On Oct 29, 11:31*pm, "Charles Momsen" wrote:
The VDS was very effective. It could be dropped beneath the thermocline and
operated in a much quieter environment than any hull mounted unit.


Oh, I didn't say the VDS (which stands for Variable Depth Sonar, a big
fancy underwater microphone that could be lowered into the ocean on a
special cable) wasn't effective. I just don't think it's more than a
very tiny itsy-bitsy part of why the Soviet Union collapsed.


Great story though... still being talked about when I was in... thanks
for the link!

I left the ship 2 weeks before it happened. There was another incident about
a month before that involving 2 Osa missile boats but no one got hurt.



An incident on the ship I was on.... which was prbably not talked
about much outside that one ship.... the sonar gang had lowered the
Toad Array to about 600' while tracking a sub. Unbeknownst to the
conning officer, who drove the ship into water of about 450' depth...
and the taxpayers said "OUCH!"

DSK