Sic Luceat Lux.

Я американец, но вырос в СССР, мой отец служил военно-морским атташе при посольстве в Москве. Прожив 12 детских лет в Москве, уезжая, я говорил по-русски лучше чем по-английски. Но не в этом дело, мы недавно переехли в другой дом и я нашел свои логи, которые вел служа в радио разведке на тихом океане. Мои способности в русском языке были востребованы разведкой ВМС и я служил у них с 1979 по 1984 год. По долгу службы и для себя, я вел журнал. Казенную часть сдавал в архив, а свою себе. Мы - 7 человек, включая двух бывших немецких офицеров, которые побывали в СССР в плену, считались лучшими лингвистами в ВМС. Мы слушали эфир 24/7 и иногда, особенно когда были учения, проводили в наушниках по 18 часов. Что-то было в записи, а в основном "живой" эфир. Я должен признать, что русских нельзя победить именно из-за языка. Самое интересное говорилось между равными по званию или друзьями, они не стеснялись в выражениях. Я пролистал всего несколько страниц своих старых записей, вот некоторые:

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Сегодня у нас у всех день рождения. Второй.

Ибо в ночь на 26е сентября 1983 года подполковник Станислав Петров, дежурный советского пункта дальнего обнаружения и наблюдения за ракетным нападением "Серпухов-15", увидел на экране пуск пяти американских межконтинентальных ракет Minuteman (по 10 болванок на каждой)...

А ведь запросто пиздец был бы. Всем. С учётом корейского Бойнга и НАТОвских манёвров Able Archer, все и так на цырлах были. А время подлёта болванки -- 22 минуты...

Интересный тест.

Советуют не рисковать понапрасну. Чёрт, я был о себе лучшего мнения. Придётся и тут работать...

А вы чем похвастаетесь, господа экстремалы?

Now the British government has declined its option on Daring Class ships #7 and 8. A navy that has already seen its number of surface combatants sink below the level of the French fleet for the first time since the 17th century will view this as a bitter blow, but the budgetary math is remorseless…

via DID

If anybody personifies the undying spirit that made Great Britain the greatest power she used to be, it would be Sir Richard Grenville.

On 7 September 1591, as Captain of HMS Revenge he commanded a 15-hour one-against-fifty three battle with a Spanish squadron of 53 ships dispatched to the Flores (Azores) to clear the English under Admiral Howard who were waiting for the Spanish treasure fleet. The English ships were undergoing repairs, and a lot of the crew were sick with fever, depleting the Revenge's crew number by 95. Admiral Howard and his five ships of the line managed to withdraw. Grenville chose to wait for his crew that was onshore and then drove through the Spanish line.

The fight lasted 15 hours, through the night, during which the lone Revenge managed to heavily damage fifteen Spanish galleons, sinking two, and continuously repealing "with savage gunnery" boarding attempts , including one from San Philip, the Spanish flagship three times the size of the Revenge (1500 tons to her 500).

When it was over, the Revenge was almost completely destroyed, with her masts blown off, and only sixteen of the crew left standing. Gravely wounded Grenville then ordered the ship to be blown up so as not to be taken by the Spaniards. The officers and crew, however, disagreed and negotiated a surrender on condition of good treatment, making the Revenge the only ship ever taken this way by the Spaniards during Elizabethan conflicts.

Grenville died two days later aboard the Spanish flagship. He was buried at sea with full honors.

The ship, however, lived fully up to its name. An intense storm hit the returning Spanish squadron and the Revenge sunk, along with 200 of the Spanish prize crew. Sixteen other Spanish ships went down along with her.

Lord Alfred Tennyson has written a poem about this, The Revenge

This is pretty fucking cool: foldable pocket flashlight/submachine gun.

Based on Glock receiver and Glock mags. I want one of these :)

via guns

From a submarine blog:

Those of us who left active duty before the year 2000 probably missed this sonar tidbit. Although the concept sounds goofy, it is supported well enough in scientific communities to assure winning your next beer bet.

From the start of WWII, researchers studied snapping shrimp. As any submariner knows and many heard firsthand, these "biologicals" create loud, underwater noise. Colonies produce such a din that during World War II, the constant crackling from these shrimp sometimes foiled the military's attempts to find enemy subs.

For years, the assumption had been that the cracking sound occured when the moving part of the shrimp's claw struck its stationary opposite, like castanets. Instead, cavitation -- the mechanical process which plagues ships' propellers--is to blame. Cavitation occurs when liquid is forced to move above a certain speed and, as a result, experiences a pressure drop (known as Bernoulli's principle). This phenomenon causes tiny air bubbles in the fluid to swell. As the fluid slows and the pressure again rises, the imploding bubbles generate a shock wave with audible sound.

The little ol' shrimp communicate with one another, defend their territory, and stun their prey with this sound.

For doubters: here, here and you more scientific folk will like the link here.

Google Maps coverage of the New London Submarine Base in Connecticut.

( Top Secret )

Look at that thing inside the dock! It's huge, even compared with two subs above it.

It has to be an Ohio-class boomer...