Reality Askew

Don’t ask me why but for some reason I get most of my ideas when I’m in that realm between sleep and waking.  Last night was no exception and at 2am I found myself contemplating submarine defense systems.  In particular anti-torpedo defenses.  Currently submarines rely on countermeasures that involve decoys, bubble barriers, etc.  Besides thinking that the very idea of a torpedo (cigar shaped tube with explosives) is primitive, it occured to me that one might be able to simply fire off some sort of remote controled net in the path of the oncoming torpedo that would snare it.  Once snared the net could employ either an electrical charge or small explosive to destroy the torpedo or at the very least render it ineffective.

A more sophisticated idea would be to have some sort of electronic countermeasures that fry the brains of the torpedo.  Like a highly focused energy beam?  Of course the problem with that is the natural barrier the water presents.  But if one could fire the beam inside of a very narrow bubble tube maybe?

Now go way outside the realm of possibility and figure out a way to manipulate water density and one might therorectically be able to just crush the torpedo from afar.  This one I like the best but I don’t see us having the ability to do this any time soon.

Update:  Thinking of defenses got me to thinking of offensive weapons.  Enemy ships and submarines are alerted to incoming torpedoes primarily based on the sound from the propellers, so why not develop a propulsion system like flipper on a seal?  The noise would either be silent or mimic an animal.  The explosive, tracking , or eavesdropping device could then operate almost completely undetected.