processing can be performed to “focus” the hydrophones at different ranges from the ship. The target needs to lie somewhere on the beam of the ship (i.e., to either side) for this to work well.
Kampfschwimmer: German Navy “frogmen” combat swimmers. The equivalent of U.S. Navy SEALs and the Royal Navy’s Special Boat Squadron commandos. (In the German language, the word “Kampfschwimmer” is both singular and plural.)
LASH: Littoral Airborne Sensor Hyperspectral. A new antisubmarine warfare search-and- detection technique, usually deployed from aircraft. LASH utilizes the backscatter of underwater illumination from sunlight, caught via special optical sensors and processed by classified computer software, to locate anomalous color gradations and shapes, even through deep seawater that is murky or dirty.
LIDAR: Light Direction and Ranging. Like radar but uses laser beams instead of radio waves. Undersea LIDAR uses blue-green lasers, because that color penetrates seawater to the greatest distance.
METOC: Meteorology and Oceanography Command. The part of the U.S. Navy that is responsible for providing weather and oceanographic data, and accompanying tactical assessments and recommendations, to the navy’s operating fleets. METOC maintains a network of centers around the world to gather, analyze, interpret, and distribute this information.
Naval Submarine League (NSL): A professional association for submariners and submarine supporters. See their Web site, www.navalsubleague.com.
Network-centric warfare: A new approach to war fighting in which all formations and commanders share a common tactical and strategic picture through real-time digital data links. Every platform or node, such as a ship, aircraft, submarine, Marine Corps or army squad, or SEAL team, gathers and shares information on friendly and enemy locations and movements. Weapons, such as a cruise missile, might be fired by one platform, and be redirected in flight toward a fleeting target of opportunity by another platform, using information relayed by yet other platforms — including unmanned reconnaissance drones. Network-centric warfare promises to revolutionize command, control, communications, and intelligence, and greatly leverage the combat power of all friendly units while minimizing collateral damage.
Ocean interface hull module: Part of a submarine’s hull that includes large internal “hangar space” for weapons and off-board vehicles, to avoid size limits forced by torpedo-tube diameter. (To carry large objects such as an ASDS minisub externally creates serious hydrodynamic drag, reducing a submarine’s speed and increasing its flow noise.) The first ocean interface has been installed as part of the design of USS
Ocean rover: Any one of a number of designs, either civilian or military, of a small, semiautonomous unmanned submersible vehicle that roves through the ocean collecting data on natural and man- made phenomena. This data is periodically downloaded via radio when the ocean rover comes shallow enough to raise an antenna above the sea surface. Powered by batteries or fuel cells, ocean rovers move slowly but can have an endurance of days or weeks before needing to be recovered for maintenance, reprogramming, refueling, etc. One U.S. Navy ocean rover is called the Seahorse, and is shaped like a very long, very wide torpedo.
Photon decoherence: The tendency for quantum entanglement (see below) to deteriorate with time and distance as the entangled photons interact with matter and energy in their environment.
Photonics mast: The modern replacement for the traditional optical periscope. One of the first was installed in USS
Pump jet: A main propulsor for nuclear submarines that replaces the traditional screw propeller. A pump jet is a system of stator and rotor turbine blades within a cowling. (The rotors are turned by the main propulsion shaft, the same way the screw propeller’s shaft would be turned.) Good pump-jet designs are quieter and more efficient than screw propellers, producing less cavitation noise and less wake turbulence.
Quantum entanglement: An aspect of quantum theory, a fundamental property of the universe first discussed by Albert Einstein. Under the proper conditions, two photons can become entangled, sharing similar properties — such as polarization or “spin”—that remain in lockstep no matter how far apart the two photons become. A change to the properties of one photon causes an instant identical change in the other photon, so long as they remain entangled. Since this instant change at any distance violates Einstein’s limit on moving measurable information any faster than the speed of light, special steps are needed to harness photon entanglement practically. Electrons, or atoms, can also become entangled; entangled photons can imprint themselves (and their information) onto electrons.
Quantum teleportation: A complex, emerging method for transmitting information (data) using quantum entanglement (see above). Once referred to by Einstein as “spooky action at a distance,” quantum teleportation is real, and has been demonstrated in laboratories.
Seabees: U.S. Navy combat-zone construction personnel, whose motto is “We Build, We Fight.” Organized into naval mobile-construction battalions, the “CB” in the acronym NMCB led to their nickname as Seabees when created during World War II. Seabees continue to serve actively during wartime, including in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also provide humanitarian aid worldwide because of their skills at rapidly constructing and repairing roadways, schools, hospitals, housing, etc. after natural disasters. Seabees are armed troops who regularly carry weapons and conduct tactical training exercises. They often work under enemy fire. Commissioned officers in Seabee units are members of the navy’s Civil Engineer Corps.
Sonobuoy: A small, active (“pinging”) or passive (listening only) sonar detector, usually dropped in patterns (clusters) from a fixed-wing aircraft or a helicopter. The sonobuoys transmit their data to the aircraft by a radio link. The aircraft might have onboard equipment to analyze this data, or it might relay the data to a surface warship for detailed analysis. (The aircraft will also carry torpedoes or depth charges, to be able to attack any enemy submarines that its sonobuoys detect.) Some types of sonobuoy are able to operate down to a depth of sixteen thousand feet.
SSGN: A type of nuclear submarine designed or adapted for the primary purpose of launching cruise missiles, which tend to follow a level flight path through the air to their target. An SSGN is distinct from an SSBN, which launches strategic (hydrogen bomb) ballistic missiles, following a very high “lobbing” trajectory that leaves and then reenters the earth’s atmosphere. Because cruise missiles tend to be smaller than ballistic missiles, an SSGN is able to carry a larger number of separate missiles than an SSBN of the same overall size. Note, however, that since ballistic missiles are typically “MIRVed”, i.e., equipped with multiple independently targeted reentry vehicles, the total number of warheads on an SSBN and SSGN may be comparable; also, an SSBN’s ballistic missiles can be equipped with high-explosive warheads instead of nuclear warheads. (A fast-attack submarine, or SSN, can be thought of as serving as a part-time SSGN, to the extent that some SSN classes have vertical launching systems for cruise missiles, and/or are able to fire cruise missiles through their torpedo tubes.)
Virginia class: The latest class of nuclear-propelled fast-attack submarines (SSNs) being constructed for the United States Navy, to follow the
Wide-aperture array: A sonar system introduced, in the U.S. Navy, with USS
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