USS Connecticut's Sonar Navigation Wasn't Working

 

Artwork of a submarine operating its short-range, faintly "active", seafloor (and mine) imaging navigation sonar (NavSon) (Artwork courtesy

 https://blog.assemblrworld.com/how-submarine-works/ dated May 5, 2021)
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ARTICLE

After covering USS Connecticut (SSN-22) since October 8, 2021 I have some new thoughts. Connecticut would use an active Navigation Sonar (NavSon) (see artwork above). The NavSon is narrow "beam",  narrow band and very short-range, hence quiet/faint and usually undetectable. It is used to obtain a navigational "picture" of the seafloor that Connecticut is about to move over. 

Again, although an active sonar, the NavSon's subtle nature makes it usable and undetectable in normal submarine operating conditions.

However, to theorize about Connecticut's collision:

A.  If, for some reason, Connecticut is moving very quickly it might hit a seafloor / seamount before it has an adequatee NavSon picture. Although the relatively low damage in this case suggests a slow speed collision.

B.  If an opponent, eg. a PRC Navy ship, sub or seafloor sound emitter project noise - then that may effectively drown out/jam Connecticut's NavSon functionality.

or

C.  Connecticut may have chosen to turn off its NavSon because this sub needed to operate in "Stealth Mode". This would be appropriate in highly sensitive sea-space - protected by seafloor sensors. I'll leave it up to people's imagination where may be sensitive. In no NavSon Stealth Mode Connecticut would be "flying blind". 

And, a big "and", if, in conjunction with possibilities A, B or C, Connecticut encounters an uncharted seamont (or other obstruction on the seafloor) Connecticut could collide.

SOURCES

1.  Australia’s 9News reported November 5, 2021

[David Sandwell, Professor of Geophysics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California, told CNN.]

“Those sonar pings — so ubiquitous in submarine movies — also give away the sub's position to opposing forces.

"Sonar is your only way to look at the bottom, but you don't want to put out more sound than you have to," Mr Shugart said.

"You'd have to do that about every 20 seconds or so," to get an accurate picture…”

2.  https://blog.assemblrworld.com/how-submarine-works/ scroll ½ way down to

"How submarine works underwater"

3.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonar Sound Navigation and Ranging

and

4.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_navigation#Deep_water_navigation
     footnote 2. which is: 

     "Lesson 14: Electronic Navigation". Navigation and Operations I. University of Kansas, Naval Reserve Officer Training Corps. pp. Slides 19 [especially 20 mentioning "SSBN"] to 21. Archived from the original (Microsoft PowerPoint) on September 11, 2006. Retrieved 2007-11-14.

Pete