Despite being equipped with sonar, two submarines collided in 2009 because they were unable to dtect each other.
In the end, it was only an underwater fender bender, but a low-speed crash in February 2009 involving Britain's HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant could have been catastrophic. At the time of the collision, the two nuclear-powered submarines were patrolling the deep waters of the North Atlantic off the coast of France. Despite state-of-the-art sonar capabilities, neither submarine was able to detect the other- probably because neither was operating its active sonar at the time.
Dooooeee!
In the end, it was only an underwater fender bender, but a low-speed crash in February 2009 involving Britain's HMS Vanguard and France's Le Triomphant could have been catastrophic. At the time of the collision, the two nuclear-powered submarines were patrolling the deep waters of the North Atlantic off the coast of France. Despite state-of-the-art sonar capabilities, neither submarine was able to detect the other- probably because neither was operating its active sonar at the time.
Dooooeee!