The Navy Times reports in a long article dated Aug 19 that a maritime buff, Dan Twohig, found bird’s eye view imagery on Microsoft Virtual Earth showing the uncloaked propeller of a US Ohio class submarine in a dry dock. Dan posted about it to his website in early July, and also linked to the view:
These propellers designs are (were?) supposed to be a secret, and thus kept covered when out of the water. Navy Times interviews several people on the topic, and most sound fatalistic, except for a certain Norman Friedman. “a highly regarded authority and author on naval and military topics.” He blames everyone but the Navy for the mistake, if it is a mistake, and feels we should censor such imagery pre-emptively, just in case the Navy makes another mistake, or else the terrorists have already won:
“To make it easy for someone to get into a base like that is obscene. And that is something that can kill people. In huge numbers,” Friedman said. “Right now there are people out there in places like Waziristan who want us dead. They don’t have satellites, but they have wonderful fantasies. Why the hell make it easier for them?”
Because, you know, terrorists could really use a quieter submarine propeller. Elsewhere, he wonders “if the Navy has the temerity to go after Microsoft.”
Curiously, the Navy Times doesn’t reproduce the image of the propeller in the article, despite its self-described news value, nor does it link to Dan’s article, as netiquette would require. Isn’t that a bit the case of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted? And it took my just five minutes of Googling to find the original source, based on information in the article. Meanwhile, the Russians, Chinese and everyone else with a satellite likely has that same image by now, and at a much higher resolution.
But is this propeller even such a secret? I’d like to offer an alternate reading, based on the assumption that such “mistakes” are too big to be made accidentally. Just as the Chinese probably put their new Jin-class submarine on show for the rest of the world to see, to ensure everyone knows that it exists and can act as a deterrent (China’s military has obviously studied Dr. Strangelove), that particular propeller on the Ohio class submarine could be a ruse, out of date, or a signal to the rest of the world that the Ohio class is indeed dead silent, and thus a very capable deterrent. That would be another reason why US intelligence is so sanguine on the matter.
(In fact, a new comment on Dan’s original post suggests that such propellers are out of date, replaced by ducted pump jet propulsion on all the latest US, French and US models.)
One more thing: I was disappointed by Microsoft’s meek comment when asked about censorship by the Navy Times:
Asked about their policy on publishing such imagery, Microsoft officials offered a statement claiming that the company is willing to blur such imagery if asked.
That’s a lot more pliant that Google’s own robust defence of such imagery.
Phil, thanks for your comments and your service to the good old US of A. I spent close to a decade working in, on and around the Subs (Radioman when they still had radiomen…) – and was even on newcom crew for one of the Tridents – top of the line back then. In my experience the props were almost always covered while out of the water – even during most prop maintenance. Good thing the subatomic cloaking system is not visible from the air. Military specialties often include both smoke and mirrors ;)
Dan Twohig being a maritime buff should have known the sensitivity of his discovery and notified the appropriate authorities to correct the situation. What does he do with his discovery paste it all over the internet for the entire world to view real smart not. The granted the billions of dollars and untold amounts of labor that where just wasted are not the real cost. The cost of that screw has been paid in blood many times over and there is no monetary figure that can be assessed to there loss. Mr. Dan Twohig I hope that you can sleep nights knowing that you just gave away a major deterrent to all of our safety.
Why don’t we just put the plans for the subs – and the stealth bombers and fighters, and our strategic defense capability, and whatever else – on Google and NetScape and everywhere else? The media since Vietnam has been indifferent to the damage they cause in pursuit of “news”. If our current media ethos was the norm in World War II, we’d all either be goose-stepping and speaking German or dead in concentration camps. We DO have a right to know; we also have the obligation to not want to know too much. Loose lips sink a lot more than ships.
Did anyone here really sit down and watch the movie (Clancy). Red October.
Pleasssse, forget the “national security” stuff. The British, French, Russia, China, etc all have the tech knowledge. You people are forgetting the CIA spies that were paid a lot of money to sell stuff to Russia. They are in jail, yes but the knowledge is already out there. Find something else to talk about. Oh — yea – forgot. Those same spies also told the Russians were the Tridents were actually hiding.
Who need satellites? Maybe we should burn all the Thomas Brothers maps just in case a terrorist might use one to plan an attack.
Knowing the geometry could aid in detection as sonar engineers could possibly determine what sounds/sound ranges to listen for. The issue goes much further than a propeller. We used to be able to track Bin Laden by his cell/sat phone traffic until the news media revealed this was being done. No surprise, once this was revealed he changed tactics to avoid detection. Some things need to stay out of public/world knowledge, especially when it could result in the loss of lives in the USA and around the world. Keep as many advantages as possible when facing an enemy.
Y’all have bad information. The props are covered not because of their design but because they are unique. The angles at which the blades are set are subtley different from each other so each one makes a different sound, like the difference between a V8 and a V6. Their uniqueness gives them a signature which can be recognized and tracked – so you know if it’s a friendly sub or not, and which sub it is if it’s a friendly one. If the prop is being scrapped, it’s not secret anymore. Furthermore, the props are periodically swapped from sub to sub. So you only need to cover it if it will be returning to water. That prop will be changed and covered shortly before it returns to water, if it ever does.
If you look closely at the picture, the screw is off-center and out of alignment, not to mention way too big to belong to that sub. Who is trying to make a big deal out of a fake foto. All this security balogna is for naut. It’s no wonder that the navy didn’t pay much attention. What a bunch of well-meaning dummies.
Gringo Bob
What people don’t realize is how little a good engineer has to see to reverse engineer something. Basically if you really want to keep any military secrets today you have to keep them hidden in a box, and even then …
I’m sure there’s no real threat anywhere in that photo, as others have said the Russians and Chinese would already have had intelligence on the prop, and as for base layout.. If a terrorist group could break into a nuclear sub base then surely layout would be a pretty trivial matter (hint- it would take a small army).
Your a Jerk for posting this. Even if no one can use it, it’s Anti American for u to show the image knowing there is some chance for some other country to try to use it. U should feel ashamed.
The propeller is an obvious fake !