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Marine attacks on towed acoustic arrays

University of Washington, Seattle, U.S.

Corresponding author: bzahuranec@yahoo.com

Approved for public release. Distribution unlimited.
Editor's note: The author is on the staff of the Dean of the College of Ocean and Fishery Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, but is presently on detail to the Naval Sea Systems Command, PMS 435, Washington, D.C.

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

As explorationists know, sound is commonly used to investigate and understand phenomena in the ocean and the structure of geologic strata beneath the sea. But, as they may not know, it is also used by submarines and surface ships to find and track other submarines and ships. In all cases, the sound is detected and recorded through hydrophones often deployed in long linear arrays to permit the determination of spatial information. These arrays are typically long flexible tubes or hoses like a large garden hose or fire hose. The hose is either a flexible solid structure or hollow and liquid-filled with hydrophones and their power and transmitting wires embedded within.

Hydrophone arrays, similar to those widely used in the search for undersea hydrocarbon deposits, are used by the U.S. Navy, principally by submarines, to silently listen for the sounds of adversaries. Although these military arrays differ from the geophysical exploration arrays in length, structural details, and deployment characteristics, they are fundamentally similar. Another similarity is that both kinds of arrays are subject to marine attack, the damage caused by fish bites. These marine attacks . . . [Full Text of this Article]