![]() ![]() Nanggala was also reportedly preparing for a torpedo exercise at the time radio contact was lost - and torpedo accidents have been the cause of some high-profile submarine losses in the past. Although it underwent a refit in South Korea that was completed in 2012, it was an old boat - having gone into service with the Indonesian navy in the early 1980s. In the case of the Nanggala, what happened may have been the exact opposite of what occurred with the Soviet submarine in the Strait of Gibraltar in the 1980s – instead of an internal wave causing the submarine to hurtle toward the surface, the Indonesian vessel may have been pushed much deeper than it was designed to safely operate.Īsia Indonesian Military Locates Wreckage Of Missing SubmarineĪn internal wave is just one possible explanation for the destruction of the German-built diesel-powered submarine. "In the South China Sea, internal wave amplitudes can be about 100 meters (330 feet)." The waves "are generated over steep topography due to the surface tides," he tells NPR. "Some internal waves can have large amplitudes and they can displace submarines," he says. Maarten Buijsman, a marine scientist at the University of Southern Mississippi, agrees that it's possible that an internal wave could have caused the sinking of the Nanggala. ![]() The collision is thought to have been caused by an internal wave that unexpectedly thrust the submarine toward the surface. In World War II, submariners avoided the Strait of Gibraltar partly because they were aware of its reputation for propagating unusual undersea waves that were considered hazardous, David Farmer, a physical oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island, told USA Today in 2014.Īt the height of the Cold War in 1984, a Soviet submarine that was apparently running beneath a tanker to mask its exit from the Strait suddenly smashed into the tanker's hull, causing damage to both vessels and forcing the submarine to surface. Navy noted that "The passage of large-amplitude internal waves could make submarine depth control difficult, particularly when the submarine is running quietly at low speed." The report, titled Internal Waves: Their Influence Upon Naval Operations, added that such waves "could initiate uncontrollable sinking of a submarine." Officials now speculate that the loss of the sub could have been caused by an internal wave.Ī 1966 study by the U.S. "Lombok Strait is also a known region of strong internal waves," Alford, who researches the phenomenon, says.Ī photo released on Sunday by the Indonesian navy shows parts of submarine KRI Nanggala that sank in the Bali Sea. "nternal waves are very strong and are a hazard because they sweep ocean layers (and potentially anything in them including divers or subs) downwards hundreds of meters in just a few minutes," Alford says in an email to NPR. Matthew Alford, associate director of the Marine Physical Laboratory and head of the Oceans and Atmospheres Section of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, says that the U.S., China and Russia "have spent a lot of money" studying internal waves in the South China Sea because of their potential impact on naval operations in the strategic waterway. They are also known to exist in the Lombok Strait area in Indonesia, where the Nanggala was lost. Internal waves occur in specific ocean regions around the world – places such as the Strait of Gibraltar that links the Mediterranean with the Atlantic Ocean, parts of the Western Pacific and the South China Sea. ![]() They are generated by the interplay of strong tides, warmer and cooler ocean layers and the undersea geography. Such waves - while seldom noticed by observers on the surface - can reach dizzying undersea heights and therefore cause concern for submarines, scientists say. Asia Indonesian Navy Loses Contact With Submarine 53 Aboard ![]()
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