Module 3.4 - UNSY 501
There are many potential uses for unmanned maritime systems
(UMS) in the military and civilian sectors currently and there will be even
more uses in the future as the technology progresses. An area where UMS are
already being implemented and could see an expanded role in the future is in
regard to search and salvage. When it comes to search and salvage operations,
they can be broken down into two categories: emergency or disaster search and
salvage and historical search and salvage, both of which have made use of UMS.
An example of UMS being used in an emergency search and salvage scenario is the
U.S. Navy sending the Bluefin-21 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) in as a
part of the search effort for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 in the
Indian Ocean off the coast of Australia last year (LaGrone 2014). However, the
focus of this discussion is on the use of UMS in historical search and salvage
as in the case of Vulcan Inc.’s discovery of the remains of a Japanese
battleship from World War II in the Philippines (Bray 2015).
On March 2, 2015 the Bluefin-12D operated by a research team
led by Paul Allen discovered the location of the Japanese WWII battleship, the
Musashi (Bray 2015). The Musashi, sunk on October 24, 1944 during the Battle of
Leyte Gulf, was one of the largest and most technologically advanced
battleships of its time (Bray 2015; Ronan 2015). The battleship carried nine
18-inch guns, the largest ever mounted on a warship, and was outfitted with
18-inch armor plating and was estimated to have taken 19 torpedoes and 17 bombs
before finally sinking (Ronan 2015). When fully loaded, the Musashi weighed in
at 73,000 tons, which is 15,000 tons more than the most famous U.S. WWII
battleship, the U.S.S. Missouri (Ronan 2015). The research team is working with
the Japanese and Philippine governments to ensure the site is treated as a
military cemetery, as approximately half of the 2,400 man crew went down with
the Musashi (Bray 2015).
Even during WWII, ships and airplanes were equipped with
excellent navigational equipment; however, the locations of major sunken
warships were not accurately recorded (Bray 2015). The Battle of Leyte Gulf
took place near the Philippine island of Luzon, but that left a large area for
the Bluefin to search in order to find the wreckage (Bray 2015). The
Bluefin-12D can dive down to depths just shy of 5,000 feet and has an endurance
of 30 hours with a normal payload with a speed between 3 and 5 knots (Bluefin
2015). The combination of the large search area and the modest speed of the
Bluefin made it necessary for the research team to narrow down possible search
areas using historical data and sonar surveys of the sea floor (Bray 2015).
One of the difficulties of using UMS is that it is difficult
to transmit to the vehicle once it has submerged to begin accomplishing its
mission. This difficulty is no different with the Bluefin-12D, which is why the
navigation is accomplish via an Internal Navigation System (INS) (Bluefin
2015). The research team entered the area of interest into the INS prior to
deploying the Bluefin in order to accomplish the search. The Bluefin traveled
in a “lawn mower” pattern across the designated search area using sonar to
generate a map of the sea floor (Bray 2015). Once the Bluefin surfaced from its
search of the area, the research team would remove the internal memory cache
and download the information to study the findings (Bray 2015). The Bluefin
identified the Musashi wreckage location for the research team on only the third
dive nearly 3,300 feet below the surface (Ronan 2015).
The Bluefin-12D is only one of five UMS made by Bluefin
Robotics, but it has proven the usefulness of UMS in the area of search and
salvage operations, whether for emergency or historical purposes. With
improvements in travel speed, data relay, and endurance, UMS will be able to
cover larger search areas more quickly resulting in faster and more frequent
findings. There will be many new uses for UMS in the future and I think that
search and salvage field in which UMS will have a strong impact.
References
Bray, H. (2015). Quincy undersea robot pinpoints sunken
warship. Boston Globe. Retrieved from https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/03/12/bluefin-robot-helps-find-sunken-japanese-warship/DXeVgvQYBq15pQnK4M3HkO/story.html
LaGrone, S. (2014). U.S. Navy Sends Underwater Sonar Robot
in Search for Missing Malaysian Airliner. USNI News. Retrieved from http://news.usni.org/2014/03/24/u-s-navy-sends-underwater-sonar-robot-search-missing-malaysian-airliner
Ronan, P. (2015). Quincy-made robot leads researchers to
wreck of long-lost Japanese battleship. The Patriot Ledger. Retrieved from http://www.patriotledger.com/article/20150312/News/150318472
Bluefin Robotics Corporation. (2015). Bluefin-12D. Summary
and Specifications. Retrieved from http://www.bluefinrobotics.com/products/bluefin-12d/
