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The Navy, Coast Guard and local authorities are searching for four underwater unmanned vehicles that went missing Sunday during training in the Thimble Shoals Channel. (Navy handout)
NORFOLK
Four underwater unmanned vehicles went missing Sunday during training to conduct search, classify and map missions.
The Navy, Coast Guard and local authorities were searching for the missing vehicles in the Thimble Shoals Channel between the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel, a Navy news release said.
Communication was lost with four of the 13 unmanned vehicles Sunday about 1 p.m. while the vehicles were using bottom-mapping sonar to look for mine-like contacts in the water as part of the training. Search and recovery operations began immediately.
Efforts continued Monday using small-craft, shore-based teams, air assets and marine mammal systems, which could include sea lions and dolphins trained to hunt mines.
The cause of the vehicles' disappearance is under investigation. The missing vehicles do not pose a danger to civilians or the environment, the Navy release said, but if an unmanned vehicle is discovered floating in the water, boaters should avoid it as they would any other navigation hazard.
If one of the missing vehicles is found, please call the U.S. Second Fleet commander at (757) 443-9821.
The unmanned vehicles were being used as part of a larger training exercise with about 2,500 personnel from Canadian and U.S. military forces and government civilian agencies. The annual training exercise will continue through Friday.
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Sea Hunt
Where is Mike Nelson when you really need him? He didn't need no stinkin' sea mammals. Just give him a set of 38 cubic foot twin tanks with a j-valve manifold, a Voit 50 Fathom double hose reg, Sportsway Navy depth gauge, oval mask, Viking fins, and a Vulcan knife for slashing an airhose or two. And the job would be done in a half-hour to boot.
Omega Fleet
Check Omega Protein's nets...perhaps they dredged them up while systematically ridding the Bay of menhaden
Check the...
..lagoon on Gilligan's island. Skipppppeeerrrrrrr!!!
Call in Cameron
They should call in James Cameron. Apparently he's now the official expert on all kinds of underwater operations.
Not to worry
Special Agent Gibbs will recover them quickly, Abby will fix the hardware, and McGee will make corrections to the software so enemy agents cannot hack in and steer them off course in the future.
Hamas
Hamas stole them to fill with humanitarian supplies like Ak-47s and run them into Gaza
Catch of the day
I was having dinner last night at a local restaurant and was having their catch of the day. I noticed that it did taste a little metallic! :/
Probably mugged by some
Probably mugged by some renegade whales.
Keeping their value close to the vest.
Don't want to provide a "market value" for the finders who might try to sell or ransom them.
You'd think these things would have some sort of "pingers" or locator system that would activate when communications are lost. If we can outfit fish and eagles for tracking, why not these?
Finders Keepers !!
Wonder how much that unit would fetch on the open market??
Too bad I never got around
Too bad I never got around to working on that open source side-scan sonar package :-) Would take a large lift bag to get one of those to the surface, I'd guess.
Most interesting in this article is them using sea lions trained to find mines!
Ethan, how do you know that
Ethan, how do you know that it was open source software that they used?
Are you familiar with it? Just curious.
No, I ment, I had an idea to
No, I ment, I had an idea to build an open source side scan sonar setup. Side scan sonar lets you scan the bottom under the water and look for things, like lost unmanned underwater vehicles, ship wrecks, and other things.
I have no idea what they run on their stuff. I wouldn't be surprised if contractors used open source stuff on it, though.
Oh no,
Now this is a good reason to clean the Chesapeake bay.
Do not worry they will be on E bay soon or at a Norfolk flea market.
all four at once?
Who made these things,,,,,, BP and its contractors?
Watch out for that bus!
WHO is going to be thrown under the bus for this one?
The Bus...
I would imagine the CO of this group is currently tying himself to the bus route, blind-folded with cigarette in mouth, waiting nervously for it to hit him at any time...
How in the world does one lose 4 of these things? Dare I inquire how much they cost us?
Hope Dr. Evil doesn't have them.
This sounds like the beginning of a 1980s James Bond movie.
I was thinking the same
I was thinking the same thing! They should check all the cargo ships that traversed the area-maybe one of them had a opening hull and they snatched them!
OOhh!!
Is there a lost and found reward!!
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