# You were meant to close the B****Y Door!



## Foxbat (Jan 15, 2018)

Highly embarrasing for the Indian Navy. The INS Arihant is the first of five nuclear missile carrying submarines (SSBN) and it's been left crippled bercause somebody left a hatch open and seawater got to the propulsion systems.

So here's my question: how come they have the tech to build an SSBN but haven't yet discovered limit switches?

India's first nuclear missile submarine crippled as sailor leaves hatch open

Apparently it was floated in dry dock without many of its key systems in place, allowing the seawater to enter. A  lesson learned perhaps.


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## The Ace (Jan 15, 2018)

Almost as bad as this one (for the uninitiated, EVERY photographer aspires to own a Leica).

I dropped my leica d- lux camera and the lens now cannot retract and the base is bent. Is it repairable and if so, how much will it cost?


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## Vladd67 (Jan 15, 2018)

Some interesting comments to that article particularly from one Indian who doesn’t appear to be an Anglophile.


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## Foxbat (Jan 15, 2018)

Vladd67 said:


> Some interesting comments to that article particularly from one Indian who doesn’t appear to be an Anglophile.


The Indian guy's got a point about the reactor. The article is probably inaccurate in saying that it isn't in yet. It's the kind of thing the hull is built around and would already be installed but possibly not fuelled and definitely not gone critical if the sub was in a flooded dry dock.

As for the Leica...ouch!


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## The Ace (Jan 15, 2018)

Foxbat said:


> The Indian guy's got a point about the reactor. The article is probably inaccurate in saying that it isn't in yet. It's the kind of thing the hull is built around and would already be installed but possibly not fuelled and definitely not gone critical if the sub was in a flooded dry dock.
> 
> As for the Leica...ouch!




Yes, he dropped an £800 camera, so it's probably worth repairing, but it's an expensive way of learning what a strap is for.


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## J Riff (Jan 16, 2018)

Origianlly that sub had screen doors, which do keep fish out.


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## Foxbat (Jan 16, 2018)

Oh dear. Looks like the German Navy has problems too. Their latest new design of frigate has conducted sea trials with buggy software, an ill considered arsenal and a noticable list to starboard. Unsurprisingly, it has failed its sea trials. Some analysts are saying that even if it gets fixed, the lack of its predecessor's sonar array will make it a sitting duck for submarines. Looks like somebody will be getting their P45 very soon. 
German Engineering Yields New Warship That Isn't Fit for Sea

Makes the Royal Navy's engine problems with the Type 45s and the small leak in the Queen Elizabeth look like small potatoes


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## Biskit (Jan 16, 2018)

Foxbat said:


> It's the kind of thing the hull is built around and would already be installed but possibly not fuelled and definitely not gone critical if the sub was in a flooded dry dock.



Maybe I'm out of date, but as I recall, the reactors in nuclear-powered vessels are 'sealed units' that they install (and replace) like a giant battery.


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## Foxbat (Jan 16, 2018)

Biskit said:


> Maybe I'm out of date, but as I recall, the reactors in nuclear-powered vessels are 'sealed units' that they install (and replace) like a giant battery.


Yes. They are replaced as complete units but a hole has to be cut in the hull for replacement or removal, which is why I think the reactor will already be in place in this instance.


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## Foxbat (Jan 24, 2018)

Here's a picture of the 6800 ton USS Fitzgerald being brought home after its collision last year. These heavy lift ships always leave me impressed.


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## Jeffbert (Feb 12, 2018)

That is one big flatbed!


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## vanye (Mar 1, 2018)

Foxbat said:


> Oh dear. Looks like the German Navy has problems too. Their latest new design of frigate has conducted sea trials with buggy software, an ill considered arsenal and a noticable list to starboard. Unsurprisingly, it has failed its sea trials. Some analysts are saying that even if it gets fixed, the lack of its predecessor's sonar array will make it a sitting duck for submarines. Looks like somebody will be getting their P45 very soon.
> German Engineering Yields New Warship That Isn't Fit for Sea


As a nation we have had a great pacifist tradition ever since 1945. Our military reflects that: Our navy‘s helicopters rust when they are flown over salt water, our army‘s helicopters fly so rarely that the army has to book hours on civilian machines to train the pilots, the army‘s assault rifles do not shoot straight, the infantry has armored transports and tanks that are so rust-ridden that you can shoot through the sidewalls with a pistol and now they do not even have enough warm clothing for a winter campaign.

It might not seem very patriotic of me, but it somehow makes me sleep better at night that my country is a military failure, all the more so since the reform from conscript army to professional army and „foreign adventures“. When I did my (obligatory) 15 months as a soldier (way back when), the Bundeswehr was only allowed to fight inside the borders of Germany, i.e. when attacked by an invader. Seeing that change made me sadder than any other political affair during the past 30 years.

Had a German MP suggested that the Bundeswehr „defend Germany at the Hindukush“ in the 80s, they would have stoned him right where he stood. Sometimes, change is not for the better ...


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## WaylanderToo (Mar 1, 2018)

vanye said:


> ...now they do not even have enough warm clothing for a winter campaign....


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## Edward M. Grant (Mar 6, 2018)

Foxbat said:


> Makes the Royal Navy's engine problems with the Type 45s and the small leak in the Queen Elizabeth look like small potatoes



That bit about building aircraft carriers with no planes to fly from them is a bit of an embarrassment, though.


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## Foxbat (Mar 7, 2018)

Edward M. Grant said:


> That bit about building aircraft carriers with no planes to fly from them is a bit of an embarrassment, though.


Flight trials have already been carried out with rotary wing craft on the Queen Elizabeth and have you read the comments from the UK test pilots on the F35? They are saying that it is one of the most versatile and intuitive aircraft they've ever flown. The planes might be late but I have no doubt that they are exactly what the Queen Elizabeth carriers need.


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