4 Navy underwater unmanned vehicles missing in Thimble Shoals channel

[nandu]

4 Navy underwater unmanned vehicles missing in Thimble Shoals channel

Four of these underwater unmanned vehicles are missing in the Thimble Shoals area.

NORFOLK -- Four Navy underwater unmanned vehicles have gone missing in Thimble Shoals channel between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel.

Sailors, Coast Guardsmen and local authorities are searching for the devices, which were being used by Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit 1 for search, classify and map missions during an exercise called Frontier Sentinel 2010.

Communication was lost with four of 13 vehicles on Sunday and the search immediately began.

The Remote Environmental Monitoring Units (REMUS) 100 Swordfish Underwater Unmanned Vehicle is 7.5 inches in diameter, 62" long and weighs 80 pounds.

The Navy's investigating how the incident occurred.

Officials stress that these devices are not dangerous and anyone encountering one should contact Commander, U.S. Second Fleet at 757-443-9821.

The Navy stresses it's important not to handle the equipment if you find one.

About 2,500 Canadian and U.S. military personnel and government civilian agencies are participating in the annual training exercise that focuses on maritime homeland defense.

The scenario for this year's exercise involves the coordinated detection, assessment and response to a mining threat in Hampton Roads that would impede both commercial and military traffic in the Chesapeake Bay as well as testing the Maritime Operational Threat Response of military and civil authorities to a vessel of interest, which may be carrying a potential Weapon of Mass Effect into the United States.

http://www.wvec.com/news/4-Navy-und...ssing-in-Thimble-Shoals-channel-95813324.html

 

[nandu]

US Navy dolphins, sea lions hunt rogue robo-subs

The US Navy has been forced to unleash a crack force of trained dolphins and sea lions to recapture several underwater robots which went rogue off the coast of Virginia earlier this week.

A naval news release said that four REMUS 100 "Swordfish" unmanned underwater vehicles had ceased responding to commands during the joint US/Canadian Exercise FRONTIER SENTINEL, currently underway off the north-east American coast.

Reportedly the four rogue robots were part of a flotilla of 13 being operated by the US Navy's Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 1 in the Thimble Shoals Channel off Hampton Roads. Efforts immediately began to recover the AWOL droids: in addition to the usual boats and aircraft, US Naval "marine mammal systems" joined the hunt.

Marine mammal systems is the US Navy term for teams of trained dolphins or sea lions used to carry out underwater tasks.

The Navy requested that anyone finding one of the torpedo-like droids should call the commander of the US Second Fleet urgently, and under no circumstances approach the machine.


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/06/09/dolphins_vs_robosubs/
Bootnote

Not to spoil a good Rise-of-the-Machines story or anything, but the REMUS 100 is a relatively unimpressive machine just 7.5" in diameter. It is never armed, though can be used as it was being here for naval mine-countermeasures search and classification work. (Any mines found would then usually be disposed of by EOD divers, in the US Navy.)

 

[nandu]

Dolphins finds one missing underwater vehicle; Navy suspends search

Navy dolphins found an underwater surveillance device that went astray during a military exercise last week in Thimble Shoals Channel, the Navy announced Monday.

The device, known as an unmanned underwater vehicle, or UUV, was one of four that lost contact with its operators.

The Navy uses the robotic devices to search for underwater explosives. Some commentators have predicted they'll one day replace the specially trained dolphins that have had that duty for decades.

The 5-foot-long, 80-pound torpedo-shaped vehicles, which cost $250,000 each, are equipped with side-scanning sonar and camera equipment. They transmit data back to shore to be analyzed.

When the four went missing, the Navy launched a broad search, using other UUVs, teams of searchers on shore and spotters in the air. Four minehunting dolphins from San Diego here to participate in the same exercise, called Frontier Sentinel, also were put on the case.

In the end, mammals succeeded where computers failed. Navy divers retrieved the missing vehicle after a dolphin located it, said Lt. Cmdr. Susan Henson, a spokeswoman for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command.

The search for the other three vehicles has been called off, Henson said, but it's still possible they could turn up. The vehicles should not be handled – if any are spotted.

http://hamptonroads.com/2010/06/dolphins-finds-one-missing-underwater-vehicle-navy-suspends-search

 

[gogbot]

UUV's , trained dolphins and sea lions , I know the US has vast arsenal .
but really. They have sea lions on hand ?

 

[Rebelkid]

UUV's , trained dolphins and sea lions , I know the US has vast arsenal .
but really. They have sea lions on hand ?

I heard India was also training Dolphins but don't have any links..