Dire straits for overweight submarine

[KIWI-1]

What the...
A new, Spanish-designed submarine has a weighty problem: The vessel is more than 70 tons too heavy, and officials fear if it goes out to sea, it will not be able to surface.
And a former Spanish official says the problem can be traced to a miscalculation someone apparently put a decimal point in the wrong place.

Rest of article at http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology...ectid=10888712

[burnz]

oops.

[Cheese3]

Ok I do get it when designing something you might be slightly wrong, I remember when we were developing the T6 Ranger it was like 20-30kg heavier than expected with certain types like wildtrak. But 70tonne of 2,200 I wonder what the percentage it is

[rog xc]

Gonna have to hire skinny sailors!

Seriously though, 2.7 billion for war toys in this economy??? Makes me wonder how governments survive sometimes.

[twr7cx]

Originally Posted by Cheese3

But 70tonne of 2,200 I wonder what the percentage it is

About 3.18%.

[karj]

Originally Posted by Cheese3

Ok I do get it when designing something you might be slightly wrong, I remember when we were developing the T6 Ranger it was like 20-30kg heavier than expected with certain types like wildtrak. But 70tonne of 2,200 I wonder what the percentage it is

It's easy enough to happen with fluid mechanics equations involving pressure... all it takes is stuffing up an SI prefix (ie: forgetting the 10^6 when entering something like 160MPa into an equation).

Still... not as bad as the NASA & Lockheed Martin Mars Orbiter Non-SI mix up

[sgt_doofey]

Well, now at least the guys here at ASC will have someone to point at and say, at least our subs float!

[jpd80]

Simple, put a set of tracks on her and drive her across the ocean floor, just stay away from the deep stuff...


Our JSF fighter:

......................

[Crazy Dazz]

Was it built by Kockups?

[Bossxr8]

Surely all statistics would have been checked over and over again many times. Surely they don't do the maths once and that's the end of it?

[In Focus]

Originally Posted by karj

It's easy enough to happen with fluid mechanics equations involving pressure... all it takes is stuffing up an SI prefix (ie: forgetting the 10^6 when entering something like 160MPa into an equation).

Still... not as bad as the NASA & Lockheed Martin Mars Orbiter Non-SI mix up

That the one where someone inputted mph instead of kph? Instead of going into orbit, the thing just ploughed into the planet?

[karj]

Originally Posted by In Focus

That the one where someone inputted mph instead of kph? Instead of going into orbit, the thing just ploughed into the planet?

Pretty much, but the unit mix-up was using foot pound seconds instead of newton seconds (the computer software they used was set to output British units instead of metric) and it's believed that it ended up too close to the atmosphere and burned up.

[Streets]

One of the most famous air crashes in history (Gimli Glider) was caused because, among other things, someone mixed up pounds and kilograms when fueling the plane up resulting in the plane running out of fuel mid-flight...

[tweeked]

Originally Posted by Streets

One of the most famous air crashes in history (Gimli Glider) was caused because, among other things, someone mixed up pounds and kilograms when fueling the plane up resulting in the plane running out of fuel mid-flight...

It didnt really crash - it would have been called the Gimli Crasher if it did.

[Yellow_Festiva]

Easy,,, just feed the sailors a staple of baked beans to provide extra buoyancy

[DBourne]

My bad

[karj]

Originally Posted by Yellow_Festiva

Easy,,, just feed the sailors a staple of baked beans to provide extra buoyancy

Too much fibre and we have a viscous flow of a very different kind than that of sea water over a submarine! Brings a whole new meaning to using wind tunnels for flow visualisation...

[blueoval]

So was the person who miscalculated the weight of the sub the same person who calculated the weight of the BA falcon?

[jpblue1000]

Funny you mention the BA, I was speaking with a component supplier who had a similar error in calculating material thickness for a component, was very late in the day when the error was found causing a redesign and heavier component than had been previously engineered around. happens at all levels in all industries.
My teams biggest mistake cost someone 8 million pounds! sort off

JP

[ute83]

I hope we're not in the market for some new subs to replace the Collins class.

[Ducati888]

God I hope not. With respect to our Spanish friends, what the hell do they know about undersea warfare? If we have to buy subs, surely looking to the USA, UK, Russia or China would be more in line with getting the best products available. The Russians had the Typhoon class in the late '70's that was truly a scary machine. So scary that the USA made the Russians scuttle them or destroy them when the cold war ended in the early '90's. You know it's got to be a good when even the USA, at the height of its power, was afraid of these things.

We should've got a couple of those babies, not those Collins class suckers. Or even some Los Angeles class subs from the yanks. Mind you, there's still some in Australia who have a misguided opinion on nuclear powered things, so that's the end of that idea.

Really, what have the Spaniards achieved at sea in the modern age? Do they even have a navy? Have they done anything since Vasco De Gama or Christopher Columbus?

[jpblue1000]

Originally Posted by ute83

I hope we're not in the market for some new subs to replace the Collins class.

I also hope not. In not 100% clear on the Collins class but If I'm correct and we tried to build them ourselves then hooray to us. This is exactly what we as a nation should be doing. Every time we need something, or even want something we should be investing on ourselves, in our people, to give us a go. I Guarantee we wont get it right every time, but we will learn, who knows we might even have a good groundbreaking idea.
Australians don't back ourselves, seemingly preferring to employ out of company, buy from offshore and invest poorly in inevitably the wrong thing.
I say let us build more subs, more this and more that, and if we really believe we can and should make cars lets all band together and BUY the ex Ford factories and go for it. we have the experienced staff looking for a Job

Don't just Buy Australian, believe Australian.

End of sermon JP

[macman]

It's OK, he's from Barcelona...

Originally Posted by SgtBourne

[DJR-351]

Originally Posted by Ducati888

God I hope not. With respect to our Spanish friends......
Really, what have the Spaniards achieved at sea in the modern age? Do they even have a navy? Have they done anything since Vasco De Gama or Christopher Columbus?

Sorry my friend but you are too late, while not subs they are built in the same ship yard by the same Spanish state-owned shipbuilder, Navantia....

Canberra Class Amphibious Assault Ship (LHD)....

http://www.navy.gov.au/fleet/ships-boats-craft/lhd

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberr...elicopter_dock

[jpblue1000]

and we should be building them. War ships, planes tanks etc don't need to be internationally cost competitive they need to be tough and preferably bullet proof.
Australians should be building them. for fornicating sake

JP