I can neither confirm nor deny that black magic may have been involved in the detection of submarines by the acoustic operators back in the 70’s. And while we may have thrown a few rune stones and prayed to the Gods of ASW before each flight, our TACCO drew the line at sacrificing a small animal and reading the entrails for signs of good portent.

I was on subs in the 70s, and I remember that aphorism as being the description of fire control. The description I was given as to how Ekelund ranging was supposed to work seemed to confirm it.

I was a Sonar Technician on submarines (STS1 (SS)) back in the 70’s.

ASW is hard, from either point of view – surface or submarine. Everyone, including us submariners, recognized that a submarine has all of the advantages until…

…it gets detected. After that, the tables are turned.

However, that’s the rub. Detecting a modern submarine is very, very difficult. Even way back then, they were hole-in-the-water quiet. They also operate in a 3D environment and can go deep or shallow to get below or above layers, deep sound channels and other environmental effects. If we are trying to hide-with-pride (boomers) or commit a stealthy attack on a carrier or some such (SSN), it becomes even more difficult for the ASW team. Active sonar is okay for what it is, but on passive sonar, we could hear active pinging over twice the distance they could get a contact on us.

I told you all of that to tell you that when I was out there and we were exercising with any surface ASW group, we *always* had a noise augmentation unit. We were also restricted to a defined area – the “box”. There is a very good reason for that.

In order for friendly ASW forces to effectively practice search and attack procedures, they must prosecute an actual contact. If they could never find us, or it took a very long time to do so, the exercise would be for naught.

That’s the way we did it then. Now? Who knows, my time was over 40 years ago. Technology marches on and 40 years is a long time. The enemy submarines have gotten a lot better since then.

I hope all of our ASW is successful – airdale, surface and submarine. We are, after all, on the same team.

Roy – SSBN600, SSBN622, SSN673

Sound is probably the most arcane. Radar and IR are also “intertesting.” The sensor and half the software are magic. Countermeasures are even more magical, sometimes to the point of “there IS a target in the range, correct?”