NAME.....Sounds Like Enemy Whales
CODE.....AW1905
ORIGIN...Unknown
STATUS...Undecided

Swedish naval experts were convinced that foreign submarines were operating in Swedish waters, and the foreign secretary made a strong worded speech at a UN Conference. Despite this, no foreign government claimed responsibility for using submarines in Swedish waters. The Swedish government decided to launch a massive naval operation to uncover the perpetrators.

After weeks of searching the waters and a painstaking task of tracking sonic sounds under the sea, it was concluded that the perpetrators were not enemy submarines, but a school of whales. Even so, the Vice-Admiral of the Swedish Navy is still convinced that foreign submarines are operating in Swedish waters.

Summary

This wonderful legend may, or may not be true, but it certainly touches on a sensitive subject of underwater noise pollution. It has been reported that certain types of marine life, including mammals such as whales, are directly affected by the low frequency sounds omitted from machinery in ships and submarines, and the low frequency sonar sounds sent out to detect enemy submarines. Sonar sounds have been used by ships since World War Two, but advances in technology and the development of near silent submarines has meant that a new active sonar has been developed to bounce off submarines instead of waiting until the submarines are close enough to hear. The problem with this is that the low frequency sonar sounds cause havoc amongst the marine life. Whales depend on sound as we depend on sight, and they use sonar sound to find food, attract a mate, detect enemies, and to communicate with their young. The man-made sonar sounds can interrupt and drown out these natural sounds, and can even cause deafness, disrupt migration patterns, and at worse cause death amongst the whales.

Another aspect of this legend is the UL concept of being baffled by technology. Despite the ever-increasing advances in technology, we are still all prone to human mistakes. The concept that the sonar sounds given from submarines and that of whales must be very similar, is given creditability from another fact; that, after the cold war had ended, the US Navy handed over its supersensitive hydrophones to a research project called Whales '93. This equipment now used for monitoring whales, was first used as ears looking out for enemy submarines.

The debate concerning the use of high intensity active sonar systems has been turned up a few notches during the last few years, with the news that the US Navy intend to use a new high intensity active sonar system to detect and track enemy submarines. According to Navy sound charts, the LFAS signal can be 140db when more than 300 miles from its source. It is claimed that this has caused the death of whales from brain haemorrhage and it could affect all species of marine mammals. It is also claimed that NATO are also developing a similar system, along with many other countries. This brings fresh concerns over the impact of marine life when all these systems are used simultaneously on a cumulative level.

Final Thoughts

In another bizarre news story that has supposedly been reported by the Times, the Soviets have sold 27 naval amphibians to Iran. The amphibians, which include dolphins and beluga whales, have been trained by the Soviet military, and have been sold as part of a mass post cold war sell-off.

The amphibians have been trained to distinguish between the sounds of friendly or enemy submarine engines, and can even locate missing torpedoes and missiles.

I must admit, this news story smells fishy to me.