U.S. Navy Submarine First in World Fitted with Silent Caterpillar Drive

[peutetre]

> Sonar operators searching for the USS Montana will likely hear noises which are indistinguishable from natural phenomenon, such as seismic activity.

To me it sounded more like whales humping.

[hackeraccount]

Came here for this.

[OscarCunningham]

The Plasma Channel on YouTube built a small one of these drives: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ulk4hw7pUZY. The thrust to power ratio is not fantastic, but I just love the idea of machines with no moving parts.

[fasa99]

This particular submarine may offer some reprieve from the april fool's joke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotland-class_submarine

Which innovately uses the very classic stirling engine, an engine which operates on the sole basis of heat differences, no internal combustion. As I understand it these can be more silent than nucular submarines, which require pumps and such to avoid nucular meltdown, but I am no expert on the intricacies of submarine detection

[_Microft]

This is an april fool‘s joke, isn‘t it? This website is the only source for this news that I could find and the ship was also commissioned only two years ago.

[DamnInteresting]

I had the same thought. Also, it seems wildly improbable that a real news story about this tech would lack even a passing mention of The Hunt For Red October, yet here there is none.

[KevinMS]

Military was holding the info for a while but then decided they wanted it released so they called up a reporter they knew. Probably as a warning to a certain frenemy.

[MR4D]

April Fools!

The Montana is moving to Hawaii (citing multiple sources):

https://dailyinterlake.com/news/2024/mar/08/uss-montana-crew...

https://ussmontanacommittee.us/

[brchse452]

I saw this movie. It's called "HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER "

[rickrsignup]

Give away was sea trials on a river in Maine!!!

Former Nuclear Submarine Officer

[compsciphd]

need a person with a Scottish accent to take command of it.

[1letterunixname]

The hard part about playing chicken is...

[qwertyuiop_]

And the Chinese steal it in 5,4,3,2..

[peutetre]

Piracy is a serious issue, but I'm sure the FBI warning at the start of the movie will scare them straight.

[drivingmenuts]

The Chinese try to steal it, fail, then just build the damn thing anyway.

[rafaelcosta]

I hope no one falls for this (check the date). Straight out of Hunt for Red October! : P

[lucianbr]

> Either way, Montana will remain unseen.

Laying it on pretty thick.

[slowmovintarget]

The funny thing is they also got a page put up on the DARPA site.

Magnetohydrodynamic drive indeed.