Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!lll-winken!sun-barr!newstop!sun!amdcad!amdcad!military
From: hon@scs.carleton.ca (Edmund Hon)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Pods on the tail of USSR SSN
Message-ID: <1991Apr4.042846.13679@amd.com>
Date: 3 Apr 91 06:57:48 GMT
References: <1991Apr3.024755.24304@amd.com>
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
Lines: 44
Approved: military@amd.com


	[Reformatted to avoid excessive indentation. --CDR]

From: hon@scs.carleton.ca (Edmund Hon)

In article <1991Apr3.024755.24304@amd.com> arthur@Eng.Sun.COM (Arthur Leung) writes:
>a good portion of the length of the boat.  might this soviet pod
>be used as a housing and reel for VLF antenna?  it would fit better.

But why would they want to trail the antenna at the tail when you can
do it nicely from the conning tower? Why aren't the other classes do the
same? It seems to much of a coincidence for me that only the latest
SSN's (not SSGN's i.e., Oscar, Charlie, etc.) have such a pot.

Let's look at some of the possible answer to this pot, and the possible
reasons against the explainations:

i) Towed Array Sonar- Volume too small to house an average length TAS
(how long is a TAS anyway), as stated by Arthur Leung.

ii) A Decoy (Nixie) - Unless it is a "one-use" disposable one. I can't
think of anyway where the sub can detach the pod, trail it behind the
sub with a cable, then retrieve it onto the top of the fin. Seems like
a pretty tricky operation.

(Note: maybe the decoy is INSIDE the pod, then this becomes a very
plausible explaination. David Ruedi did say in an earlier post that
there are reeling mechanisms in the pod when he saw the cut- away of
the Victor III.)

iii) A Propulsion device - Too small.

iv) A sonar (not a TAS) - Does the size of a sonar (in general) deter-
mines the frequency which the sonar can operate? To me it seems that
small size => short wavelength => high frequency. If the pod is a
sonar, then it must be a high frequency one, which will not be very
use- ful when you consider that most of the newer, better sonars
utilizes the low frequency approach.

Any comments?

--
Edmund Hon
hon@scs.carleton.ca