New surface and underwater surveillance technology? Or not?

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Are these wrecks actually protected by international law, there’s no smash and grab operation going on without local approval. Someone is making money.

In terms of the historical wrecks to which I'm referring, looting is the problem. So easy in the Med

 

[JackOfDiamonds]

Or is anything new to patrol underwater, being designed, publicly or in secret? What size of diving operation was likely the culprits? I have had occasional odd thoughts of an anonymous-looking old freighter lingering about with nothing unusual seen above the waterline, but a large underwater diver lockin-lockout and suchlike.

With out going into too many specifics details, while i was enlisted i have encountered such "devices" in development and i believe they are already deployed to our northern border.

They are completely AI controlled but an operator can also take control remotely, equipped with cameras and other sensors.

 

[Anthony Appleyard]

Do these devices all merely surveill? Or can any of them catch a diver and bring him back to its base?

In wartime, frogman-killing devices have been heard of, and I wonder if any such devices (e.g. high-powered ultrasound) are installed in secret important naval bases.

 

[Celt]

In terms of the historical wrecks to which I'm referring, looting is the problem. So easy in the Med

UNESCO convention protects anything submerged 100 years (WW1 but not WW2 ) some Mediterranean countries haven’t even signed up for that. So it’s a free for all.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

UNESCO convention protects anything submerged 100 years (WW1 but not WW2 ) some Mediterranean countries haven’t even signed up for that. So it’s a free for all.

No one goes after WW2 wrecks in Greece for metal. That kind of operation would result in the Hellenic Navy showing up in no time.

Greece is a signatory for UNESCO.

But UNESCO doesn't protect anything. Countries do, and that all depends on will and resources.

Given the number of islands in the Aegean (most uninhabited), unless you are monitoring everything from satellites, there is simply no way to monitor all areas, as there are reported and unreported shipwrecks whose areas are closed for diving. Super easy to drop off divers. Now I've done it, but I had paperwork registered with the Hellenic Coast Guard that authorized my solo diving. But I don't think I would have been caught had I been diving illegally.

People are getting caught every week in possession of antiquities, but how many are not caught? It is just a lucrative business, like narcotics, just without the violence.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Do these devices all merely surveill? Or can any of them catch a diver and bring him back to its base?

In wartime, frogman-killing devices have been heard of, and I wonder if any such devices (e.g. high-powered ultrasound) are installed in secret important naval bases.

First off, I get the feeling that two things are being conflated here - military development of AUVs for ocean surveillance, and the wreck issue. A link was not posted to The Daily Telegraph article referred to in the first post, but that crap piece of writing from The Sun slapped the two topics together so crudely a drunk welder would be embarrassed. Second, no way they would be anything but surveillance devices. Can you imagine the Cat-5 crapstorm if a British military AUV injured or killed a recreational diver? Third, the nearest UK naval station is the British Defense Support Unit at Singapore; if the plan was for these things to play SCUBA paddy wagon one might as well just throw a sacrificial diver in the water at the start of the job and count on an uninterrupted week while an AUV plods across all the way across the Java Sea to the southern tip of Malaysia and back.

Useful to keep some notes in mind when relying on certain UK press sources:


For catching divers, as far as I'm aware nobody has beaten Flipper & Co. at that. I've had two friends who were marine mammal trainers for the USN; their duties included playing practice targets for their charges and it was not a fun experience.

 

[Celt]

No one goes after WW2 wrecks in Greece for metal. That kind of operation would result in the Hellenic Navy showing up in no time.

Greece is a signatory for UNESCO.

But UNESCO doesn't protect anything. Countries do, and that all depends on will and resources.

Given the number of islands in the Aegean (most uninhabited), unless you are monitoring everything from satellites, there is simply no way to monitor all areas, as there are reported and unreported shipwrecks whose areas are closed for diving. Super easy to drop off divers. Now I've done it, but I had paperwork registered with the Hellenic Coast Guard that authorized my solo diving. But I don't think I would have been caught had I been diving illegally.

People are getting caught every week in possession of antiquities, but how many are not caught? It is just a lucrative business, like narcotics, just without the violence.

Tackling organised crime gangs and militants dealing in antiquities is a different ball game than a diver taking a souvenir.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

Tackling Sotheby's and other art dealers dealing in antiquities is a different ball game than a diver taking a souvenir.

FIFY. While there is certainly organized crime in Greece, there are no militants. The mafia might be involved at times but I doubt typically. I suspect auction houses/collectors have contacts who acts as a middlemen.

 

[Anthony Appleyard]

...For catching divers, as far as I'm aware nobody has beaten Flipper & Co. at that. I've had two friends who were marine mammal trainers for the USN; their duties included playing practice targets for their charges and it was not a fun experience.

i read about someone got concerned that wild dolphins would see and imitate and attack any divers.

 

[tursiops]

i read about someone got concerned that wild dolphins would see and imitate and attack divers.

If you believe everything you read then you are well advised to stop reading.