24 Oct
2002
24 Oct
'02
6:47 a.m.
This is very close to the story I heard while in the service.
Apparently the torpedos have a safety mechanisim that deactivates the
warhead should it make a 180 degree turn, to prevent a 'wild' torpedo
from sinking the sub that launched it.
The story I heard said that they had a 'hot run' of a torpedo in the
tube, and were unable to eject it. So the sub made a 180 degree turn to
return to base and rather than deactivate the warhead, it detonated.
I gotta say, it sure takes guts to serve on those boats.
Geoff Roberts wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Dittman" <dittman(a)dittman.net>
To: <cctalk(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Thursday, October 24, 2002 12:17 PM
Subject: Re: Naming Computers [was: A Momentous Decision]
ISTR a tv special somewhere (Discovery?) early this year that suggested they
may have had a 'hot' fish, and that the procedure was to launch it, then
make a hard turn away, and that under some circumstances this would lead to
the fish looping around and hitting them. Something like that. They ran a
reenactment of such a scenario for the special and in that the fish hit the
boat, so if they had reacted the way they did in the reenactment, which was
done 'by the book' for that situation, then the same thing would likely have
happened.
Geoff in Oz
Though
know one will really know the exact cause of the loss of the
Scorpion, it is believed she was lost due to a torpedo detonating inside
of the ship (like the Kursk).
I seem to recall reading that the cause of the Scorpion was
determined by the Navy but classified for some reason.