Mark-48 Test

Acoustic training for airborne operators always includes listening to recorded
events such as this SINKEX.

Surprising how much 'detail' you can hear through a hydrophone when a ship gets
hammered. You go out on a torp drop and the things turn out to be possessed!
The sound they make is unmistakeable - they are screaming banshees in your
headphones. You all have to have seen that photo of a US boat with a Mark 46
stuck right through its sail? That was not even one of the _bad_ ones.
Torpedos are eeevil. But, listening to these events was certainly stimulating.

I started my class once by using an eight minute tape of a submarine sinking
into the abyss. Crunching, hollow grating and glass breaking sounds. A
muffling rumble as the sub falls away. Kicked-trash can sounds of fire
extinguishers imploding now and then. By the time the eight minutes was over,
no one in the class was talking.

The tape had no classification, there was no description, file number, or date
for reference. The class took about five minutes to figure out which one it
was.

v/r
Gordon