Saturday, December 31, 2011

Sleeping Beauty.

This is coolbert:

That Russian DP-64 weapon designed with the intent to defeat the asymmetric naval attacker of the American SEAL or Russian naval spetsnaz variety, combat swimmers and demolition team members using specialized underwater vehicles to approach the military warship or civilian vessel at anchorage.

Underwater miniature submarines of the type Motorized Submersible Canoe.

"The Motorised Submersible Canoe (MSC), nicknamed 'Sleeping Beauty', was built by British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during World War II as an underwater vehicle for a single frogman to perform clandestine reconnaissance or attacks against enemy vessels."



Called a "canoe" but in reality a miniature submarine, a submersible vehicle able to carry a naval saboteur to within range of a target, that diver attaching to the enemy warship or civilian vessel a limpet mine! And do so in a stealthy manner, almost undetectable!!

"The pilot could leave the Sleeping Beauty to swim and plant limpet mines on enemy ships"

MSC as used by the Rimau raiders during the Second World War [WW2]. Thought also having been given to the MSC paddled or sailed [or a combination of both] in the conventional sense as a normal above-water canoe, just in case those batteries went dead.

"The canoe can also be paddled or moved by raising the mast and erecting a sail."

There is an obvious evolutionary process that can be seen with the World War Two era naval irregular warrior? 1. Frog-men in wet suits swimming underwater with SCUBA. 2. Frog-men riding a modified torpedo. 3. Naval commando units using folding canoes. 4. Naval commando units using "wet' mini-submersibles.

The value of asymmetric warfare at sea is undeniable? One large and very expensive warship at anchorage rendered impotent and non-functional by an attack from one man, one small "canoe" and one limpet mine? YES, it is so!

coolbert.




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