The former Soviet Union gained a reputation for offloading military hardware to the highest bidder.
In 2019, footage of a U.S. Coast Guard interdiction of a homemade drug smuggling submarine took the world by storm, and for good reason. As we watched one of the baddest dudes we’re ever apt to see anywhere outside of a movie pounding on the hatch of the mostly submerged sub, many of us were shocked to learn that drug cartels
actually have their own submarines.
What may surprise you more is that these amateur submarines were really a consolation prize for drug smugglers out of Colombia. Their first choice? An actual Soviet Foxtrot-class submarine. What’s even crazier, however, is that the Russians seemed to be more than happy to sell them one.
Just over 66 years ago, one of the Navy’s most secretive communities began. Its members went by the code word SOSUS, which means “Sound Surveillance System.” A new front line in the Cold War, they had one mission: FIND SUBMARINES.
Lack of knowledge and information concerning oceanographic and acoustic conditions off the continental coasts hampered the U.S. Navy’s efforts against the submarine threat during World War II. It was apparent the German Navy had better information and a better understanding of how to use the Atlantic Ocean. Consequently, since the war, the U.S. Navy has maintained a continuous program of oceanographic surveys designed to provide more detailed information on currents, temperature, salinity, and other factors that comprise the oceanic environment and affect the transmission of sound in saltwater. The U.S. Navy was determined never to again lag behind others in its knowledge of this vital battlespace.