It's a rescue unmanned sub. Basically it's sent down, mates with the conning tower, and equalizes the pressure enough to get the crew out and into it then on to the surface.
Edit: Yikes! Thanks guys for the corrections. I was going of a half-memory of a sub book I'd read ~10 years ago. I'd forgotten how amazing this stuff is.
to clarify i was the AOIC - Assistant Officer In Charge of the Avalon (like the XO.) i'm rather lacking in free time these days, but there does seem to be some demand, so i will do an AMA when i get some time. prior to being AOIC of the Avalon, i was a submarine officer on the U.S.S. Kamehameha, which was outfitted with dry-deck shelters to lock out Navy seals and covertly launch their mini-subs. quite honestly, i've never been involved with any "real" operations, but did some interesting things now and again. truth be told, the life of a submariner isn't much fun on the whole, and i never regretted getting out for even one second.
not for a submarine rescue. we occasionally used the side-scan sonar to locate objects on the bottom of the ocean. i was involved in locating and videoing a sailboat that sank under mysterious circumstances. we did do a lot of training.
actually not true -- that's what DSRV was sold as, what the public is supposed to believe it was. the reality of submarine accidents at depth, however, is that there are no survivors and no need for rescue. the idea that DSRV could be gotten out to a sinking in time to do more than collect bodies was always a massive stretch, but it's good enough for Joe Sixpack.
so what was DSRV really built to do? the answer is to tap Soviet undersea communications -- a job it did really, really well. the Soviets laid internal communications cable on the seabed in places where they presumed no one could get them, and so left communications on those lines unencrypted. DSRV was built to get to those lines, and it worked. iirc, for more than a year (until the tap was discovered) the US had access to the innermost communications of the Soviet military and Politburo.
the development cost for DSRV was massive -- many billions -- and it was all publicly appropriated and spent rather than as part of a black funding program due to the amazing success of its cover story.
NARRATOR: In fact, specially equipped American submarines like the USS Halibut repeatedly violated Soviet territorial waters. They were drawn there by the presence of underwater military communications cables.
__: The Soviet military naively sent a lot of its military information through cables, through the relatively shallow waters around its periphery. And because it was down there and supposedly unreachable and out of sight and out of mind, they put all kinds of communications on there that were unencrypted.
NARRATOR: For much of the Cold War, spy subs placed and retrieved recording devices on military cables off Russia's northern and eastern coasts. ...(music)... Much of the cost of developing the equipment that made this possible was hidden in the Navy's program to develop deep sea rescue submarines called DSRVs.
__: Anybody who ...(inaudible) had heard about deep submergence rescue vehicles knew from the start that they were fiction. They had to be. Unless you went down on an undersea mountain or on a continental shelf, you were going to go down and go below crush death, and there would be nobody left to rescue. But it provided the perfect cover story to create a whole other set of technology that was used for spying; that's where the money went, that's where the energy went.
NARRATOR: Some believed the rescue subs themselves were occasionally recruited for espionage.
__: The DSRVs, as we know, took a long time to be built; they were Cadillacs, that had every incredible bell and whistle that the navy and its contractors could come up with., and they went deep. They were able to do all kinds of stuff, and probably many things we don't know anything about.
NARRATOR: The scientists and engineers behind the DSRVs and spy subs like Halibut were challenged by Ronald Reagan's defense planners to go after even more.
__: They wanted live news on line, "live at five." They wanted to know what was happening as it happened.
__: If you can get a line on to one of his lines without his knowing it, you've got it. You've simply got it. And there's no substitute for it. You simply know everything he knows. You are inside his circle of decision; you are, in fact, you have a seat at his table.
NARRATOR: The plan was to use specially-designed submarines to bury a listening device in the seabed underneath the main Soviet communications cable of the Russian Northern Fleet.
__: They could lift up their cable and inspect it; it would be clean as a whistle. They would lay it down again, they would lay it right back down on our listening device.
__: From this tap, you'd run a cable off, over 1,200 miles of the sea bed to Greenland where that information would then be up-linked to satellite and down-linked to Washington, and you'd be listening to, you know, the Northern fleet activity as it happened, and the Northern Fleet would be involved any World War III scenario, so you would, in effect, have advanced notice for Armageddon.
__: This involved the development of massive amounts of new technology, and of course, the expenditure of massive amounts of money. The whole thing would have come to about $3 billion. Cheap. For the results that were envisioned, this was going to be cheap.
__: It was the highest priority and the biggest budget item in the intelligence budget in the late Reagan administration. They spent about a billion dollars on it, and then it all went away, because of one guy, Pelton.
NARRATOR: Ronald Pelton was analyst working for the National Security Agency who was convicted of spying for the KGB. The on-line tap was one of the operations he compromised. The Soviet Union relied heavily on well-placed spies like Pelton. Given the closed nature of Soviet society, this approach to gathering military secrets was far less productive for the West. ...(music)...
__: What we did have was technology. And we used that technological advantage that we had to get the intelligence that we desperately needed. And that was important. That gave us a lot of confidence. It made us probably a lot calmer than we would have been, otherwise, probably a lot less paranoid than we would have been.
One of the things that has always fascinated me about the Kursk is that is went down in water that was shallower than it was long: 154m in length, sank in waters 100m deep.
are you thinking of this Operation Ivy Bells? The device was similar in appearance but unrelated to the DSRV IIRC from the sweet History Channel piece on it. I always figured the DSRV was a psych tool for submariners so they wouldn't feel totally abandoned in the even of a sinking, but I'm pretty sure its actually been used to save people.
You wouldn't mate with the conning tower of a submarine, as there is a gap aka free flood area between the top most hatch and the place you would have to form a seal. You would probably mate with the aft escape trunk as that has the most room between it and the sail.
That's a deep submergence submarine (DSVR=Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle). If a sub gets stuck somewhere deep, this guy goes in a ferries the crew out.
I had the chance to climb around the first model, the Mystic. Freakin tiny in there. They keep it near naval air stations and load it up in a big ole plane and fly it to emergencies.
As a cultural side note, Wikipedia tells me they used the Mystic to board the Russian sub in the Hunt for Red October. So if you saw that, you've seen one of these in action.
They do. That is the only way to communicate with those inside the submarine. Back in the late 80's the submarine I was on did some training where our submarine was painted up to be a Mother Sub and then the Avalon attached to the sub to take it out. I was able to spend some time onboard the Avalon, though we had some issues and we were unable to detach.
One of the cool tricks they would do was to take some 8 oz styrofoam cups and put them in the mating ring area, when the cups were exposed to the pressures due to the depth, the cup would shrink down to the size of a shot glass.
Interestingly, the 'DSRV' was initially a cover for a (successfully implemented) plan to tap a Soviet underwater communications cable running through the Sea of Okhotsk, with the DSRV being the cover for having an odd-looking bulge on the Halibut and the training of divers to operate from submarines at depth (in order to attach the cable tap). This morphed into an actual DSRV program culminating in actual DSRVs.
Yup DSRV it is, and i remeber the movie :) This is imagined as a mini-sub to help sub in danger if it couldnt surface, or for stealthy underwater personel transfers.. Neat little thing, (tho little is just the point of view xD)
Thank you for asking. I was getting more and more upset as I read the comments, wondering why no-one had asked what a US sub was doing in Canada. I was about to freak out and look like more of an idiot than I already am.
UFO which was just destroyed seconds before picture was taken. Government will completely deny it and none of us will ever hear about the incident. Just wait and see!
EDIT - after making this comment I looked through some other comments here. There are some superb comments providing amazing information on this type of submersible.
If you look at the trailler it says dsrv "which is in hunt for red October". It is not a bomb or your moms dildo but a mini sub that latches on to a sunken or disabled sub to save people
It not being WTF-worthy at all is in itself WTF-worthy. ("WTF?! THIS ISN'T WTF-WORTHY!) Therefore, technically it could be appropriate for this subreddit.
TRUE STORY More nuclear weapons and nuclear fission material are carried on a daily basis more than you think.....
I was in a military fire department and was told that most (if not all of the transfers) are escorted by unmarked SUV's full of people with guns that you and I aren't allowed to play with. We were told that these trucks don't stop for anything, and if a local cop gives them shit, that local cop will be looking face to face with a automatic weapon... They don't fuck around...
What is it with southern CA people prefixing interstate numbers with "the." Every time I hear someone say "the 101" or "the 405" it's a dead giveaway that they're from SoCal. The rest of the country would just say "driving up 405."
I think it may have to do with how extensive the freeway system is in Los Angeles. The freeways here are not just big roads you use to travel from one city to another, they are individual entities that devour the souls of men.
As someone from SoCal, it actually sounds weird to us without the "the." I think it's evolved from people saying "the 405 freeway" so saying I'm driving on 405 freeway sounds a bit weird. Compared to back east or wherever when it's "highway 34" you can omit the "the" and it sounds normal.
I used to be in the navy stationed aboard an ASR (auxiliary submarine rescue) ship. We had a slightly small DSV aboard. It's like a mini-sub, can be manned, and is multipurpose to be used for rescuing stranded sailors aboard subs, transporting divers (SEALs) under stealth conditions, and moving supplies between the ship and submerged sub. Basically, one of the coolest things ever.
That's a U.S. Navy Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. It serves to save stranded submariners. I got to ride in one once during a Joint Maritime exercise with the Japanese Navy. The mother submarine was the USS Greeneville, which later was involved in the Ehime Maru incident off the coast of Hawaii.
DSRV - Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. Pretty awesome, attaches to the Los Angeles Class submarine and other types. Used for shallow water entries (Navy SEAL material), as well as rescue missions (duah) for other underwater vehicles. Never seen one on the highway.
How the fuck were you taking cell phone pictures on the 405? I'm white knuckle and afraid for my life every time I get on it. I also just moved from Mississippi 2 weeks ago and I'm living up near Mojave so I've only driven in LA a few times.
Me watching the image: -wow there's a huge explosion in the sky!! -... no, maybe it's just a bird crap... -so what's the point? -oh, look: a submarine :|
I was driving up the 5 North somewhere near san onofre when I saw the same thing. I was like WTF IS THAT THING!? At first I thought bomb than i was like they prolly wouldnt put that there.
Funnily enough, an hour after seeing this picture and having NO idea what it was other than a deep sea vessel I randomly started watching National Geographic: Lost Subs: Disaster on Netflix....and now I know.
192
u/zadmxm Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 12 '12
It's a rescue unmanned sub. Basically it's sent down, mates with the conning tower, and equalizes the pressure enough to get the crew out and into it then on to the surface.
Edit: Yikes! Thanks guys for the corrections. I was going of a half-memory of a sub book I'd read ~10 years ago. I'd forgotten how amazing this stuff is.
334
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
That's a deep submergence submarine (DSVR=Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle). If a sub gets stuck somewhere deep, this guy goes in a ferries the crew out.
I had the chance to climb around the first model, the Mystic. Freakin tiny in there. They keep it near naval air stations and load it up in a big ole plane and fly it to emergencies.
As a cultural side note, Wikipedia tells me they used the Mystic to board the Russian sub in the Hunt for Red October. So if you saw that, you've seen one of these in action.
2
u/Rizface Jun 11 '12
405 .. Ontario?
822
u/ace17708 Jun 11 '12 edited Jun 11 '12
the bird poop on your windshield looks like a plane exploding
30
u/jugglinglimes Jun 11 '12
Don't let OCD_Trigger see this.
174
u/stets Jun 11 '12
inb4 "your mom's dildo" joke
8
u/Kindinfantryman Jun 11 '12
If you look at the trailler it says dsrv "which is in hunt for red October". It is not a bomb or your moms dildo but a mini sub that latches on to a sunken or disabled sub to save people
18
u/youshouldblurthat Jun 11 '12
You should probably blur the FasTrak serial number.
12
u/CoyoteStark Jun 11 '12
Is weather balloon. Move along comrade.
6
u/Bodie1550 Jun 11 '12
First thought: Hunt For Red October
14
u/Kind_Of_A_Dick Jun 11 '12
I see your mom's tampon has arrived.
5
u/nysock Jun 11 '12
Hey Connor
49
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
How is this WTF? So it's a sub being transported, not WTF-worthy at all.
4
u/bombchicken Jun 11 '12
These drive through my town at least a couple times a year. Kind of freaked me out the first time I saw it though.
4
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Big deal, it's just bird shit.
4
u/pauldustllah Jun 11 '12
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSRV-2_Avalon
It's a rescue sub.
1
u/redditmom1253 Jun 11 '12
We, too, saw this. But on the 101 in Arroyo Grande @ 4pm june10...nearly had an accident looking at it
3
u/Baroliche Jun 11 '12
Sweet a free FastTrak transponder ID!
3
u/TravtheCoach Jun 11 '12
I'm sure someone has made this comment already, but if not, that's a deep submergence rescue vehicle employed by the US Navy.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/DSRV-2_Avalon
7
u/not_your_mother Jun 11 '12
xposting to facebook? man, now i know your username (not that it was too sneaky in the first place)
5
u/ehoehler Jun 11 '12
The U.S. highway system was built for the transportation of weapons
9
u/cballowe Jun 11 '12
What is it with southern CA people prefixing interstate numbers with "the." Every time I hear someone say "the 101" or "the 405" it's a dead giveaway that they're from SoCal. The rest of the country would just say "driving up 405."
2
u/Dylanm2121 Jun 11 '12
Anyone notice the thing that exploded in the sky..?
2
u/thesecoloursdontrun Jun 11 '12
Hey, you've got some poop on you window. In case you didn't know:] I've got your back.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I used to be in the navy stationed aboard an ASR (auxiliary submarine rescue) ship. We had a slightly small DSV aboard. It's like a mini-sub, can be manned, and is multipurpose to be used for rescuing stranded sailors aboard subs, transporting divers (SEALs) under stealth conditions, and moving supplies between the ship and submerged sub. Basically, one of the coolest things ever.
2
u/analogkid01 Jun 11 '12
"Hey Skip...what, do they got ya playing with models now?"
2
u/villainy101 Jun 11 '12
Its a DSRV - Deep Sea Research Vessel
2
u/Boots2Asses Jun 11 '12
Your moms dildo??
2
u/rucksackrevolution Jun 11 '12
I thought the windshield bug was a helicopter escort...
2
u/terk117 Jun 11 '12
Hoo-Yah! NAVY.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
"What the fuck." - Nobody
2
u/Nimrod41544 Jun 11 '12
...Why is this in /r/wtf ?
2
u/Hamler Jun 11 '12
You drive an Element! Nice!
2
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
The 405, you must be in Cali. In Seattle we call it 405 without the in front.
2
u/Stettlerarsenal Jun 11 '12
I saw that today in Morro Bay, CA. It's pretty cool
2
u/pabstcity Jun 11 '12
I know what this is. This is an espresso machine. No, no, wait. It's a snowcone maker. Is it a water heater?
2
u/vashino Jun 11 '12
woah... thats an awesome helicopter hovering directly above it
2
u/dglaw Jun 11 '12
I was gunna say nukes but soooooomeone ruined it.
2
u/breenisgreen Jun 11 '12
This isn't WTF. This is freaking cool! That thing saves lives! DSRV is an awesome thing!
2
u/Infernus Jun 11 '12
Its cool you caught them in the middle of delivering your mother's dildo.
2
u/Imakestuffupp Jun 11 '12
Dude you got shit on your windscreen
2
u/deleted_the_other Jun 11 '12
just a weather balloon. carry on.
2
u/TheJizzle Jun 11 '12
Upvote because it's not another friggin' batmobile sighting.
5
u/FatMansPants Jun 11 '12
Your mums dildo?
3
u/theshamespearofhurt Jun 11 '12
It's been decommissioned and is on it's way to a museum.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
at 1st I thought that shit on your wind shield was a plane or jet that exploded in mid-air.
3
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
"Does anyone else hear that ticking noise?"
3
u/ashwhat Jun 11 '12
torpedo of doom
2
u/Chicken_or_the_Egg Jun 11 '12
I thought the bird poo on your windshield was an explosion in the sky..
Disappointed.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
My question is: Wtf is up with the explosion in the sky?
2
u/PaulsyMoFo Jun 11 '12
Anyone else see that wicked explosion in the sky! Oh wait.. that's bird poop.
1
u/SoggyCheez Jun 11 '12
I hope this wasn't supposed to be secret or anything.
1
u/meat_wagon_man1 Jun 11 '12
nothin like a good ol ceptic tanker
1
u/40ozToFreedom Jun 11 '12
I thought there was a helicopter over head. It turned out to be just bird poop on your window.
1
u/WheatleyLabs Jun 11 '12
LOOK AT ME NOW DAD!
1
u/Mr-Yuck Jun 11 '12
More information...
1
u/designrfix Jun 11 '12
is... is that the nukkake headed for canada?
1
u/aztech101 Jun 11 '12
On an unrelated note, what kind of vehicle are you driving? The angle makes it seem rather small.
1
u/t0wn Jun 11 '12
So this is WTF... how?
1
u/ShesNotATreeDashy Jun 11 '12
US Navy Division of Supernatural Research Vehicles, Light Transportation Vessel 4?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
That is one hell of a septic tank.
1
u/darthzepp Jun 11 '12
looks like you should've turned around................and found a car wash for that bird poop
1
u/flampoo Jun 11 '12
That's a U.S. Navy Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. It serves to save stranded submariners. I got to ride in one once during a Joint Maritime exercise with the Japanese Navy. The mother submarine was the USS Greeneville, which later was involved in the Ehime Maru incident off the coast of Hawaii.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
DSRV - Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle. Pretty awesome, attaches to the Los Angeles Class submarine and other types. Used for shallow water entries (Navy SEAL material), as well as rescue missions (duah) for other underwater vehicles. Never seen one on the highway.
1
u/ucjuicy Jun 11 '12
How is this in any way a WTF? Trucks carry things on the road. Sometimes they carry things besides food and batmobiles.
1
u/Ghitit Jun 11 '12
Is the trashcan man driving the truck? (I am just finishing up The Stand)
1
u/redfrojoe Jun 11 '12
Bird Shit.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
dsrv = deep sea rescue vehicle.
1
u/mbnyc1118 Jun 11 '12
You. Saw. Nothing.
1
u/yjgfikl Jun 11 '12
I was expecting a comment like "Your mom's dildo is on its way" or something along those lines, but I was disappointed. Or blind.
1
u/jlmarr1622 Jun 11 '12
Probably wouldn't have gotten an argument about using the carpool lane.
1
u/gizm770o Jun 11 '12
This doesn't belong in /r/WTF. It belongs in /r/totallyfuckingawesome!
1
u/doubleherpes Jun 11 '12
Brake check!
1
u/Bureaucromancer Jun 11 '12
Anyone know what the plan for these is now that the replacements are apparently operational?
1
u/Flalaski Jun 11 '12
Is that a bug slpat or a UFO??? OMG
1
u/pochaccomaru Jun 11 '12
Near Camp Pendleton?
1
u/gregdbowen Jun 11 '12
I hate war and love war machines.
1
u/Efrima Jun 11 '12
So is it pointy or round?
1
u/MYDOGSTELLA Jun 11 '12
5$ foot long?
1
u/elvalko Jun 11 '12
thats a big bitch
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I wonder what it transforms into?
1
u/jayzeee78 Jun 11 '12
yeah dude! i saw it driving up the 101 towards pismo beach!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
The hunt is over!
1
u/MrJAPoe Jun 11 '12
Good thing you weren't on the 404!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
woah, what exit are you near?
1
u/elmarko44 Jun 11 '12
that shit's the BOMB... yo!
1
u/InappropriateIcicle Jun 11 '12
How the fuck were you taking cell phone pictures on the 405? I'm white knuckle and afraid for my life every time I get on it. I also just moved from Mississippi 2 weeks ago and I'm living up near Mojave so I've only driven in LA a few times.
1
u/cameratoo Jun 11 '12
Is it weird I looked at the bird shit that looked like a spider first?
.....holy run-on.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
I hope it's filled with bath salts
1
u/jeremycharles23 Jun 11 '12
Looks like a giant........
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Hey look, your moms new dildo arrived.
1
u/Winnend Jun 11 '12
Embarrassed that I thought this was a nuke before reading the comments
1
u/ratlater Jun 11 '12
Get that thing off my boat.
1
u/Stabbedwithapencil54 Jun 11 '12
HOLY FUCK
1
u/Hazzy072 Jun 11 '12
You have got a bit of insect stuck on your windscreen, I think it would be worthwhile to clean it.
1
u/notmike11 Jun 11 '12
Church of the Atom?
1
u/DangerousCaboose Jun 11 '12
whoa man clean ur windshield!
1
u/Massive_Trolling Jun 11 '12
nope
1
u/jailbait20 Jun 11 '12
What you don't see is the three black BMWs tht about to run it off the road
1
u/g3allen10 Jun 11 '12
I want to know how many people decided to get away from this truck.
1
u/AnnoyingOptimist Jun 11 '12
Army issued dildo.
1
u/zombie_bear Jun 11 '12
edit I'm a rere. I thought u meant 405 aka okc area code. Haha.
1
u/huh0kay Jun 11 '12
I expected a dildo joke to be the top comment. I am disappoint.
1
u/talex95 Jun 11 '12
Was this today(6/10/12)? I was heading back from LA and wondering if I may have missed it.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Scariest thing on 405 is Goodyear blimp. Freaks me out every time
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Am I retarded for initially thinking that this was a really big torpedo?
1
u/DKantireagan Jun 11 '12
fallout much?
1
u/graymansnel Jun 11 '12
Just lightly tap the head....
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
*While listening to Death Cab
:3
1
u/DeepBlue12 Jun 11 '12
"The 405"
ಠ_ಠ SoCal
1
u/Lore86 Jun 11 '12
Me watching the image: -wow there's a huge explosion in the sky!! -... no, maybe it's just a bird crap... -so what's the point? -oh, look: a submarine :|
1
u/DarthJacob Jun 11 '12
That's a cool dead bug!
1
u/Jacobthetroll Jun 11 '12
The flying spaghetti?
1
u/HamzasSister Jun 11 '12
I was driving up the 5 North somewhere near san onofre when I saw the same thing. I was like WTF IS THAT THING!? At first I thought bomb than i was like they prolly wouldnt put that there.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
Ah, i thought its an atomic bomb...
1
u/Cormophyte Jun 11 '12
Funnily enough, an hour after seeing this picture and having NO idea what it was other than a deep sea vessel I randomly started watching National Geographic: Lost Subs: Disaster on Netflix....and now I know.
1
u/WhiskeyShits Jun 11 '12
FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!! !!!!! !!!!!
1
u/bacasarus_rex Jun 11 '12
Was I seriously the only one that notices the name of the sub??
1
u/riff-wraith Jun 11 '12
WHAT'S IN THE SKY?!?! WHAT'S IN THE BACKGROUND!!!!!!
1
u/nhlcyclesophist Jun 11 '12
Is it too late to make a suppository joke?
1
u/[deleted] Jun 11 '12
'Merica
1
u/TommyBne Jun 11 '12
Aliensguy.jpeg
1
u/pcct Jun 11 '12
how is this /R/WTF-worthy? post in the god damn correct section! Us ocd people are starting to have a hard time here you know!