Quote:
Originally Posted by Wijbrandus
Akula,
How shallow was the canal? Was it even possible to submerge if you'd come under shore battery fire?
I'm a daring sub captain, but that seems beyond my acceptable risk. I salute your intestinal fortitude!  |
You are far too kind, good sir... whats the old saying? "Only fools rush in where angels fear to tread" (? - anyway something like that). The canal itself was seriously shallow and I doubt I could have submerged completely even in the deepest of spots. In places I would have sworn I was kicking up mud because of the way the boat reacted... I tried to check the depth with the external camera a time or two when I felt like I was dragging bottom... but it was such a dark night I could not see my hand in front of my face underwater - which thankfully also created great cover for me.
However once you got into the Gulf of Suez there was 30 +/- feet of water to hide in. Quite truthfully if it had not been for perfect timing as far as darkness and good choices on my part... I definitely would have been toast a couple of times with the Elco boats and armed trawlers which were patrolling the north end of the Gulf of Suez - by the south exit of the canal. I obviously had good luck... one of the Elco boats was patrolling back and forth E to W slowly working his way south (ESE > WSW > ESE > etc) and good fortune smiled on me as I found myself in a perfect spot to slip past him as he started working his way back up the Gulf... and a light fog in the southern end of the Red Sea didn't hurt my feelings either.
I had several distant warship warnings in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden... but never made visual contact with anything but the Elco boats and armed trawlers just below the south end of the canal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ivank
no around it,
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Well I guess if we can go through the Suez Canal... it would only seem logical the same is true of the Panama Canal too.