<ul class="summary-list"><li>The loss of the Indonesian submarine <keyword id="11139638" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="KRI-Nanggala">KRI Nanggala</keyword> in April showed the perils of undersea warfare.</li><li>It's not the first time; in 1968, four submarines were lost in five months.</li><li>The causes of those wrecks remain unknown a half-century later.</li></ul><p>In April, after an extensive five-day search, the wreckage of the Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-might-have-happened-to-the-missing-submarine-kri-nanggala-2021-4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">was found 2,750 feet underwater</a> in the Bali Sea.</p><p>The submarine had broken into three pieces, tragically confirming that all 53 crew members had perished.</p><p>The exact cause of the sinking remains unknown. Indonesian officials have <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WF3g6oRQrG0" target="_top">ruled out</a> human error and have suggested a power failure or <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/30/992496772/what-is-an-internal-wave-it-might-explain-the-loss-of-an-indonesian-submarine" target="_blank" rel="noopener">undersea wave</a> may have forced the submarine to descend far below its crush depth of about 655 feet. The government plans to recover the submarine <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-sends-rescue-ships-to-help-recover-lost-indonesian-submarine-2021-5" target="_top">with help from China</a>.</p><p>Deep-water submarine sinkings are rare but always fatal, and their causes are hardly ever fully established.</p><p>In 1968, for instance, four submarines from four countries were lost with all hands in a five-month period. Over 50 years later, their causes remain unknown.</p><h2><keyword id="11291807" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="ins-dakar">INS Dakar</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="INS Dakar Israeli navy submarine" height="1276" width="2000" msid="82800939" hostid="261"></div><p><a href="https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-archives-on-sunken-dakar-sub-reveal-nothing-new-1.5233307" target="_top">INS Dakar</a> was an Israeli T-class submarine that was launched in 1943 and served in the British navy as HMS Totem before being purchased by Israel in 1965.</p><p>After completing sea and diving trials in Scotland, Dakar was scheduled to arrive to a welcoming ceremony in Israel on January 29, 1968. The sub arrived in Gibraltar on January 15, reported its location as just east of Crete on January 24, and sent its final message shortly after midnight on January 25.</p><p>When it was clear the sub was missing, ships from Britain, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, and Israel searched the area for days, though the effort was complicated by <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-archives-on-sunken-dakar-sub-reveal-nothing-new-1.5233307" target="_top">tensions</a> in the region.</p><p>Finding nothing, the search officially ended February 4, but the 69-man crew was not officially declared dead until 1981. In 1991, the wreck was finally discovered between Crete and Cyprus some 9,800 feet underwater.</p><p>The cause of Dakar's sinking has never been determined. The Israelis <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-feared-soviets-sunk-sub-in-1968-papers-reveals/" target="_top">initially believed</a> the Soviets might have been responsible but have since ruled out hostile action. Because Dakar was not carrying torpedoes and the wreck was mostly intact, an internal explosion is also unlikely.</p><p>The prevailing theories are that mechanical or human error caused a catastrophic accident or that the submarine's snorkel was damaged after hitting another ship in a storm, causing it to flood.</p><h2><keyword id="11291809" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="minerve">Minerve</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="Undated photo of the &quot;Minerve&quot;, a &quot;Daphne&quot; class submersible during an exercise" height="629" width="1024" msid="82800942" hostid="261"></div><p>Minerve was a French navy Daphné-class submarine launched in 1961. Based in Toulon, it had a crew of 52.</p><p>On January 27, 1968, Minerve was caught in bad weather as it returned to Toulon from a training operation in the Mediterranean.</p><p>When it was about 30 miles south of the French coast, Minerve made contact with French aircraft and said it would be in port in about an hour.</p><p>But Minerve never arrived. A frantic search was conducted with 20 vessels and aircraft, including the aircraft carrier Clemenceau, but it was called off on February 2. Multiple searches in the following years also failed to find the submarine.</p><p>Minerve would remain missing until 2019, when it was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/22/world/europe/france-submarine-minerve.html" target="_top">found</a> by the American ocean-mapping company Ocean Infinity as part of a French government-sponsored effort to find the submarine.</p><p>It was located about 28 miles off Toulon in about 7,800 feet of water. The sub was in three pieces scattered over a 984-foot area. The French government decided to not raise the sub, which means the cause of the sinking will probably never be known.</p><h2><keyword id="11291810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="k-129">K-129</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="Soviet Golf II class submarine" height="1129" width="2000" msid="82800944" hostid="261"></div><p>K-129 was a Soviet Golf II-class diesel-electric ballistic-missile submarine launched in 1959. Part of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, it had a crew of 98 and carried three SS-N-5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles - the first Soviet SLBM that could be fired from a submerged sub.</p><p>On March 8, 1968, almost two weeks into a patrol in the North Pacific, K-129 failed to send a scheduled radio message. The Soviets soon began a frantic search with 36 vessels and dozens of aircraft, which flew 286 flights over the search area.</p><p>After two months and no sign of K-129, the Soviets gave up. The US Navy, however, didn't.</p><p>Intrigued by the massive search effort, the Americans knew something valuable had been lost, and thanks to the Navy's underwater listening devices, they managed to find K-129's wreck on August 20.</p><p>The wreck, located some 1,500 miles northwest of Hawaii, was over 16,500 feet below the surface. The CIA, eager to obtain Soviet codebooks, SS-N-5 missiles, and nuclear torpedoes, created a <a href="https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/nukevault/ebb305/doc01.pdf" target="_top">plan</a>, called <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/during-cold-war-ci-secretly-plucked-soviet-submarine-ocean-floor-using-giant-claw-180972154/" target="_top">Project Azorian</a>, to recover the sub.</p><p>The CIA persuaded the eccentric billionaire Howard Hughes to use his deep-sea mining company, Global Marine Inc., as a front for a CIA-funded vessel specifically designed to recover the K-129 and bring it to the US.</p><p>In 1974, the ship, Hughes Glomar Explorer, successfully recovered one-third of the K-129. Apart from six bodies (which were buried at sea) the CIA has never publicly disclosed what it recovered, though it is <a href="https://news.engin.umich.edu/features/submerged/" target="_top">believed</a> to have obtained two nuclear torpedoes and other intelligence items.</p><p>The cause of K-129's sinking has never been established, and because of the secrecy of Project Azorian and its effect on the wreckage, it will most likely never be known.</p><h2><keyword id="11291808" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="uss-scorpion">USS Scorpion</keyword></h2><div type="image" title="Navy submarine Scorpion" height="800" width="1000" msid="82800947" hostid="261"></div><p>Almost three months after K-129 sank, <a href="https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/scorpion-ssn-589-vi.html" target="_top">USS Scorpion</a>, a Skipjack-class nuclear-powered attack submarine with a crew of 99, went missing in the Atlantic while returning from a patrol in the Mediterranean.</p><p>Launched in 1959, Scorpion had a reputation for mechanical troubles - so much so its crew <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1998/july/why-they-called-scorpion-scrapiron" target="_top">called</a> it "USS Scrapiron." It received a hasty refit in 1967 and set out for a Mediterranean patrol on February 15, 1968.</p><p>Toward the end of its patrol, Scorpion was ordered to observe Soviet naval activity off the Canary Islands. On May 21, it radioed that it was some 50 miles south of the Azores and expected to return to Norfolk on May 27.</p><p>Scorpion never arrived. A massive search effort was launched with dozens of ships, submarines, and aircraft on both sides of the Atlantic, but on June 5, Scorpion and its crew were declared "presumed lost."</p><p>The search continued, and on October 29, the wreck was found roughly 400 miles southwest of the Azores under 10,000 feet of water.</p><p>The sub had broken into three pieces: The sail had been ripped off; the bow had separated from the operations compartment, which was obliterated; and the engine room had crumpled into the hull like a telescope.</p><p>The Navy never determined what caused Scorpion's sinking. The intact bow meant its torpedoes hadn't detonated, but multiple hatches on the sub's hull were open, and the batteries on the Scorpion's Mark 37 torpedoes were <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/what-really-happened-doomed-submarine-uss-scorpion-108276" target="_top">later known</a> to have defects.</p><p>The most likely theories are that Scorpion sank after a torpedo had accidentally been armed (known as a "hot run") and detonated inside or outside the sub, that the trash-disposal unit had malfunctioned and caused flooding that triggered an explosion when it reached the batteries, or that a hydrogen explosion was caused by gases trapped during or after the charging of the batteries.</p><p>The lack of a definitive answer has also led to conspiracy theories, including that the Soviet Navy sank the submarine in retaliation for the loss of the K-129. (Some Soviet Navy officials believed K-129 sank because of a collision with the USS Swordfish, a US submarine operating in the Pacific at the same time.)</p><p>Scorpion is one of two nuclear-powered submarines the US Navy has lost. The other, USS Thresher, sank off the coast of Massachusetts in 1963.</p>

4 mysterious submarine disappearances a half-century ago show why undersea disasters are so hard to figure out

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Titanic sank 112 years ago, in April 1912, but the wreckage was only found 39 years ago.</li><li>Robert Ballard and Jean-Louis Michel found the wreckage 73 years after the ship sank.</li></ul><p>Almost immediately after the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-secrets-facts-2018-4">Titanic sank on April 15, 1912</a>, there were attempts to recover <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/map-of-where-titanic-sank-newfoundland-atlantic-ocean-titan-submersible-2023-6">the wreckage</a> and the bodies of those who had gone down with the ship. However, the limited diving technology of the time prevented this from becoming a reality for more than seven decades.</p><p>On September 1, 1985 — almost 39 years ago — the wreckage was found during a joint exploration by an American oceanographer, Robert Ballard, who was also a Navy officer, and a French oceanographer, Jean-Louis Michel, as <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1985/09/03/science/wreckage-of-titanic-reported-discovered-12000-feet-down.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The New York Times</a> reported at the time.</p><p>But the dive initially had nothing to do with the Titanic at all — it was a secret mission to find the wrecks of two nuclear submarines, the USS Scorpion and the USS Thresher.</p><p>However, this information was not made public until 2008, when Ballard revealed the true nature of the mission to National Geographic.</p><p>"The Navy is finally discussing it," Ballard told <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/history-and-civilisation/2018/11/titanic-was-found-during-secret-cold-war-navy-mission" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Geographic</a> in 2008.</p><div type="image" title="A black-and-white photo of Robert Ballard wearing a suit and tie, and holding his book titled “The Discovery of the Titanic.”" height="2872" width="3829" msid="101837434" hostid="261"></div><p>Ballard originally met with the US Navy in 1982 to secure funding for a new type of submersible technology that would allow him to find the Titanic. The Navy agreed to fund the project, but only if it would be used to investigate the sunken submarines. The USS Thresher sank in April 1963, and the USS Scorpion followed five years later, in May 1968. They remain the only nuclear submarines the Navy has ever lost, reported the <a href="https://www.usni.org/magazines/naval-history-magazine/2023/april/what-killed-thresher" target="_blank" rel="noopener">United States Naval Institute.</a></p><p>The Navy agreed that Ballard could search for the Titanic if there were any time left in the mission after finding the subs — and after confirming whether the Soviet Union had played any part in sinking them.</p><p>"We saw no indication of some sort of external weapon that caused the ship to go down," Ronald Thunman, then the deputy chief of naval operations for submarine warfare, told National Geographic.</p><div type="image" title="An underwater photo of a well-preserved part of the Titanic wreckage." height="3219" width="4292" msid="101837436" hostid="261"></div><p>With 12 days left in the mission, Ballard found the Titanic using a hunch that the ship had split in two and left a trail of debris.</p><p>"That's what saved our butts," Ballard said to National Geographic. "It turned out to be true."</p><p>Ballard said the Navy was nervous that people would catch on to why they were actually scouring the ocean floor.</p><p>"The Navy never expected me to find the Titanic, and so when that happened, they got really nervous because of the publicity," Ballard said. "But people were so focused on the legend of the Titanic they never connected the dots."</p><p>So, 23 years later, Ballard disclosed the truth about his mission. He also wrote about his experience finding the ship in his book "<a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=biauto-60770-20&amp;h=ca6073e52c2341bd9f58dd49e85674f8e63d48edf1a48932ff3e996793a11fbe&amp;postID=64b59dd415e1ae5a1a3ec94b&amp;postSlug=titanic-wreck-location-wreckage-us-navy-nuclear-submarine-2023-7&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDiscovery-Titanic-Robert-D-Ballard%2Fdp%2F0446671746" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Discovery of the Titanic.</a>"</p><p>"It was one thing to have won — to have found the ship," he wrote. "It was another thing to be there. That was the spooky part."</p><p><em>Correction: July 18, 2023 — An earlier version of this story misstated when the USS Scorpion disappeared. It was lost in May 1968, not May 1965.</em></p>

The wreckage of the Titanic was found nearly 39 years ago during a secret US Navy mission to recover nuclear submarines

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Five people in a submersible heading for the RMS Titanic shipwreck have gone missing. </li><li>The Titanic was found in 1985 and is about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland.</li></ul><p>A submersible named Titan heading for the shipwreck of the RMS Titanic has been missing since Sunday, leading to an intense search operation led by the US Coast Guard, US Navy, the Canadian Coast Guard, and the <a href="https://twitter.com/hfxjrcc/status/1671253962652282880?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Canadian military's air &amp; marine search and rescue team.</a></p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/titanic-sub-passengers-missing-passengers-whos-on-board-oceangate-submersible-2023-6">The five passengers who lost communications</a> with the Canadian research ship The Polar Prince include the CEO of OceansGate — the company in charge of the exploration — three British nationals, and a French diver.</p><p>The Coast Guard estimates the sub will <a href="https://www.insider.com/titanic-tourist-submersible-96-hours-of-oxygen-left-coast-guard-2023-6?_gl=1*1dmmzwo*_ga*MTgyNTUxNzM3Ny4xNjc0OTU1ODA5*_ga_E21CV80ZCZ*MTY4NzI5NzE1NC4zODEuMS4xNjg3Mjk5MDQ4LjIzLjAuMA..#:~:text=The%20missing%20submersible%20that%20was,a%20press%20briefing%20in%20Boston.">run out of breathable air by Wednesday evening.</a></p><p>OceansGate estimates the largest piece of wreck, which is split into two main pieces, exists at a depth of 2 ½ miles — or 12,800 feet — about 400 miles off the coast of Newfoundland in the North Atlantic Ocean.</p><iframe title="Location of Titanic wreckage" id="datawrapper-chart-Ug5M9" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/Ug5M9/1/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="width: 0; min-width: 100% !important; border: none;" height="344"></iframe><p>The Titanic, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/titanic-famous-survivors-victims-2018-4">described as "unsinkable"</a> before its first and final voyage from Southern England to New York City, sank on April 15, 1912, after hitting an iceberg.</p><p>In 1985, explorer Robert Ballard found the Titanic after <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cold-war-era-navy-mission-found-the-titanic-kept-it-secret-for-years-2018-8">requesting the US Navy help fund the technology needed to reach the shipwreck</a>. The US Navy agreed, but only if Ballard helped them with the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion — two sunken submarines that ended in disasters. The Navy wanted to investigate how the disasters happened.</p><p>Ballard <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-explorer-got-us-navy-to-back-hunt-for-titanic-2021-9">convinced the Navy, and then-President Ronald Reagan, to let him search for the Titani</a>c — which was estimated to be somewhere between the two submarine wrecks — while on his mission. His rationale was that if the Titanic was found by the US Navy, it would demonstrate their might and "drive the Soviets crazy," according to Ballard in the <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?h=560e8aa0bccb11fd6ae08912fd2d1866ba9a76af1a8e1b25ab6d03e51bebb0e3&amp;postID=64921364f68b6353a66d0a48&amp;site=in&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Faffiliate.insider.com%2F%3FamazonTrackingID%3Dbiauto-4172-20%26h%3D34a715c039a57a05b2e3f98d5078b18432d7eeaca33a12de9ad0fa8e23ab153e%26postID%3D60df2070a27a1f7311789bd4%26site%3Dbi%26u%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.amazon.com%252FBob-Ballard-Explorers-Robert-D%252Fdp%252F1426220995%26platform%3Dbrowser%26sc%3Dfalse%26disabled%3Dfalse%26tag%3Dbisafetynet2-20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">2021 book "Into The Deep."</a> Reagan agreed with the idea, he wrote.</p><p>Then, at the end of August 1985, a team led by Ballard came across the shipwreck in their submarine. Ballard described it as "a quiet and peaceful and fitting place for the remains of this greatest of sea tragedies to rest."</p>

Where did the Titanic sink? The wreck location may not be where you think it is.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Indonesian <keyword id="42407" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Navy">navy</keyword> has declared that its missing <keyword id="41760" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Submarine">submarine</keyword> KRI Nanggala-402 is presumed sunk.</li><li>The submarine was carrying 53 passengers when it disappeared several days ago.</li><li>The apparent loss of the submarine and its crew puts this among the worst submarine disasters.</li></ul><p>The apparent <keyword id="156658" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sinking">sinking</keyword> of an Indonesian naval submarine and loss of dozens of lives this week puts the incident among some of the worst submarine catastrophes in history.</p><p>Indonesia's diesel-powered submarine KRI Nanggala-402 disappeared during a training exercise Wednesday with 53 people on board. Indonesian and <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/pentagon-us-sending-air-assets-to-find-missing-indonesian-submarine-2021-4">international search-and-rescue assets have been desperately looking</a> for the submarine for days in hopes of finding it and saving the crew.</p><div type="image" title="Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala-402 during a ceremony honoring the 72nd anniversary of the country's Armed Forces Day at Cilegon, Banten province, Indonesia" height="619" width="1024" msid="82233278" hostid="261"></div><p>What they found instead appears to be evidence of a worst-case scenario. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/indonesia-submarine-missing-vessel-presumed-sunk-after-debris-found-2021-4">Search-and-rescue teams found items, such as prayer rugs, a grease bottle, part of a coolant pipe, and a torpedo component believed to be from the submarine</a>. These items would only be in the water if the sub had broken apart.</p><p>Together with the oil slick, a possible sign of a fuel tank rupture which was found early in the search near the point of the submarine's final dive, the debris is evidence the submarine has sunk, the Indonesian navy said.</p><p>"With the authentic evidence we found believed to be from the submarine, we have now moved from the 'sub miss' phase to 'sub sunk,'" Indonesian Navy Chief Yudo Margono said at a press conference Saturday. All passengers are presumed dead, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/asia-pacific-indonesia-98b58437f6742d197d1eb593db954894">the AP reported</a>.</p><p>At this point, the submarine has likely run out of oxygen, as it was only equipped with about 72 hours of air, according to the Indonesian military.</p><p>The Indonesian navy has said it believes that the submarine, a 1,400-ton vessel made by Germany in the late 1970s and refitted in 2012, <a href="https://www.insider.com/indonesia-missing-submarine-too-deep-to-rescue-navy-warns-2021-4">may have sunk to a depth of over 2,000 feet, putting the boat likely well past the point where the hull could withstand the crushing pressure of the water around it</a>.</p><p>Bryan Clark, a former US Navy submarine officer and current defense expert at the Hudson Institute, told Insider "if a small diesel submarine like this Indonesian one goes down in 2000 feet of water, it is unlikely to survive."</p><p>As KRI Nanggala 402 has not yet been found, it is still not clear what exactly happened to the submarine, but if the vessel has indeed sunk with all 53 passengers, it would put this terrible tragedy among some of the worst submarine disasters.</p><div type="image" title="Submarine ARA San Juan navigates for an expedition after the mid-life upgrade reparation at Tandanor shypyard on June 02, 2014 in Buenos Aires, Argentina" height="683" width="1024" msid="82233279" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>ARA San Juan</strong></h2><p>On November 15, 2017, the Argentine Navy diesel-electric submarine ARA San Juan disappeared while on patrol with 44 crew members on board. The navy later determined that an anomalous noise detected shortly after the submarine's last transmission was "consistent with an explosion."</p><p>The <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/argentina-releases-first-images-of-the-sunken-submarine-san-juan-2018-11">submarine was eventually found a year later at a depth of 3,000 feet</a> in the South Atlantic.</p><h2><strong>361</strong></h2><p>In 2003, a Chinese diesel-electric submarine with hull number 361 <a href="https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/web/fyrbt_673021/dhdw_673027/t24552.shtml">suffered a serious mechanical malfunction during a training exercise</a> that led to the deaths of 70 sailors. The crew is said to have suffocated, though details are limited.</p><div type="image" title="This picture, dated March 1995, shows Russian submarine 'Kursk' at its base in Vidyayevo" height="615" width="1024" msid="82233281" hostid="261"></div><h2><strong>K-141 Kursk</strong></h2><p>On August 12, 2000, the Russian nuclear-powered submarine K-141 Kursk vanished in the Barents Sea. Russian authorities later determined the vessel sank after a torpedo on board unexpectedly exploded. The first blast then triggered the explosion of several other warheads.</p><p>The Russian naval vessel went down with 118 sailors on board. Although twenty-three Russian sailors are believed to have survived the initial catastrophe, the Russian navy was not able to rescue them in time.</p><div type="image" title="Undated picture taken in St. Petersburg showing the nuclear-powered submarine Komsomolets" height="683" width="1024" msid="82233282" hostid="261"></div><h2>K-278 Komsomolets</h2><p>On April 7, 1989, the Soviet nuclear-powered attack submarine K-278 Komsomolets sank in the Norwegian Sea after a devastating fire broke out.</p><p><a href="https://www.cia.gov/static/57ada3935d16c347bb723131bb9d37b5/the-komsomolets-disaster.pdf">Forty-two of the submarine's 69 crew members died in this accident</a>. Some perished aboard the ship. Others that made it out died of exposure to the frigid waters before they could be rescued.</p><h2>K-8</h2><p>On April 8, 1970, a fire crippled the Soviet nuclear-powered submarine K-8, forcing the crew of 52 sailors to abandon the vessel. When a rescue ship arrived on scene, the crew returned to the submarine, but while the ship was under tow in the Bay of Biscay, it sank in rough seas with all hands lost.</p><div type="image" title="The submarine 'Eurydice' in the harbor of Toulon, France, February 9, 1968" height="695" width="1024" msid="82233283" hostid="261"></div><h2>Eurydice</h2><p>On March 4, 1970, the French diesel-electric submarine was lost in the Mediterranean while diving off Cape Camarot. The French defense ministry <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/05/archives/57-on-french-sub-lost-off-riviera-oil-slicks-and-debris-found-an.html">assessed that the vessel sank along with its entire crew of 57 sailors</a> after receiving reports of an explosion. Fuel and other debris were found floating on the surface.</p><div type="image" title="USS Scorpion" height="581" width="740" msid="82233284" hostid="261"></div><h2>USS Scorpion</h2><p>The American nuclear-powered submarine USS Scorpion mysteriously vanished in the Atlantic Ocean with 99 sailors on May 22, 1968. <a href="https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/05/28/navy-submarine-uss-scorpion-mysteriously-disappeared-50-years-ago.html">No one knows exactly what happened to the Scorpion</a>. It was found five months later 400 miles southwest of the Azores at a depth of 10,000 feet.</p><p>The Scorpion was one of four submarines that were weirdly lost in 1968.</p><h2>K-129</h2><p>On March 8, 1968, the Soviet diesel-electric ballistic missile submarine sank in the Pacific Ocean with 98 sailors on board. The US found the submarine six years later at 16,000 feet and covertly recovered part of the vessel.</p><div type="image" title="Undated photo of the &quot;Minerve&quot;, a &quot;Daphne&quot; class submersible during an exercise" height="629" width="1024" msid="82233285" hostid="261"></div><h2>Minerve</h2><p>On January 27, 1968, the French diesel-electric submarine Minerve and its crew of 52 sailors disappeared in bad weather while returning to port.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49068823">submarine was found in 2019 off the French port city of Toulon</a> at 7,800 feet.</p><h2><strong>INS Dakar</strong></h2><p>Just a few days prior to the sinking of the Minerve, the Israeli diesel-electric submarine INS Dakar inexplicably sank in the Mediterranean, resulting in the death of 69 sailors. The Israeli submarine was found in 1999 at 9,500 feet, but the exact cause of the disaster remains unknown.</p><div type="image" title="Nuclear-powered submarine the 'USS Thresher' steers through the sea, early 1960s." height="801" width="1024" msid="82233287" hostid="261"></div><h2>USS Thresher</h2><p>On April 10, 1963, the US Navy experienced its most devastating submarine disaster when the nuclear-powered submarine USS Thresher sank in the Atlantic Ocean and imploded. All 129 American personnel on board were killed in the deadly accident.</p>

The apparent sinking of an Indonesian submarine with 53 people on board is among history's worst submarine disasters

<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="12154143" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="robert-ballard" source="Orion">Robert Ballard</keyword> found the <keyword id="12154144" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="titanic" source="Orion">Titanic</keyword> in September 1985 with the support of the US Navy.</li><li>The hunt for the Titanic was cover for a secret Navy mission to investigate two <keyword id="12002679" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="submarine" source="Orion">submarine</keyword> wrecks.</li><li>It was also part of a <keyword id="12154146" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="psychological-warfare" source="Orion">psychological warfare</keyword> game the US was playing with the Soviets, Ballard revealed in a 2021 book.</li></ul><p>The man who found the Titanic did so with help from the US Navy, and he got that much needed support in part by convincing the Navy that finding the shipwreck would "drive the Soviets crazy," <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=biauto-4172-20&amp;postID=60df2070a27a1f7311789bd4&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBob-Ballard-Explorers-Robert-D%2Fdp%2F1426220995">renowned explorer Robert Ballard reveals in the 2021 book "Into The Deep,"</a> which was co-written with investigative reporter Christopher Drew.</p><p>Over the course of his celebrated career, Ballard has discovered the wrecks of the Nazi battleship Bismarck, the US aircraft carrier Yorktown, and US patrol torpedo boat PT-109 (commanded by then Lt. j.g. John F. Kennedy). But his most recognizable discovery was the British passenger ship Titanic that sank in the North Atlantic on April 15, 1912, ending more than 1,500 lives.</p><div type="image" title="Robert Ballard, who found the Titanic" height="819" width="1024" msid="86443223" hostid="261"></div><p>That famous discovery in September 1985 was backed by the US Navy, which offered its support for two reasons.</p><p>The search for the Titanic was a cover for a top secret Navy mission involving the use of undersea systems to explore two submarine wrecks. And Ballard convinced the service his discovery would play into a game of psychological warfare with the Soviets during the later years of the <keyword id="12154145" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cold-war" source="Orion">Cold War</keyword>, <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=biauto-4172-20&amp;postID=60df2070a27a1f7311789bd4&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBob-Ballard-Explorers-Robert-D%2Fdp%2F1426220995">"Into the Deep" explains</a>.</p><p>Navy Vice Adm. Ronald Thunman, a top submarine officer, initially told Ballard that his dream of finding the Titanic was crazy, but he ultimately agreed to let the persistent explorer piggyback on the Navy mission and pursue the lost passenger ship using any time and funds that remained after looking into the two wrecks.</p><p>"You can do whatever you want, but you gotta do it within the time and within the money, and that's it," Ballard recalled the officer saying. The <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/13/us/titanic-discovery-classified-nuclear-sub/index.html">search for the Titanic became cover</a> for the submarine investigation.</p><p>Although he had been given something of a green light to look for the Titanic from Thunman, Ballard wanted the support of Navy Secretary John Lehman. He decided to leverage the secretary and President Ronald Reagan's thinking on psychological warfare to gain that endorsement as well.</p><p>Both Reagan and Lehman were eager to confront the Soviets more aggressively, and part of that included rattling them psychologically, specifically making them believe the US had capabilities beyond their own.</p><p>Ballard, then a Navy reservist, invited Lehman, who had been behind Ballard since a talk he did on underwater terrain warfare, on an underwater excursion in an exploration and research submersible looking at what Ballard described as "the undersea battlefield."</p><p>Thousands of feet beneath the surface, he repeatedly made his pitch to search for the Titanic.</p><p>"The president wants to really play with the Soviets' minds," <a href="https://affiliate.insider.com?amazonTrackingID=biauto-4172-20&amp;postID=60df2070a27a1f7311789bd4&amp;site=bi&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBob-Ballard-Explorers-Robert-D%2Fdp%2F1426220995">Ballard recalled telling the Navy secretary in a paraphrased conversation presented in his memoir</a>, "to make them think we can do far more than we're capable of."</p><p>"Let me find Titanic," the explorer said, explaining that with the gear in his possession, specifically a few robotic submersibles, he was sure he could find it in two weeks.</p><p>"I'll find it, and then we'll go public," Ballard told Lehman, "Show videos from the robots roaming through the ballrooms. It will drive the Soviets crazy. They'll think that if we're willing to publicize this capability, imagine what our Navy is doing in secret."</p><p>Lehman agreed to pass the recommendation on to Reagan, who, according to the Navy secretary, responded: "Absolutely, let's do it."</p><div type="image" title="The port bow railing of the RMS Titanic lies in 12,600 feet of water about 400 miles east of Nova Scotia as photographed August 10, 1996, as part of a joint scientific and recovery expedition sponsored by the Discovery Channel and RMS Titantic" height="1606" width="2048" msid="86443225" hostid="261"></div><h2>'May God bless these found souls'</h2><p>The hunt for the passenger ship Titanic was the public face of a secret Navy mission to explore and take photos of the wrecks of the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion, which sank with all hands in 1963 and 1968 respectively. They were among the deadliest submarine disasters and ones the US Navy studied intensively for answers. </p><p>Ballard returned to active-duty status temporarily so that he could be read into classified material for the missions. He wrote in his book that "the Navy's investigation was my real mission." Searching for the Titanic, while a priority and long-time dream for Ballard, came second.</p><p>Sailing aboard the research vessel R/V Knorr, Ballard obscured the true mission from members of his crew.</p><p>"Given the highly classified nature of the mission, the Navy would only let me tell those with a need-to-know status what was really happening," he explained. "We told everyone we were testing equipment for the Navy."</p><p>"I wanted to do a bang-up job for the Navy, but I was also constantly thinking about how to find Titanic," Ballard wrote. As it turned out, the investigation into the submarine wrecks would prove beneficial to finding the Titanic.</p><p>Both the Thresher and Scorpion had debris trails almost a mile long. While some believed Titanic sank in one piece, there had been eyewitness accounts from survivors that it broke apart, which would leave a debris trail like the submarines that imploded.</p><p>"I visualized the ship not just breaking in two but falling to the bottom, with the heaviest pieces heading straight down and lighter ones drifting with the current, just as I had seen with Scorpion and Thresher," Ballard wrote.</p><p>"It played out like a film in my head, and, all of a sudden, it was clear as a bell," he said. "I shouldn't be searching for the ship. I should be searching for the debris trail. A mile-long trail would be easier to find than a 833-foot ship."</p><div type="image" title="Professor Robert Ballard, professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island, points to his footage of the wreck of the Titanic that is part of the exhibition on display in the Belfast Building, Northern Ireland, Saturday, April 14, 2012. Ballard and his team discovered the wreck of the Titanic in 1985." height="2796" width="3728" msid="86443226" hostid="261"></div><p>Ballard and his team arrived in the area where the Titanic was believed to have sunk toward the end of August 1985 and deployed Argo, a ship-towed video camera sled designed to operate in deep waters that had just explored the wrecks of the Thresher and Scorpion, to scan the ocean floor.</p><p>Late one night after several days of searching for the Titanic, the team came upon the debris field, discovering a large metal cylinder over 15 feet in diameter.</p><p>"There it was, one of 29 boilers that had created steam for Titanic's engines," Ballard wrote in his book. "It was a signature piece. We'd found the debris field, about 12,500 feet down. Bull's-eye!"</p><p>Using the Knorr's onboard sonar, Ballard and his team detected a 100-foot-tall object to the north of their position. They relocated to the place the object was detected and deployed Argo to scan what turned out to be the wreckage of Titanic.</p><p>"We were drifting slowly. Titanic was unveiling herself to us," Ballard said of the moment the ship's hull came into view. "No one was blinking. Our eyes were drying out, because we were not going to close them for a nanosecond. It was an 'Oh my God!' kind of moment."</p><p>As the submersible passed over the hull, "everyone exploded," he said. "We'd done it."</p><p>In written notes on the place where Titanic sank, Ballard wrote: "It is a quiet and peaceful and fitting place for the remains of this greatest of sea tragedies to rest. May it forever remain that way, and may God bless these found souls."</p><p><em>This post was first published 9/22/2021.</em></p>

The US Navy backed the hunt for Titanic in part because the explorer who found it argued it would 'drive the Soviets crazy,' book reveals

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US <keyword id="42407" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Navy">Navy</keyword> recently conducted a tabletop <keyword id="41760" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Submarine">submarine</keyword> search-and-rescue exercise.</li><li>Responders were trained to react to varied distress scenarios, some involving historical elements.</li><li>For example, aspects of the <keyword id="156658" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Sinking">sinking</keyword> of the HMS Truculent were used as training tools.</li></ul><p>The US Navy recently conducted a search-and-rescue exercise testing its ability to respond to a sinking submarine. Such situations are rare, but they do happen and can be deadly. Delays and inaction can cost lives, so every second counts.</p><p>The exercise, SMASHEX, was broken down into two scenarios: a missed meeting where the fictitious USS Neversail is a no-show for an expected port visit and an emergency transmission for a submarine in distress, Submarine Forces told Insider.</p><p>The first tested the ability to recognize a problem and mobilize assets to begin the search-and-rescue phase. The second tested the ability to respond to a definitive submarine emergency.</p><p>Lt. Cmdr. Ben Moran, a UK Royal Navy exchange officer assigned to the US Navy's Submarine Force Atlantic, said in a press statement that "if a submarine has an emergency, which leads to the submarine sinking, the window of time to rescue submariners could be short and require quick, decisive actions to achieve a rescue."</p><h2>'Real events from history'</h2><div type="image" title="HMS Truculent" height="468" width="624" msid="83062356" hostid="261"></div><p>The Navy press statement on the exercise said that it "utilized real events from history."</p><p>A Submarine Forces spokesperson told Insider that "although submarine disasters are rare in proportion to the number of nations operating <keyword id="117400" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Submarines">submarines</keyword>, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sinking-indonesian-naval-submarine-worst-submarine-disasters-2021-4">there are many examples from history to draw from</a>."</p><p>The recent US Navy exercise "used elements from the sinking of HMS Truculent," the spokesperson said, referring to an accident in which a British submarine was involved in a disastrous collision with a merchant vessel and 64 people died.</p><p>On January 12, 1950, HMS Truculent, a battle-tested British Royal Navy submarine that sank both German and Japanese vessels during World War II, crashed into the Swedish oil tanker Divina in the Thames Estuary.</p><p>Much of the sub's crew managed to survive the initial crash and escape the distressed submarine, but many who made it out died in the freezing cold.</p><p>Only 15 people survived the tragic accident, which one naval historian, who interviewed the last living survivor of the Truculent, <a href="https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/last-survivor-of-hms-truculent-submarine-disaster-recalls-the-stupid-mistake-that-led-to-tragedy/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">characterized</a> as a "stupid mistake" in 2019.</p><p>The US Navy exercise, which was held last week at Naval Support Activity Hampton Roads in Norfolk, Virginia, also used "experiences of emergency transmissions from submarines in distress" as tools for training, SUBFOR said, without offering specifics.</p><h2>Saving a distressed submarine</h2><div type="image" title="Nuclear-powered submarine the 'USS Thresher' steers through the sea, early 1960s." height="801" width="1024" msid="83062361" hostid="261"></div><p>There have been a number of horrible submarine accidents throughout history, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/missing-indonesia-submarine-found-broken-into-pieces-deep-in-ocean-2021-4">the most recent of which was the loss of the Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala-402 last month with 53 people on board</a>.</p><p>For the US Navy, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/sinking-indonesian-naval-submarine-worst-submarine-disasters-2021-4">one of the worst submarine disasters</a> was the sinking of the USS Thresher in the Atlantic on April 10, 1963, with 129 sailors on board.</p><p>In the aftermath of that deadly accident, the Navy created the SUBSAFE program, a quality assurance effort that aims to ensure that that a distressed submarine can surface after an accident.</p><p>Since the Navy's SUBSAFE program was created just two months after the USS Thresher disaster, the US Navy has only lost one submarine, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/causes-of-mysterious-submarine-disappearances-unclear-50-years-later-2021-5" target="_blank" rel="noopener">USS Scorpion in 1968 with 99 sailors aboard</a>, but it had not actually been SUBSAFE certified.</p><p>The Navy also has two important submarine rescue capabilities. These include the Submarine Rescue Chamber Flyaway System for rescues down to 850 feet and the Submarine Rescue Diving Recompression System for rescues as deep as 2,000 feet.</p><p>These critical capabilities are overseen by Undersea Rescue Command at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, California, and can be flown out to almost anywhere in the world in 72 to 96 hours.</p><p>Most US <keyword id="4794707" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Navy-submarines">Navy submarines</keyword> have around 7 to 10 days of life support available, Submarine Forces said, but "it is still a race to ensure rescue systems get to the submarine before survivability time runs out."</p><p>Although they are available, these support assets were not mobilized during the recent training event, which was the latest iteration of the annual command-and-control tabletop exercise.</p><p>The US is also works with foreign partners, such as NATO's <keyword id="6356001" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Submarine Escape and Rescue Liaison Office. It was established in 2003 to support any country with submarines regardless of membership in the alliance.</p><p>"As submariners, we operate in an inherently high-risk environment, making it vital to act quickly and efficiently both as part of a submarine crew or ashore as the support element," Vice Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Submarine Force commander, said in a <a href="https://www.sublant.usff.navy.mil/Press-Room/News-Stories/Article/2631545/submarine-search-and-rescue-exercise-smashex-quick-response-saves-lives-when-se/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">release</a>.</p><p>"We train so that we are decisive, proficient, and ready in any scenario, because bringing our undersea warriors home after every underway is a no fail mission," Caudle added.</p>

The US Navy used this deadly submarine disaster to help train responders to save a sinking sub

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598c805476084a1d008b7b06-1000/1000wq95-12.jpg" alt="Beechcraft AT-6 Light Attack Experiment" data-mce-source="US Air Force Photo by Ethan D. Wagner" data-mce-caption="A Beechcraft AT-6 experimental aircraft during ground operations is prepared for takeoff from Holloman AFB. The AT-6 is participating in the US Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles."><p class="source"><span>US Air Force Photo by Ethan D. Wagner</span></p><p class="caption">A Beechcraft AT-6 experimental aircraft during ground operations is prepared for takeoff from Holloman AFB.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>Air Force officials and international observers have flocked to Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for the service's Light Attack Experiment, going on throughout August.</p><p>The exercise has been planned for months, after Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Goldfein <a href="https://www.defensetech.org/2017/01/19/air-force-eyes-low-cost-fighter-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a> in January the branch was looking for an inexpensive fighter with the ability to do close-air-support missions.</p><p>Goldfein's comments came not long after Arizona Sen. John McCain released a white paper <a href="https://www.defensetech.org/2017/01/19/air-force-eyes-low-cost-fighter-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">that said the Air Force</a> should keep the A-10 Thunderbolt in service but also "should procure 300 low-cost, light-attack fighters that would require minimal work to develop."</p><p>The Light Attack Experiment, called OA-X, at Holloman is part of the service's <a href="http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1273491/af-senior-leaders-international-visitors-observe-light-attack-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">effort</a> to "explore cost-effective attack platform options," and it features four aircraft.</p><p>The Textron Scorpion:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598c767e4fc3c057008b77b5-1000/1000wq95-9.jpg" alt="Textron Scorpion Light Attack Experiment" data-mce-source="US Air Force Photo by Christopher Okula" data-mce-caption="The Textron Scorpion experimental aircraft conducts handling and flying quality maneuvers above White Sands Missile Range. Scorpion is participating in the U.S. Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles, August 4, 2017."><p class="source"><span>US Air Force Photo by Christopher Okula</span></p><p class="caption">The Textron Scorpion experimental aircraft conducts handling and flying quality maneuvers above White Sands Missile Range.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p>The Embraer Super Tucano A-29:</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598c76ea76084a1e008b7b14-1000/1000wq95-10.jpg" alt="Embraer Super Tucano A-29 Light Attack Experiment" data-mce-source="US Air Force Photo by Ethan D. Wagner" data-mce-caption="A Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano A-29 experimental aircraft over White Sands Missile Range. The A-29 is participating in the US Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles, August 1, 2017."><p class="source"><span>US Air Force Photo by Ethan D. Wagner</span></p><p class="caption">A Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano A-29 experimental aircraft over White Sands Missile Range.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div><p><span>The AT-802L Longsword:</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598c78294fc3c01c008b7731-2400/parisairshow2017airtractorlongswordleftfront.jpg" alt="AT-802L Longsword Paris Air Show" data-mce-source="Marc Lacoste/Wikimedia Commons" data-mce-caption="The Air Tractor AT-802L Longsword at the Paris Air Show, June 2017." data-link="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60398213"><p class="source"><span><a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60398213">Marc Lacoste/Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">The Air Tractor AT-802L Longsword at the Paris Air Show, June 2017.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The AT-6 Wolverine:</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598c76334fc3c023008b7794-1000/1000wq95-8.jpg" alt="Beechcraft AT-6 Light Attack Experiment" data-mce-source="US Air Force Photo by Ethan D. Wagner" data-mce-caption="A Beechcraft AT-6 experimental aircraft over White Sands Missile Range. The AT-6 is participating in the US Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles, July 31, 2017."><p class="source"><span>US Air Force Photo by Ethan D. Wagner</span></p><p class="caption">A Beechcraft AT-6 experimental aircraft over White Sands Missile Range. The AT-6 is participating in the US Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles, July 31, 2017.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>During the first week of the exercise, Air Force pilots did basic surface-attack missions in both the Super Tucano and the AT-6 Wolverine, the service said. They have also done <a href="http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1273491/af-senior-leaders-international-visitors-observe-light-attack-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">familiarization flights</a> with the Scorpion and the Longsword. The trials have now shifted to combat-maneuver scenarios as well as weapons drops.</span></p><p><span>"We're experimenting and innovating, and we're doing it in new and faster ways," Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson <a href="http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1273491/af-senior-leaders-international-visitors-observe-light-attack-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>. "Experiments like these help drive innovation and play a key role in enhancing the lethality of our force."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/598c7dd476084a11068b7ae1-1000/1000wq95-11.jpg" alt="Textron Scorpion Light Attack Experiment" data-mce-source="US Air Force Photo by Christopher Okula" data-mce-caption="A Textron Scorpion experimental aircraft at Holloman AFB. The Scorpion is participating in the US Air Force Light Attack Experiment (OA-X), a series of trials to determine the feasibility of using light aircraft in attack roles, July 31, 2017."><p class="source"><span>US Air Force Photo by Christopher Okula</span></p><p class="caption">A Textron Scorpion experimental aircraft at Holloman AFB.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The aircraft have also been on display for officials present. Goldfein himself flew the Wolverine and the Super Tucano, <a href="https://twitter.com/ValerieInsinna/status/895305473515237376" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to Valerie Insinna of <keyword id="6354810" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="defense">Defense</keyword> News. </span></p><p><span>Officials from the Canadian, Australian, UAE, and Paraguayan militaries, among others, were also <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/08/10/whats-the-air-forces-next-step-after-its-light-attack-demo-a-combat-demonstration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">on hand</a>.</span></p><p><span>"This experiment is about looking at new ways to improve readiness and lethality," Goldfein <a href="http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1273491/af-senior-leaders-international-visitors-observe-light-attack-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>. </span></p><p><span>"Working with industry, and building on the Combat Dragon series of tests, we are determining whether a commercial off-the-shelf aircraft and sensor package can contribute to the coalition fight against violent extremism," he added.</span></p><p><span>In the white paper released in January, <a href="https://www.defensetech.org/2017/01/19/air-force-eyes-low-cost-fighter-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">McCain said</a> the aircraft should be able to carry counter counterterrorism missions, provide close-air-support operations, and offer a training platform in order to address <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/the-air-force-is-getting-creative-to-tackle-its-pilot-shortage-2017-7" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the service's pilot shortage</a>.</span></p><p><span>According to the Air Force, exercises at the Light Attack Experiment <a href="http://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/1273491/af-senior-leaders-international-visitors-observe-light-attack-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">focus on</a> different facets of combat operations, including close-air support, search and rescue, strike coordination, and reconnaissance.</span></p><p><span>The trials also include "weapons generally used on fighter and attack aircraft to evaluate the participating aircraft's ability to execute traditional counter-land missions," the Air Force said.</span></p><p><span>Goldfein <a href="https://www.defensetech.org/2017/01/19/air-force-eyes-low-cost-fighter-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said in January</a> that the event "isn't a competition; it's an experiment." But it's still not clear how Air Force officials plan to evaluate the planes' respective performance, <a href="https://www.dodbuzz.com/2017/08/09/plane-makers-strut-their-stuff-in-air-forces-light-attack-experiment/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to Military.com.</span></p><p><span>The next step, however, may be combat trials in the Middle East, where the planes will take part in operations against ISIS and other terrorist groups, Wilson, the Air Force secretary, <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/08/10/whats-the-air-forces-next-step-after-its-light-attack-demo-a-combat-demonstration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">said</a>.</span></p><p><span>Once the Light Attack Experiment concludes on August 31, the Air Force will gather data from the trials and evaluate the cost, capabilities, and manufacturer-production capacity for each aircraft.</span></p><p><span>"That data is intended to inform strategic decisions. It will also tell us whether we take this to the next step, to what we call a combat experiment, and whether any of these aircraft are ready for that," Wilson said, <a href="https://www.defensenews.com/air/2017/08/10/whats-the-air-forces-next-step-after-its-light-attack-demo-a-combat-demonstration/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">according</a> to Defense News. "That combat experiment could take place early next year."</span></p><div><iframe src="https://www.dvidshub.net/video/embed/542606" width="840" height="526" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></div>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/uss-kearsarge-amphibious-assault-ship-marines-2017-8">Step aboard the USS Kearsarge, the US Navy workhorse that takes Marines to war</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/o26uCGmX-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

You Searched For "uss scorpion" and got 7 results

4 mysterious submarine disappearances a half-century ago show why undersea disasters are so hard to figure out

Benjamin Brimelow

The wreckage of the Titanic was found nearly 39 years ago during a secret US Navy mission to recover nuclear submarines

Gabbi Shaw

Where did the Titanic sink? The wreck location may not be where you think it is.

Hannah Getahun

The apparent sinking of an Indonesian submarine with 53 people on board is among history's worst submarine disasters

Ryan Pickrell

The US Navy backed the hunt for Titanic in part because the explorer who found it argued it would 'drive the Soviets crazy,' book reveals

Ryan Pickrell

The US Navy used this deadly submarine disaster to help train responders to save a sinking sub

Ryan Pickrell

The Air Force is testing these 4 planes to potentially fight alongside the legendary A-10

Christopher Woody