Re: Hands and brains

[rddesign@wolfenet.com (Ric & Denisse Hedman)]

>
>>> There are only 100-200 people needed to operate a submarine and they are
>>> able to live more than 1 year isolated from the outside world.
>>
>>Submarines are much simpler than carriers, and they seldom operate more than
>>3 months without coming into port.  Actually I can't think of one ever going
>>a year submurged?  (RICK!! ??)
>
>As far as I know they only come to the surface to recalibrate the navigation
>systems. They even don't communicate with the home base so that their exact
>position isn't known (They do receive messages though, but don't answer)
>I've heard they sometimes don't harbour for more than a year, this of course
>depends on the size of the submarine. (The largest Russian sub even has a
>small swimming pool!)

A Submarines Inertial Navigation System is calibrated before the boat ever
goes on its' first seatrial. Any adjustments are done at that time. Any fine
tuning later would prbably be done in a shipyard. Befxore the boat was
commissioned the  Nav System would have been signed off as a matter of
course. In the whole time I was aboard we never had to adjust ours. To get a
"satnav" fix you would have to put a parascope up, (they have a stack of
antenas on the top of them,) and get your satalite fixes. Parascopes even
have a sextent in them to do star and moon and sun sights from parascope
depth. The Inertial Nav System works off of the gyro cumpuses, shaft speed,
current speed and direction and course steared. In my day it was a computer
the size of a refrigerator. I'm sure it is much smaller now.
Submarines opperates as our starship will have to, no contact or very little
contact with a home base. Operating oders are issued and opened after the
boat has sailed. Each boat has its' own mission to perform and needs no
contact to carry it out. 
Yes that Russin sub is a monster. :-) and from what I have heard about
Russin subs the men deserve all the bennies they can get, The early Russian
nukes were so "dirty" with radiation that the death rate from cancer was
very high.

Ric