surveillance. Antenna masts and antenna-eqipped periscopes can be raised to obtain navigational signals but in areas of heavy surveillance, only for a few seconds or minutes;^[1] current radar technology can detect even a slender periscope while submarine shadows may be plainly visible from the air.

Surfaced submarines entering and leaving port navigate similarly to traditional ships but with a few extra considerations because most of the ship rides below the waterline, making them hard for other ships to see and identify.

The USS San Francisco (SSN-711) suffered substantial damage after colliding at high-speed with an undersea mountain.

A submarine at periscope depth risks visual or radar detection

Submarines can raise various antenna masts, radar masts and periscopes to facilitate communications and navigation

[edit] Navigational technologies

[edit] Surface and near-surface navigation

On the surface or at periscope depth, submarines have used these methods to fix their position:

• Satellite navigation:
  • Global positioning system (GPS)
  • NAVSAT
• Terrestrial radio-based navigation systems; largely superseded by satellite systems
  • LORAN
  • CHAYKA, the Russian counterpart of LORAN
  • OMEGA, the Western counterpart of the Alpha Navigation System, no longer in use
  • Alpha, the Russian counterpart of the Omega Navigation System
• Celestial navigation using the periscope -- seldom used anymore
• Radar navigation; radar signals are easily detected so radars is normally only used in friendly waters entering and exiting ports.
• Active sonar; like radar, active sonar systems are readily detected, so active sonar is usually used only entering and exiting ports.
• Pilotage -- in coastal and internal waters, surfaced submarines rely the standard system of navigational aids (buoys, navigational markers, lighthouses, etc.)

[edit] Deep water navigation

At depths below periscope depth submarines determine their position using:

• Dead reckoning#Marine Navigation course information obtained from the ship's gyrocompass, measured speed and estimates of local ocean currents.
• Inertial navigation system
• Bottom contour navigation may be used in areas where detailed hydrographic data has been charted and there is adequate variation in sea floor topography.^[2][3][4] Fathometer depth measurements are compared to charted depth patterns.

[edit] See also

• Bearing (navigation)
• Sonar#Passive sonar

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Bivens, Arthur Clarke (July 2004). From Sailboats to Submarines. Infinity Publishing, 184. ISBN 978-0741421524. 
2. ^ Lesson 14: Electronic Navigation (Microsoft PowerPoint). Navigation and Operations I Slides 19 to 21. University of Kansas, Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
3. ^ 2003 CJCS Master Positioning, Navigation, And Timing Plan (PDF) page F-12. Joint Chiefs of Staff. Retrieved on 2007-11-14.
4. ^ S. E., Hamn. "Coastal piloting: bottom contour navigation.(Seamanship)", Trailer Boats, August 1995. Retrieved on 2007-11-14. 

[edit] References

• Clancy, Tom; John Gresham [1993] (2002-01-08). Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship, Revised edition, Berkley Books. ISBN 978-0425183007. 
• Craven, John Piña [2001-03-15]. The Silent War: The Cold War Battle Beneath the Sea. New York, New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0684872131. 
• DiMercurio, Michael; Michael Benson [2003-02-04]. Complete Idiot's Guide to Submarines. Indianapolis, Indiana: Alpha Books. ISBN 978-0028644714. 
• Harris, Brayton [1997-12-01]. Navy Times Book of Submarines, First edition, New York, New York: Berkley Hardcover. ISBN 978-0425157770. 
• Hutchinson, Robert [2005-11-01]. Jane's Submarines: War Beneath the Waves from 1776 to the Present Day. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0060819002. 
• Leary, William M. [January 1999]. Under Ice: Waldo Lyon and the Development of the Arctic Submarine, First edition, College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press. ISBN 978-0890968451. 
• Miller, David [1988-12-12]. Modern Submarine Warefare, First edition, Crescent. ISBN 978-0517646472. 
• Parrish, Tom [2004-05-06]. The Submarine: A History. New York, New York: Viking Penguin. ISBN 978-0670033133. 
• Preston, Antony [April 1999]. Submarine Warfare: An Illustrated History. San Diego, California: Thunder Bay Press. ISBN 978-1571451729. 
• van der Vat, Dan [1995-04-03]. Stealth at Sea: The History of the Submarine. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 978-0395652428. 
• Waller, Douglas C. [2001-03-06]. Big Red: Three Months on Board a Trident Nuclear Submarine. HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 978-0060194840.