An underwater robotic glider built by Rutgers University students and scientists has achieved the first underwater robot crossing, after traveling beneath the waves for 221 days.

Rutgers researchers joined some Spanish colleagues today aboard the "Investigador" ship to recover the drone, after launching it on April 27, 2009 off the coast of New Jersey. The submersible bot made its 4,591-mile journey at the slow but steady pace of 4 centimeters per second.

Named "The Scarlet Knight" for Rutgers sports — despite its fine yellow appearance — RU27 technically already claimed its transatlantic record on Nov. 14 after 201 days at sea. But the Rutgers team clinched the accomplishment after recovering the scarlet lady, and reportedly gave her a dose of champagne to celebrate.

Rutgers University alone has a small underwater fleet of up to seven gliders operating off the coast of New Jersey, with one even cruising around the Antarctic. The U.S. Navy has likewise deployed a number of drone submersibles (not to mention sea mammals), and private companies may also soon send out swarms of underwater explorers for oil prospecting.

Looks like Scarlet won't be too lonely the next time she decides to take a dip.

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According to Van Tillburg, it looks more like a Cold War submarine than a WW2 ship, build for high speed underwater travel. The I-401 was its sister vessel. That one was located in 2005, and it was capable of carrying 144 people through 37,000 miles, it was three times the size of modern submarines. Japan wanted to use these ships to launch aerial attacks in the continental United States. To do this, it used three Aichi light bombers, each capable of carrying an 800-kilogram bomb. When their mission was complete, the bombers returned to the submarine, landing on the water using floats.

The Japanese also had a dirty trick in their pockets: Use the submarines to drop big cans full of rats infected with the plague and insects loaded with cholera, dengue, and typhus. They never were able to put that in practice, however. The Americans delivered a big can full of atoms to them first.

These two submarines were so advanced that, after being captured and inspected by the United States, they were sunk so the Soviets couldn't inspect them. The Japanese were the pioneers in developing advanced aerial attack technology for submarines. The sea-to-air cruise missile was developed later, during the Cold War period. Nowadays, the US Navy is working on submarine-launched drones, which can take off from underwater. [National Geographic via Daily Mail]

Meanwhile, I just created charcoal while trying to make a bagel.

The rig cost Tao 30,000 yuan ($4,385) and two years to build, and includes a periscope and depth control tank. No mention of a sonar system, but knowing the Chinese farmers these days that DIY achievement has to be just a matter of time. [China Daily via Gizmo Watch via DVICE]

Akulas—the NATO designation for the Project 971 Shchuka-B Soviet Submarine—are some of the deadliest sea weapons in existence. Not deadly to people on land, as the Russian Typhoons are—the largest submarines ever built, equipped with 20 RSM-52 nuclear ballistic missiles—but to other submarines and ships. Equipped with four 533mm internal torpedo tubes plus six external 533mm, and an extra four 650mm tubes, the Akulas were designed to hunt other vessels, subaquatic or on the surface. And they, according to US intelligence reports, they can do that mighty well. They are the counterpart to the US Los Angeles-class SSN 751 nuclear subs.

These things can launch up to forty torpedoes, mines, and missiles—the later using a separate tube for surface launch. It's equipped with a sophisticated sound reduction system, which was perfected in the 80s with the help of Toshiba, who sold them precision milling systems for that task. At least, according to the US Navy.

Seriously, why do this now? Couldn't the Russians park the subs at home, and have a picnic to enjoy the summer? [NYT and Wikipedia]

To achieve the amazing speeds, the sub utilizes a hydrodynamic effect known as supercavitation. When the Underwater Express achieves enough speed, a gas bubble envelops the vessel and reduces drag allowing it to achieve speeds not otherwise possible—not unlike the USS Enterprise's warp field. The submarine's designer, Electric Boat, is working on a one-quarter scale model for sea trials off the coast of Rhode Island. If the trials are successful, Electric Boat will begin production on a full scale 100-foot submarine. Seals had better watch out, I doubt the Underwater Express will feel remorse as it rams into adorable marine life at 100 knots. Unlike the regular express where all you see is bums peeing on the wall, here you get to see sharks explode. [Popular Science]

John Markoff got a ride recently, and reported the craft as being interesting, even in the plankton fog of Monterey Bay, CA.

Each time the 21-foot long electric-powered submarine plunged, my loosely buckled five-point harness left me sliding out of my seat. Each time we started to ascend, I was pushed back into the seat by the acceleration...Unlike a conventional submarine, which uses ballast to plunge into the ocean depths, the Super Falcon "flies" through water. It is slightly buoyant, and it is the speed of its propeller that pushes it downward in the mirror image of the aerodynamic lift of a conventional winged aircraft.It can operate at depths up to 400 feet, has a top speed of six knots and can fly for five hours on a single battery charge.

Deep Flight is helmed by Graham Hawkes, a pioneer in deep sea exploration vehicles. Among other craft, Hawkes built the Deep Rover sub which was used to film Aliens of the Deep by James Cameron in 3D IMAX, the Mantis, which was filmed in the James Bond movie For Your Eyes Only and the Deep Flight Challenger, a winged sub built capable of reaching 37,000 feet of depth meant for Steve Fossett to break the deep diving record in.

If you're interested, John Markoff's article has a video embedded in it of the dive and a tale of the first ocean dive in the Falcon with Perkins, where they chased Hammerheads. Below, I've included a video of the Maltese Falcon coming under the Golden Gate Bridge, as well as a video of him testing his prototype Super Falcon.

[Deep Flight, NYTimes, photo by Leslie Terzian Markoff and Yachtpals]

They claim this is the first time anybody has video Skyped from a submarine to anyone, let alone Her Oprahness. If you get past the commander's canned speech at the beginning, and the obvious advertorial nature of the promo, you actually get a cool glimpse of life aboard a submarine, with 146 dudes, no ladies and just six toilets. They connect to the internet via their periscope antenna, which sticks up above the water and grabs some network (presumably satellite, but that close to Hawaii, it could be cellular). It's crazy stuff, so have a listen. [Oprah]

The key here is that the Deep Flight Super Falcon doesn't have ballast tanks—tanks which can be filled with water or pressurized air to increase or decrease the submarine's weight—making it to submerge or emerge. The two-seat Super Falcon dives down to 1,500 feet using speed and it's aerodynamic design, according to designer Graham Hawkes:

We just had to tear up everything we knew about submersibles and start again on winged subs — underwater flying machines

The project started as custom submarine for venture capitalist Tom Perkins, who wanted a sub for his Maltese Falcon—better known as Darth Vader's mega-yacht. After that, Hawkes decided to make the design available to other dirty-rich people for $1.3 million each or, in it's open cockpit version, $350,000. [Deep Flight via Yatch Pals via CNN]

A Royal Navy source told the Times:

It is remarkably difficult to detect a modern submarine with sonar and we work very hard with our own submarines, as do our allies, in making them as quiet as possible so they are not detectable.

And he's serious about that—even after realizing they'd hit something, the French crew couldn't tell what it was. They wrote the object off as a shipping container, only to find out that they had actually collided with another submarine upon docking three days later, after the government had deduced the collision from routine information exchanges with the British.

The problem was that both submarines use passive sonar to map out their surroundings, which doesn't give away their location with the 'pings' of active sonar, and is somewhat less sensitive. Without these 'pings', it was nearly impossible for either sub's passive sonar to detect the other's, leading to the collision and subsequent confusion.

In reality, the whole thing was a bit more subdued than initial reports (or our imaginations) led us to believe. The subs, which were traveling very slowly, just sort of bonked into on another, and the only critical damage to either vessel was to the French sub's sonar system. [Times Online]

The news was confirmed by First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Jonathon Band:

Recently, the two submarines came into contact at very low speed. Both submarines remained safe and no injuries occurred. We can confirm that the capability remained unaffected and there has been no compromise to nuclear safety. HMS Vanguard returned safely to Faslane under her own power on 14 February.

The incident may have happened around February 3 or 4. The submarines, each of them about 150 metres long and 13 metres in diameter, had 250 sailors inside and 16 35-ton intercontinental ballistic missiles missiles, with a 5,000-mile range.

The Royal Navy says there was no real danger and the nuclear safety of the UK arsenal—no word from the Frenchies—was never compromised. However, according to a senior Royal Navy source, "it's very unlikely there would have been a nuclear explosion. But a radioactive leak was a possibility. Worse, we could have lost the crew and warheads. That would have been a national disaster."

Indeed. These things are just too damn stealthy. [Sky News]

The subs aren't really subs, they always have a portion of the ship above water. But at less than 18 inches of height above sea level, they're hard to detect using radar, despite being anywhere from 40-80 feet, carrying from 4-12 tons of the white stuff and 4 people. (Or none if being remote controlled!) They are reported to go slow and steady using diesel engines and up to 1500 gallons of fuel. They can make the trip at 6-12 knots in a single tank. As if they could refuel anywhere. The ships take over a year to make from fiberglass/wood or steel, and cost $2m. Not a whole lot of money since one load can take almost $200m of cargo from Ecuador to San Diego.

Here's a worrying thought:
"...if you can move that much cocaine, what else can you put in that semi-submersible. Can you put a weapon of mass destruction in it?" Navy Adm. Jim Stavridis, Commander, U.S. Southern Command

The system they are proposing dubbed "Deep Siren" works by deploying a communications buoy through the sub's trash chute. Once the submarine is far enough away, the buoy ascends to the surface and sends a message to the command center via satellite. When a connection has been established, it lowers an antenna deep into the water where "a transducer takes messages, translates them into acoustic energy and sends a pulse out through the water in an area greater than 50 nautical square miles." After a number of days, the buoy will either sink by itself or by the order of the command center. During the time that it is active however, hundreds of text messages can be transmitted.

So far, tests of the system have proven successful, but the ball is now in the Navy's court as far as funding and moving the project forward is concerned. If it does get approved, it is unsettling to think that a simple text message could set off WWIII. [National Defense via Danger Room]

[Born Rich via Newlaunches]

The robot submarines are just the latest tool for the five "polar nations" currently jockeying for supremacy in the oil-rich Arctic Circle. Trouble is, there's no land mass up there, which is the traditional yard stick for territorial disputes, so the interested parties have taken to mapping the terrain underwater.

For Canada, this means determining where the Canadian continental shelf ends, and whether or not the subs can discern "geological links" between the country's northern coast, High Arctic Islands, and two underwater mountain ranges: the Alpha and Lomonosov ridges. The latter certainly sounds Russian, but who are we to get in the way of a little apocalyptic robot war, right? [Canada.com]

The Eclipse, so named because Abramovich desires that it overshadow all other boats at sea, also includes an escape submarine, just in case pirates or other rapscallions make it on board. The submarine seats two, so Abramovich and his gorgeous girlfriend Daria Zhukova, 26, can make a hasty flight to safer waters (or go down to 160 ft. deep) while his hired guns secure the decks.

Abramovich's Eclipse will also have room for 24 guests, a cinema, aquarium, disco and a hospital. But no weapons—under maritime law, private vessels are banned from carrying them. Hence, the yellow submarine action and missile defenses that border on paranoia. [The Daily Mail]

You adjust the chair using all sorts of fancy motorized hydraulics, with loads of small adjusters that allow you to position it just so. Not that it looks like any position would be all that comfortable.

It's a one-of-a-kind piece, an original prototype that was never used for a full line. Because of that, and because it's made out of parts from, you know, a nuclear submarine, it ain't cheap. We're talking $37,000. For a chair. An awesome looking chair, but a chair nonetheless. I'll stick to my cheap office chair, thanks. [Device Gallery via BornRich]

The Cormorant is an unmanned aircraft to be used on different types of missions, mainly as a reconnaissance and troop support. It uses a turbo-fan engine for flying, which of course can't be put underwater. The trip from the submarine to the surface works using physics: when the missile bay opens, the Cormorant starts ascending like a cork, thanks to the pressure difference.

During this time, the engine inlet is sealed. When the plane reaches the surface, it jumps out of it because of the acceleration and, precisely when it is in midair, two rockets fire up to get it off the surface. When the necessary speed is achieved, the turbo-fan fires up and the rockets are ejected. From that point, the UAV follows its trajectory and executes its mission, returning to sea after it's done.

When it reaches the programmed rendezvous point, the engine stops, a parachute deploys, and it falls into the water to wait for the submarine to retrieve it. The submarine, however, doesn't have to come to the surface at any time. Instead, it would launch another robot, which will hook the Cormorant to the sub using a cable. The submarine will then tow the plane down and put it back in its bay.

Too bad all this genius is dedicated to war. But hey, better Cormorants than Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. [Cormorant]