# Could US Navy Submarines search for MH370?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-us-navy-submarines-search-for-mh370/813472>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [May 2, 2018, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-us-navy-submarines-search-for-mh370/813472 "2018-05-02T18:24:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-us-navy-submarines-search-for-mh370/813472/21 "2018-05-04T08:17:51Z")

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> [@Ravenman](#):
>
> sonar to detect underwater mines. It is a difficult and slow process to find those things in relatively shallow water

But that is because so many things in the water give a sonar image the size of a mine ?  
The sonar is designed to find large submarines and ships , and otherwise the seabed and reefs (wharves, shore ,etc). And you do these hunt in shallow water, which is very irregular

But the floor of the ocean is largely flat, and the aircraft is large compared to a mine ?

Submarines are doing important things ?? How many countries launched total war against the USA in the last year ? How many refugees jumped into submarines and had to be caught by submarines ? Is the duty cycle of “WWIII readyness” (eg 50% of the time they are ready in position ?) the important thing for the entire fleet ?

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**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-us-navy-submarines-search-for-mh370/813472/22 "2018-05-04T14:16:12Z")

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> [@Isilder](#):
>
> There is a good reason… to find out what happened.
> 
> We think it was suicidal pilot, perhaps in protest , as his relative/friend, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was jailed that day.  
> It turns out the pilot was a little bit odd… the interest in flight simulators… the copilot smoking in the cabin with girls (albiet a previous flight …why did he allow it ? and what happenned ? ).
> 
> But its remotely possible it was some sort of hijacking … a hijacker might have known how to disable comms and adjust the autopilot ? There might be people to arrest ?

But how would we recover any evidence of that, even if we found the plane? It’s five clicks down! This may be a case where a conspiracy theory may have some facts behind it, but without a way to verify those facts it remains a CT.

And a protest without an announcement of what one is protesting is pointless.

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**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [May 4, 2018, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-us-navy-submarines-search-for-mh370/813472/23 "2018-05-04T14:55:11Z")

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> [@Isilder](#):
>
> But that is because so many things in the water give a sonar image the size of a mine ?  
> The sonar is designed to find large submarines and ships , and otherwise the seabed and reefs (wharves, shore ,etc). And you do these hunt in shallow water, which is very irregular
> 
> But the floor of the ocean is largely flat, and the aircraft is large compared to a mine ?

But as has been explained to you, the main sonar arrays on a Navy submarine are not suited for imaging. The types of sonars that are suitable for imaging can only look at small areas of the seabed at any time. [For example](https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/03/mh370-search-ocean/518946/), this article discusses a sonar on a UUV that can image roughly the size of a football field at any one time, but the resolution on that is still too low to identify wreckage of a plane or ship.

> [@](#):
>
> Submarines are doing important things ??

Yes, they are. But given your responses in this thread, I don’t believe it’s worth attempting to explain further.

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