Submarine navigation

<p>Submarine navigation underwater requires special skills and technologies not needed by <a href="/facts/Surface_ship/K5G80V1h">surface ships</a>. The challenges of underwater <a href="/facts/Navigation/sGGAJ0AQ">navigation</a> have become more important as <a href="/facts/Submarines/6fhcAKHV">submarines</a> spend more time underwater, travelling greater distances and at higher speed. Military submarines travel underwater in an environment of total darkness with neither windows nor lights. Operating in stealth mode, they cannot use their <a href="/facts/Sonar/0Rg2G40e">active sonar</a> systems to <a href="/facts/Acoustic_location/lkooYUg9">ping</a> ahead for underwater hazards such as <a href="/facts/Seamount/jR3XQv2E">undersea mountains</a>, <a href="/facts/Drilling_rig/o4esL5fh">drilling rigs</a> or other submarines. Surfacing to obtain <a href="/facts/Fix_(position)/yY41HfWV">navigational fixes</a> is precluded by pervasive <a href="/facts/Anti-submarine_warfare/dW89ebRA">anti-submarine warfare</a> <a href="/facts/Anti-submarine_warfare/dW89ebRA">detection systems</a> such as <a href="/facts/Radar/jk9BTbFA">radar</a> and <a href="/facts/Spy_satellite/LkL0IYHH">satellite</a> surveillance.  <a href="/facts/Antenna_(radio)/pGlcXBvc">Antenna masts</a> and antenna-equipped <a href="/facts/Periscope/jSCoMFnw">periscopes</a> can be raised to obtain navigational signals but in areas of heavy surveillance, only for a few seconds or minutes; current radar technology can detect even a slender periscope while submarine shadows may be plainly visible from the air.
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Submarine navigation open-in-new

Submarine navigation