www.ditl.org

Is that docking collar thing true? I thought they just made it up for The Hunt For Red October.

GrahamKennedy wrote:Is that docking collar thing true? I thought they just made it up for The Hunt For Red October.

I thought it was. Oddly I can't find specific data on the docking collar of Mystic-class DSRVs, but it shouldn't be that hard to create a universal collar. The escape hatch where it docks can only be so big, create a solid seal, and drain the water inbetween. Should be easy enough I think.

Really? Because I would have thought it would be next to impossible. I'm handicapped in that I don't really know the mechanism of a docking collar, but I imagine it must consist of some sort of circular indentation in the hull of the boat, and a circular projection in the DSRV, sized so that one fits into the other very tightly... then some sort of mechanism to lock it down. It might be some variation on that, but surely there must be some sort of "fitting together" of parts to make a watertight seal.

And if it's anything like that then I can't imagine how you could fit to anything other than a port designed precisely for your docking collar. It would be like trying to make a stereo jackplug that could fit into any socket, regardless of size.

Of course it's possible that the world's navies co-operate on the design of these hatches. I'm not sure that would have been done during the cold war, though. It would make excellent sense for everyone to do so, but the political difficulties would be huge.

The exact shape of the hull can vary but most military subs have an escape trunk along their hull, most of which are roughly the same size. It probably wouldn't be a perfect fit on every hull of every type, but I'd expect it to work on the majority of modern military vessels

If you are underwater, there are two types of match on your docking ports. There's the type that is perfect, and there is the type that gets everybody dead.

The aliens wouldnt need to have the exact parts needed. Just the basic bits that Voyager can then use how they need.

As far as I've heard, the docking collars used on rescue subs are large vaccum tubes with a crawl space/latter in them. They don't really fit anything perfectly as shown in Hunt for Red October but they work on most anything.

I'm sure once Seafort or Kendall log on they can solve this question nicely.

Deepcrush wrote:As far as I've heard, the docking collars used on rescue subs are large vaccum tubes with a crawl space/latter in them. They don't really fit anything perfectly as shown in Hunt for Red October but they work on most anything.

I don't see how that could work. How do you make a watertight seal with something that's sized differently to the thing latching onto it?

Well they aren't latching to the hatchway. There's nothing there to attach to. The seal connects to the outer hull.

GrahamKennedy wrote:

Deepcrush wrote:As far as I've heard, the docking collars used on rescue subs are large vaccum tubes with a crawl space/latter in them. They don't really fit anything perfectly as shown in Hunt for Red October but they work on most anything.

I don't see how that could work. How do you make a watertight seal with something that's sized differently to the thing latching onto it?

Think of it as a giant suction cup. It's large enough to encompass the escape hatches, sucks out the water and you'll have instant escape tunnel.

And if the hull is not smooth and flat? Try using a suction cup on a surface with a few bumps on it sometime.

Well, I can't speak for the system its self. I would think that they would have a way around that. I don't for sure myself.

GrahamKennedy wrote:And if the hull is not smooth and flat? Try using a suction cup on a surface with a few bumps on it sometime.

Deep's pretty much got it - the DSRVs are designed to attatch themselves to the hull around the hatches, and then just open them as they would on the surface. As for the issue you raise, submarine hulls are designed to be flat - the more bumps they've got, the more noise they'd make, therefore everything is either flush with the hull or covered over while submerged.

Captain Seafort wrote:

GrahamKennedy wrote:And if the hull is not smooth and flat? Try using a suction cup on a surface with a few bumps on it sometime.

Deep's pretty much got it - the DSRVs are designed to attatch themselves to the hull around the hatches, and then just open them as they would on the surface. As for the issue you raise, submarine hulls are designed to be flat - the more bumps they've got, the more noise they'd make, therefore everything is either flush with the hull or covered over while submerged.

Dang, seafort got to it before I did, but he's got it right.