Settling a debate: can divers hear submarines?

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Steven Bird

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Location
Melbourne Australia
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Ill pop this one in the yarns category but its a genuine question.

Scenario: dive instructor surfaces and says to newbie diver 'OMG, didn't you see the sub go under us at the safety stop?'

The question is whether a scuba diver could hear a military submarine gliding past. Putting aside wake/wash/visibility/pinging, could the diver hear or feel the submarines presence at say 300ft/100m distance.

Part of me says you cant hear them because if you could so could enemy subs in the distance (due to how sound travels under water) ... but on the flip side I suspected the subs stealth relies on being quieter than the ambient ocean noise over DISTANCE and thermoclines?
 
I certainly have off of Canaveral. Saw it too. That was back in 74, so they might have gotten quieter. Definite thrum.
 

... and maybe the answer is there "I was on several nuclear submarines. My last boat was fresh out of new construction. We did sound testing on the boat with another submarine less than 100 yards away, and they could not register us on their sonar, even when we directly shorted motors to the deck and slammed hatches intentionally. The only way they heard us was the underwater phone communication."
 
Always wondered what a consumer fishfinder would display if a stealth submarine passed under.
 
We hear Atlantis cruising by when diving the YO 257 and San Pedro off Waikiki

a1.jpg
 
I have in Cozumel and Andros Island...eerie humming sounds...Andros was submarine warfare games...that was cool to dive among!
 
I am pretty sure that you can easily hear a nearby submarine when diving. My family was sailing at night when I heard propeller noise. Thinking it was a nearby ship, I went topside to make sure we weren't in danger of colliding. No ship to be seen anywhere, including on radar. The propeller noise slowly got quiter until we couldn't hear it anymore.
 
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