Ferries, Fireboats, Museum, and Towfish

[steveciambrone]

The Hansen guys are probably wondering where I have been lately, here are some pics. Last two weeks were in Seattle, preparing and conducting some testing on one of our towed sonars.
Pics are of some ferries and a Seattle Fire Boat.

At Keyport NUWC WA there is the Underwater warfare Museum, a few ship models.

Last two are the ship I was working on YTT-11 Discovery BAy, it is a Torpedo Test Ship with a Torpedo Launcher on deck and a two tube torpedo room below decks.

The work I was doing was for NOAA.

Thanks
Steve

[steveciambrone]

Steve

[Kmot]

Steve, I had been wondering where you were. I figured you were at sea, but locally. :)

That towed sonar looks amazing. Nice photos, thanks!

[Umi_Ryuzuki]

Working on a torpedo test ship...?

Were you in that odd area of Puget Sound, that has signs that say...

When lights are blinking there is a torpedo test under way.
Stop your motor and turn off all electronic equipment....

[Kmot]

And get ready to kiss your you know what goodbye! :p

lol...

[keith S]

Seen that YTT a few times up here in drydock and water bound. Definently a unique vessel when seen in person.

[steveciambrone]

We were not on the torpedo range, we were operating off Port Madision and the North East side of Bainbridge Island. This was actually an efficient use of tax dollars, the NUWC navy Civilian employees do some work on a part time basis for NOAA. This reduces cost by not having duplicate goverment employees. The Navy civilians were very professional and performed with a real teamwork attitude. They were a pleasure to work with.

Thanks
Steve

[jeepers1940]

Steve, It's good to hear that the Navy is carrying out appropriate research in terms of our torpedo performance. I hope they learned a good lesson from our lamentably inadequate testing of real-world torpedo performance prior to World War II. Because of insufficient funding and testing before the war, we entered the war greatly handicapped in terms of the reliability and accuracy of our torpedoes.
Regrettably, it took a while for the Navy (bureaucracy) to realize that there was a problem, the magnitude of the problem and the solution(s) to the problem. In the meantime, opportunities to sink enemy shipping were lost, the war was prolonged somewhat and additional lives were needlessly lost. All in all, a high price to pay for a reluctance to expend live torpedoes in suitable conditions prior to the outbreak of the by then inevitable war.

[patmat2350]

I think a number of such lessons were learned painfully during the War... look at the inadequacy of the Sherman tank against German armor, which led us (finally) to the development of the awesome Abrams... hopefully, a weapons system whose time has passed for good... And I'm sure you could point out MANY other examples in naval and air systems where the US now enjoys parity if not supremecy, where we were pitifully unprepared in 1941...

[Ghost 2501]

thanks for the towfish pic, provided me with some inspiration.

[steveciambrone]

Looks like a Side Scan sonar.

Steve

[norgale]

What does a "towed array" do? Pete

[steveciambrone]

I guess I am qualified to answer this one, been working in sonar for 29 years.

A Sonar towed array can be an array or series of hydrophones towed behind either a surface ship or submarine, usually is passive sonar but some can be designed for and include active projectors. These arrays can be as small as 1" in diameter and be thousands of feet in length.

A towfish can be a Sidescan Sonar or another type of active sonar. Sidescan is used as an imaging sonar, looking for things on the bottom, ships and other items, even the bottom itself. Other active sonars can be used for ASW and other military applications.

Some companies or organizations can use the terms differently, but this is they way my company and customers use the terms.

Thanks
Steve

[Ghost 2501]

to put it simply, they bounce high frequency soundwaves off the seabed to see what is down there, giving an image. medical ultrasound scans of a mothers womb giving a picture of the baby inside work in pretty much the same way

compare the images and you'll see what i mean

[Jerome Morris]

Steve, So can these side scans penetrate mud and such?

[norgale]

Is that two ships sunk side by side? How would that happen? Wonder if the baby minds being bombarded with ultrasound waves? Interesting and thanks for the answer. Pete

[Ghost 2501]

norgale, i think its the same ship doubled back on itself, after snapping mid point. some wrecks have done that.

Jerome, I cant answer for steve, however I think it was done by one guy aboard Nautile studying the RMS Titanic, he found not one big gash but several smaller holes totalling 0.5 m2 (around 2 sqft) just below the mudline

In the TV series ICE ROAD TRUCKERS, GPR is used to measure the thickness of the ice which is ground penetrating radar, and towed on a sled behind a pickup truck.

[steveciambrone]

Steve, So can these side scans penetrate mud and such?

A typical Side Scan would not have much penetration maybe several inches, (depending on the frequency) but interpreting the response would be a whole other matter.

There are probably sonars that can penetrate mud or the bottom more deeply but they would be very specialized.

I would question any further research conducted on the Titanic since everyone with a different theory of the event want to prove why their theory is correct and others are wrong.

The image that appears in the thread may be two separate ships or possibly barges that had floundered in a storm. Interpretation of side scan images is better used in conjunction with historical data to narrow down the possibilities.

Thanks
Steve

[nick_75au]

The mine hunting sonar on Huons looks the same as the ultrasound picture. Enough resolution to see a coke bottle at 800 hundred meters in front of the ship.
Nick

[nick_75au]

Is that two ships sunk side by side? How would that happen? Wonder if the baby minds being bombarded with ultrasound waves? Interesting and thanks for the answer. Pete

I stumbled upon that image on another site,
http://stellwagen.noaa.gov/maritime/palmercrary.html

Nick