This is all to common a sight in the Puget Sound. They usually are accompanied with a whole fleet of smaller boats with big guns.
Near Cumberland I by chance?
We were traveling down the west coast when we saw things that looked like antennas zip past us going north up the coast. We didn’t see the whole sub but several of us saw what looked like antennas.
estimated speed?
I've spent a lot of time on Dabob Bay in northern Hood Canal where the Navy has a torpedo test range. It's used for R&D shots as well as qualifying the subs for fitness for sea.
One time when north of the range and needing to transit to the south range control gave us permission to proceed but we were required to stay as close to shore as possible and make best speed. Up pops a periscope too close for comfort and tracks us for a while before disappearing again.
Another time we were hailed by range control and advised to look a certain direction at a certain time. A trident sub did an emergency surface, ran for a brief distance on the surface at high speed then did a fast dive. Very spectacular, just like a scene from a movie.
There were numerous times where range control hailed us and said with no preamble "Go all quiet NOW!" It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what happened. The torpedos are wire guided until they aren't, then they are acoustic homing..... No, we weren't on the range but we were close by. With range control's knowledge and permission.
All of this was prior to 9/11. It's all different now.
I've spent a lot of time on Dabob Bay in northern Hood Canal where the Navy has a torpedo test range. It's used for R&D shots as well as qualifying the subs for fitness for sea.
One time when north of the range and needing to transit to the south range control gave us permission to proceed but we were required to stay as close to shore as possible and make best speed. Up pops a periscope too close for comfort and tracks us for a while before disappearing again.
Another time we were hailed by range control and advised to look a certain direction at a certain time. A trident sub did an emergency surface, ran for a brief distance on the surface at high speed then did a fast dive. Very spectacular, just like a scene from a movie.
There were numerous times where range control hailed us and said with no preamble "Go all quiet NOW!" It doesn't take a lot of imagination to figure out what happened. The torpedos are wire guided until they aren't, then they are acoustic homing..... No, we weren't on the range but we were close by. With range control's knowledge and permission.
All of this was prior to 9/11. It's all different now.
We saw this ship a couple weeks ago on Tennessee River around mm44. R/S RocketShip. It carries three 160 ft long Delta IV Common Booster Cores.
We see the ship 2 or 3 times a year .
Your stories suggest that we ought to be terrified by that state of affairs, that we should be lobbying our own government to stop the use of our peaceful waters by the Increasingly hawkish US gov.
Funny, I drew the exact opposite inference, thinking instead that we have a great military making me proud to be an american.
Pursuant to a treaty, area WG (Whisky Golf) in Georgia Strait is "active" when being used as a Torpedo testing range, by the US Navy.
Your stories suggest that we ought to be terrified by that state of affairs, that we should be lobbying our own government to stop the use of our peaceful waters by the Increasingly hawkish US gov.
I remember being on one of the first generation FBM in the 60s. It was a deterrent and it worked out perfectly. Between our FBMs and fast attack submarines, we scared our enemies beyond belief. It took them years to catch up and meanwhile we were making progress towards the next generation.
What surprised me is this ship was unescorted.
It wasn't. There were at least four fast escorts and a CG tractor.
I can remember when a looper took photos of Navy ship in the dry dock at the junction of the AICW and the St. john’s river. A patrol boat gave them a choice of deleting the photos or arrest. This was 6 months after 9/11 so security was tight. We visited the USS Arizona memorial December of 2019 and the crew of the Navy boat taking people out to the memorial cautioned not to photograph the nearby ships docked at the base, the US Navy will never forget what happened at Pearl Harbor.
When I lived in Hawaii, Oahu, we would have sailboat races in and out of the yacht club in Pearl Harbor. Many times we would tack up to withiin 20-30 feet of a sub then tack away. Never got hassled by the escorts and was always AMAZED at sailing to close to a nuclear sub. They got by us pretty quickly.
Nowadays, you would be forcefully stopped or shot.
https://www.professionalmariner.com...iners-warned-not-to-approach-US-Navy-vessels/
The NVPZ exists 500 yards around large naval vessels at all times in the navigable waters of the United States, regardless of whether or not the Coast Guard is present. The Coast Guard encourages commercial mariners and recreational boaters to avoid entering these protection zones.
Friend of mine took his boat up the St John's river..... He was able travel only so far before he was contacted via VHF and told, in no uncertain terms, Turn around.