News Analysis of the SSBN Collision

This article has been recommended by several experts as the best English analysis to date regarding the SSBN collision. Some key points in the article:

They avoid using active or ' pinging ' sonar to find other objects, as it would give away their own position. The sophisticated passive sonar systems - listening for sounds from another vessel - would be switched on. But as both subs move astonishingly quietly, they were able to blunder into each other without either spotting the other.

and

U.S. vessels are just as quiet as Britain ' s but the countries exchange information on where their submarines are patrolling.

There is no information-sharing deal with France , it is understood.

and

He said while Nato countries let each other know what general area of the Atlantic they are operating in, neither submarine would have had a precise position for the other. Saunders said submarines don ' t always turn on their radar systems or make their presence obvious to other shipping. '

The whole point is to go and hide in a big chunk of ocean and not be found. They tend to go around very slowly and not make much noise, ' he said.

and

In submarine warfare hiding means being quiet - too quiet for an enemy sonar system to hear and pinpoint you.

Both the British and French missile submarines are extraordinarily quiet, while their own sonar systems are designed to ' hear ' the slightest sound from an enemy ship.

and finally...

Both were listening hard for any other ships or objects to avoid, but each submarine was so quiet that the other was unable to hear it.

Only Britain , France and America are thought to operate such sophisticated and silent vessels. Russian boats are noisy by comparison.

But whereas British and American submariners routinely inform each other of roughly where their missile submarines are patrolling, to prevent just this kind of freak accident, it is understood there is no similar arrangement with the French.

As the French Navy generally has only one missile submarine on patrol at any one time, the British submarine had the remarkable misfortune to collide with the only vessel in the world which it is unable to detect, and knew nothing about.

Emphasis mine. That last sentence is based on the assumption that Russian and Chinese submarines are louder, but in the future as their underwater technology improves and matures, this will not always be the case. At some point it is going to become a priority to develop a technology other than sonar to increase the capabilities of detecting very quiet submarines underwater.

Expect the conversations regarding strategic patrols between the US, UK, and France to increase as a result of this accident.

Also, check out Peter Hitchens blog entry regarding the incident.