NavList:

Alex,

I remember reading someplace (maybe Clancy) that subs do not surface for months at a time and then only for food and not fuel. Navigation is done using ocean bottom topography , sea mounts, inertial gyros, and tethered GPS antenna floated at the surface. And just incase all US subs have a Plath sextant onboard. Who is the lucky guy that must know how to use it ? ;-)

Greg Rudzinski

[NavList] Re: Submarine navigation (was Dip-meter again)
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 10 Apr 2012 20:23
Lu,
What you say is interesting.
However, what I read about inertial nav systems, shows that they cannot
be used for long time. Because errors accumulate.
Then I don't understand how can a nuclear submarine
stay submerged at a substantial depth, (not using a periscope) for long
time.
See, for example, Wikipedia article on inertial nav.

I know that surfacing is unnecessary for launching missiles
(by modern submarines).
But how can navigation be done without surfacing,
I do not understand.

Do we have a nuclear sub retired captain in our list?
:-)

Alex.

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