spejic
04 Oct 2008, 10:37 PM
Among the cases being looked at in the upcoming Supreme Court session is the request to be allowed to use high-powered sonar in Navy exercises around Los Angeles in the coming years. Environmentalists say the sonar injures or kills whales, and the Navy and Bush administration say they should not be held to any environmental laws.
The Navy has been using sonar in drills for as long as there has been sonar. But there is a reason why this has become an issue in the last few years. The US Navy is an all-nuclear submarine force. Most other navies depend on diesel-powered submarines, which are noisy on the surface and unable to stay underwater for long on their battery power or perform well while doing so. In recent years, a new generation of oxygenless conventionally powered subs, led by the Germans, can stay underwater for extended periods at good speed. The US Navy has done testing with European and South African subs, even leasing one for an extended period, and what they found has scared them to the point of involuntary bladder evacuation. In exercise after exercise, screening ships have no ideas where the subs are until someone notices the "Kick me" sign taped to the back of the carrier. There is no way to detect these things except with medium frequency, extremely high powered sonar, which happens to be just the thing to turn whale organs into goo.
The Navy has been using sonar in drills for as long as there has been sonar. But there is a reason why this has become an issue in the last few years. The US Navy is an all-nuclear submarine force. Most other navies depend on diesel-powered submarines, which are noisy on the surface and unable to stay underwater for long on their battery power or perform well while doing so. In recent years, a new generation of oxygenless conventionally powered subs, led by the Germans, can stay underwater for extended periods at good speed. The US Navy has done testing with European and South African subs, even leasing one for an extended period, and what they found has scared them to the point of involuntary bladder evacuation. In exercise after exercise, screening ships have no ideas where the subs are until someone notices the "Kick me" sign taped to the back of the carrier. There is no way to detect these things except with medium frequency, extremely high powered sonar, which happens to be just the thing to turn whale organs into goo.