December 21, 2015

Where are the old Canadian SOSUS arrays?


Quick primer on underwater surveillance and anti-submarine warfare. Around 1950 the US Navy started planning and building underwater hydrophones that would listen for Soviet submarines. This was the beginning of SOSUS. After the fall of the Soviet Union many of the sites were decommissioned or centralized, since around the same time there were "technological advancements" (as the official documents state) that allowed bases further away from the sensors to do the monitoring. I suspect this technological improvement was fiberoptic cable.

Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) arrays were first setup at HMCS Shelburne (Nova Scotia) in 1955, and NAS Argentia (Newfoundland) in 1959, operated by the US Navy, and eventually jointly with the Canadian Navy. In 1995 the operations were transitioned to Canadian Forces IUSS Centre (CFIC) (now HMCS Trinity?), part of CFB Halifax, where sensors were remotely monitored from then on. In 1999 joint-US Navy / Canadian Navy operations at HMCS Trinity were handed off to the Canadian Navy exclusively.
  • Where were these arrays? 
  • Are they still in use now? 
  • What did these systems look like? 
  • Have these underwater anti-submarine warfare nets been decommissioned, or upgraded to match new technology? 
I have a lot of questions.

I wonder if nautical charts show where these arrays are, but don't say what they are - you wouldn't want one to get dredged after all. Time to find some nautical charts.

Here is a timeline of events from Integrated Undersea Surveillance System Alumni web site

1955
NAVFACs established in Bermuda, Shelburne Nova Scotia, Nantucket MA, and Cape May NJ.

1959
NAVFAC Argentia, Newfoundland established

1960
Shallow Water system installed and terminated at Navfac Argentia: Ten 8-element arrays on two 40-pair cables: counter against Hudson Bay submarine patrols by SovietsFirst and only curved array terminated at Shelburne, Nova Scotia

1963
First 2x20 array installed at NAVFAC Argentia, Nfld.

1968
NAVFAC Argentia, Nfld Shallow Water Complex deactivated

1972
PMW 124 established and the modernization of SOSUS begins.
Joint Canadian Forces/US Navy operational manning commenced at NAVFAC Argentia, Nfld.

1994
HMCS Trinity established at Halifax Nova Scotia; CFS Shelburne, Nova Scotia disestablished.NAVFAC Argentia, Nfld disestablished; operations turned over to Canadian Forces IUSS Centre (CFIC), Halifax, Nova Scotia.

http://www.iusscaa.org/history.htm

The old site at Naval Facility (NavFac) Lewes was decommissioned and now sits abandoned. It's cable that ran 20 nautical miles out the the edge of the continental shelf has been exposed. Someone has put a lot of time and effort into figuring it out, and I'm quite envious of the detail they have uncovered.

Reference:
http://fas.org/irp/program/collect/iuss.htm

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