All of my comments are for final configurations (except where noted). As a boat ages, there are always sonar upgrades and other short-term test modifications installed, so there is no way to definitively define a ship's configuration except by year/period.
Common sonar errata that has been repeated endlessly until it's taken as fact: Trident submarines are often cited as having a BQS-15. There were BQS-15 components installed, (High Frequency sail-mounted projectors, the rotating receiver pedestal mounted above them, and the HF processors - basically the whole front end) but the back end of the system was pure IBM-built Q-6. IBM built the majority of the system in Manassas, VA. (not Oswego, where sub-system components were procured.) They sold their stake in the sonar system business to Lockheed/Martin after the SUBACS/BSY-1 fiasco occurred. IBM built very good systems with the best documentation I have ever read. There were 84 volumes of tech manuals for the Q-6 alone!
Other common mistakes for sonars installed on Tridents:
The BQR-19, (a mast-mounted array that was raised above the thermal layer while proceeding to periscope depth, installed on the original boomers) was never installed. Didn't need it with the spherical Q-6. The BQR-19 was never a navigation system as its often described. (24 staves of hydrophones in a tiny array on top of the mast.) It was purely dedicated for collision avoidance, and had super-short range with a very narrow receiver bandwidth. The BQR-19 used a BTR (Bearing Time Recorder) display. There was a remote BTR on the conn as well that the other sonars (BQR-2/7) could feed. It was the best BTR made until the PDRs (Precision Data Recorders) were furnished with the Q-5 and 6. I had a buddy who was the Sonar Supervisor on the 598 when they sank a Japanese freighter on their way to PD. He saw the BQR-19 flashing Alert light (that gave a semblance of fair warning until the BTR could trace enough lines to indicate target bearing) which triggered when it detected a high SNR broadband noise level. According to standard protocol, he instantly alerted the OOD that there was a close-aboard contact and he should abort the depth excursion. The OOD blew him off and the rest is history. The OOD and CO lost their careers; the sonar sup was unscathed. (Everything we said in sonar was recorded, as well as the primary passive sonar acoustic channel on our dual-channel, dual-tape deck UNQ-7s.
The BQR-23/25: Another towed array and processing system installed on old boomers that wasn't ever installed on Tridents. The same goes for the 60's BQS-13 Fire Control System components - again, it had it's own purpose-built FCS using 688-class components.
This is probably the most accurate unclassified as-built Trident sonar info ever published, so you saw it here first:
The BQQ-6 configuration was composed of letter-designated groups:
Group A: Detection and Tracking (Passive-only neutered Q-5 with BQS-15 components, and a pair of TB-16 "Fat Line" towed arrays.) Group B: Acoustic Communication (AN/WQC-5 Underwater telephone) Used to communicate through the water acoustically with other equipped vessels. Group C: Depth/Sound-Speed (AN/BHQ-1) a bathythermograph that measured the speed of sound through water as we moved up & down in the water column. Group D: Emergency Acoustic Comms (AN/BQC-1) A short-range, underwater telephone located near each escape trunk to communicate with rescue vessels. Group E: Distress Beacons (AN/BQN-1) Located near each escape trunk for rescue vessels to localize a downed boat's position. It could ping for ten days straight. Group F: Depth Sounding (AN/UQN-1) - Standard Navy fathometer, good to 6000 fathoms, Group G: Bathythermograph (Standard BQH-7 expendable SSXBT system, launched from the aft signal ejector to measure the water temp) Group H: Recorder-Reproducer (Dual-deck AN/UN-7E - just like the Nautilus) When one deck got to the end of the reel, the other would start.
In the mid-80's, the Rockwell-built AN/BQQ-9 system was installed on all Tridents after the Georgia (at EB) and the first four boats were back-fitted by Trident Refit Facility's sonar shop over three, twenty-four day refit periods. The Q-9 used the 1" diameter Thinline Towed Array (TLTA) installed on a handling system in the superstructure behind the missile tubes. Initially, this was deployed on the surface manually, but proved to be too dangerous and the system was subsequently upgraded with a handling system that was operated inboard. One original TB-16 (called the Fatline Array after that) was retained. Both tow cable reels were housed just forward of the Sonar Control room (a pair of OK-742 Handling Systems.)
After attending a Rockwell International factory Q-9 course, I was the Lead for all four Q-9 installations performed at Subase Bangor.
The picture of the 50' section (we all knew it was longer, but that's what we called it) is the only known shot of the MINSY conversion that I know of online. The vertical plates that cover the sides of the Ocean Engineering section served two purposes - they kept it level, preventing it from rolling over as it was slid into place and concealment. (Notice the beams beneath - round hulls don't slide too well without side support and MINSY didn't use a launch cradle to move the OE section.) The plates were subsequently removed for hydrodynamic streamlining, (contributing to overall quietness and less drag) and a curtain was used when in drydock for concealment as noted above. Note the watertight door in Frame 27 leading from the front of the Crew's Mess. Above it hung the sign attached below. . . When inport, there was an expanded metal mesh door with a six-button cipher lock and a curtain positioned in the passageway behind the screen leading through the watertight door. It was removed when underway.
One day while inport, I was standing the Projects Watch when someone wearing an Admiral's costume pulled the and banged on the screen door, demanding access. He wasn't wearing the special access badge that was handed out topside when checking in, (only the crew didn't sport access badges) so I told him I couldn't allow him access. He got pretty pissed-off and asked me if I knew who he was. I shrugged my shoulders and said, "You could be anyone wearing an admiral's uniform sent down here to test me. No badge, no entry . . . sir. --I don't make the rules, I just obey them."
A moment later, the CO ran up behind him, motioning wildly for me to let him enter. As it turned out, it was COMSUBPAC! He shook my hand on the way out and thanked me for earning my 57 cents an hour.
Sorry to get off-topic in a Nautilus-related thread. . .
CCC
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Last edited by CC Clarke on Wed Jan 27, 2021 7:40 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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