Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uflorida!ukma!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!jrll@Portia.stanford.edu From: jrll@Portia.stanford.edu (john ralls) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Shipboard Silver Bullets Message-ID: <6273@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 5 May 89 00:35:21 GMT Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Lines: 14 Approved: military@att.att.com From: john ralls The deck plate view of Subrocs and Asrocs has always been that they are far more trouble than they are worth. None of the officers I know is enthusiastic about detonating a nuclear weapon within five miles fo himself. (And then there was the old Mk-45 torpedo, much shorter range: the submarine force celebrated its demise!) The administrative headaches are enormous: Special training, special security, personal reliability program, NTPI's annually, additional watches, two man control... I suspect no-one at sea will miss for a minute these weapons. Their jobs can be done much more easily by conventional weapons and modern guidance. John