Dr. Smith sent me an interesting article detailing the story behind recent hoohah about Iran's "top secret" advances in naval science, most particularly their claim of having supercavitating torpedoes.
I never gave the stories much credence, mainly because all of the jibberjabbering from the Persians sounded pretty much like ululating crazy talk, and second, the media was pretty much ready to wet its collective pants in fear. I have come to gauge my response to anything based upon the level of hysteria exhibited by the media--the greater the shrillness, the more likely I am to not really care that much about it.
IN ANY EVENT, the article details some of the history of this type of weapon, noting that it's not particularly new, having been around since the Cold War, and that it has some rather noticeable drawbacks that limit its tactical utility.
BUT SINCE WE HAVE OUR OWN run silent-run deep sort on the crew, I'd like to ask Mr. Skillzy to give the points made in the article a once-over, and pronounce in his expert opinion if it holds water.
So to speak.
Posted by Terry Oglesby at April 20, 2006 03:43 PMComment test...
Posted by: skillzy at April 21, 2006 08:01 AMOK last night I had a long and detailed comment written out, and your Munuvian comment machine ate it.
Bottom line, in a shooting war, the Iranian Navy would not last long enough to launch many of these. At any given time, we know where all their (antiquated) subs are, and they would be among the first things to go boom.
Posted by: skillzy at April 21, 2006 08:04 AMSorry about that--I have no control over the Munuvian Navy's ultra secret comment destroyer.
ANYWAY, I do have to wonder who exactly the Iranians are trying to jive. Were I the world press, I would be embarrassed at the way I can be relied upon to pass along to the public credulous, uncritical alarm at anything pronounced by the mullahs. Why, it's almost as if they know the Western press can be played for a bunch of ignorant chumps, and can be counted on to do their propagandistic dirty work for them. For free.
In any event, thank you for your insight, Skillzy.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at April 21, 2006 08:47 AMTerry
Remember the press still has a Carter administration image of the “situation” room. Dark—quiet and with a place for the president to crawl under a desk and wet himself.
I find it interesting that the press hasn't been all over Jimmah over these stories, being that he's an old submarine hand himself. And, you know, had some dealings with the ayatollahs a while back.
Posted by: Terry Oglesby at April 21, 2006 10:19 AM