[HN Gopher] The curious Soviet mini-sub of South Alabama (2018)
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       The curious Soviet mini-sub of South Alabama (2018)
        
       Author : vinnyglennon
       Score  : 117 points
       Date   : 2023-01-12 10:46 UTC (12 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (laststandonzombieisland.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (laststandonzombieisland.com)
        
       | gullywhumper wrote:
       | Here it is on Google Street View (in 2016):
       | 
       | https://goo.gl/maps/Sc2nxJoyVGDQZmSN8
        
       | mysterydip wrote:
       | > Mobile-native filmmaker Mike deGruy
       | 
       | Sign of the times I guess, my first instinct when reading this
       | line was that it was a term for people creating films using
       | mobile phones/gopros rather than traditional cameras. It actually
       | means the city of Mobile, Alabama.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | btgeekboy wrote:
         | Also funny how you'd know the difference if you heard someone
         | say it :)
        
         | peepee1982 wrote:
         | The wording is a bit weird though, isn't it? Why wouldn't you
         | write "filmmaker from Mobile, AL"?
        
           | bookofjoe wrote:
           | You and Harold Ross; you are now ready to become an editor at
           | the New Yorker.
           | 
           | >One of Gibbs's rules (No. 17) offers a lucid explanation for
           | a tenet of New Yorker style that has puzzled writers (and
           | some editors) for generations: "I almost forgot indirection
           | which probably maddens Mr. Ross more than anything else in
           | the world. He objects, that is, to important objects, or
           | places or people being dragged into things in a secretive and
           | underhanded manner. If, for instance, a profile has never
           | told where a man lives, Ross protests against a sentence
           | saying, 'His Vermont house is full of valuable paintings.'
           | Should say 'He has a house in Vermont and it is full, etc.'
           | Rather weird point, but it will come up from time to time."
           | And it does.
           | 
           | source: https://archive.ph/RygOF
        
             | jt2190 wrote:
             | ... An editor at The New Yorker in 1937.
             | 
             | https://s3.amazonaws.com/arena-
             | attachments/454681/4780426217...
        
           | SllX wrote:
           | Dunno. Ohio-native, San Francisco-native, Portland-native,
           | this is a construct that isn't all that uncommon in
           | headlines. "Mobile" just has an additional meaning so you
           | need context, but you also need context for which "Portland"
           | one might be a native to.
        
           | greenie_beans wrote:
           | you are right, but in the writer's defense, he mentioned
           | Mobile in the first paragraph so it's not totally out of
           | context.
        
           | usefulcat wrote:
           | I think it shouldn't be hyphenated
        
       | ljf wrote:
       | Similar set up here, though this one is/was available to visit on
       | the Thames in London
       | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_U-475_Black_Widow
        
         | mustacheemperor wrote:
         | Per wikipedia it's been awaiting restoration since 2004, so it
         | might not be in much better shape than the one in Alabama by
         | now.
         | 
         | A shame, that's a Foxtrot class diesel-electric. Much bigger
         | than the one in the OP link. There's one in Long Beach too, but
         | it was also allowed to deteriorate and closed to the public in
         | 2015. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_submarine_B-427
        
           | ljf wrote:
           | Interesting podcast on the sub
           | https://coldwarconversations.com/episode35/
           | 
           | And some video from 4 years ago https://youtu.be/nwLp0xwP9OI
        
       | sidewndr46 wrote:
       | It's been over 20 years since I last saw it in person, but there
       | is also a pretty decent replica of the Hunley:
       | 
       | https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-replica-of-the-css-hunley-...
       | 
       | Based on the condition there, it was desperately in need of a new
       | coat of paint by that point.
       | 
       | At least one of the boats for the "Pirate's of the Carribean"
       | series was built there. My understanding is they are real boats,
       | but the hull you see in the water isn't what gives them real sea
       | worthiness.
        
       | imwillofficial wrote:
       | That thing is wildly capable. It belongs at sea.
        
         | grendelt wrote:
         | Except...
         | 
         | > Mobile-native filmmaker Mike deGruy- who dived on "Titanic"
         | with director James Cameron and for his BBC series "The Blue
         | Planet"- took a look at the vessel in 2010 saying at the time
         | that "a person would have to be crazy to go underwater in that
         | contraption."
        
           | smileysteve wrote:
           | You're looking at 40 years of degradation to the
           | 
           | - every (rubber, for the time) seal needing to be replaced,
           | in every fitting and valve.
           | 
           | - the lower unit seems to have fractured under its own weight
           | (this is likely the ballast tanks), this would need to be
           | remade.
           | 
           | - any pressure areas need to be retested (including the crew
           | area) and replaced (all compressed air storage).
           | 
           | Now, for the easy parts
           | 
           | - the batteries will have to be replaced, but lithium ion is
           | going to give you better performance at smaller size, with
           | less degradation. (You'll have to compensate the weight
           | though)
           | 
           | - the motors will have to be replaced, but can use much more
           | efficient, likely better sealed, better cooled, smaller,
           | safer motors with pwm electric speed controllers.
           | 
           | - modern glass and fastening techniques could replace the
           | viewports, possibly add more as you rebuild the negative
           | pressure vessel.
           | 
           | - air management is easier to instrument.
           | 
           | - you can add a bunch more cameras and sensors on the cheap
           | that are significantly better than the let's
        
             | iancmceachern wrote:
             | Plus rust and corrosion. You could never be certain that
             | pressure vessel is structurally sound without scrapping it
             | and rebuilding.
        
               | bluGill wrote:
               | Depending on what it was made of that might not be
               | enough. Some metals have weird fatigue issues.
        
               | anotheraccount9 wrote:
               | Ok. Could we get the plans and make a new one, for fun?
        
             | ufmace wrote:
             | Yeah but by the time you do all that, you probably would
             | have been better off just building a new submarine from
             | scratch
        
               | otikik wrote:
               | Theseus' submarine.
        
             | Maursault wrote:
             | It's far easier to build a space ship, and outer space less
             | dangerous to pilot through than the bottom of the ocean.
        
           | elzbardico wrote:
           | I don't think a filmmaker is someone qualified to do this
           | kind of judgement.
        
           | hyperhopper wrote:
           | Does he mean now, after decades of disrepair, or originally
           | when it was actively used?
        
             | imwillofficial wrote:
             | Originally. Diving to the Sesotho it could is an impressive
             | feat.
        
         | brk wrote:
         | Yeah, it would make a great artificial reef.
        
       | saul_goodman wrote:
       | So, who's ready for another hackerspace group to own a
       | submarine... https://www.netflix.com/title/80239100
        
         | imwillofficial wrote:
         | I'd be so down, but without the murder part.
        
           | grendelt wrote:
           | That's the part of the story that kills the fun.
        
             | TedDoesntTalk wrote:
             | Haven't watched it, but the description reminds me of what
             | happened to Natalie Wood (famous 60s and 70s Hollywood
             | actor). Christopher Walken on was on the boat with her. He
             | knows the truth.
        
         | 6d6b73 wrote:
         | http://jpaerospace.com/ is working on one.
        
       | rmcfeeley wrote:
       | [dead]
        
       | schizo89 wrote:
       | My favorite sub in BMT though.
        
       | ElfinTrousers wrote:
       | Wordier but more accurate headline: "The Soviet mini-sub of South
       | Alabama whose presence there is easily accounted for".
       | 
       | tl;dr: some guy in Alabama bought it surplus to do stuff with,
       | then didn't do that stuff.
        
         | [deleted]
        
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       (page generated 2023-01-12 23:01 UTC)