Submarine Fireball Video |
nancy |
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Old Salt Posts: 461 Location: Medina, OH | Subject: Submarine Fireball Video In case you've not seen it, below is link to video of fireball demonstration aboard USS Silversides. In WW2, There were reports of Ball Lightning type fireballs on board U.S. Submarines. It was suspected that these rare events were caused ... all » by the very high inrush currents when the switch was closed from the huge capacity battery banks into the powerful DC electric motors which propelled the submarines. In his 4 decade search to understand some of the many possible causes of Ball Lightning, Robert K. Golka managed to "Borrow" a submarine for experiments, using the many thousand amp generators used to recharge there huge battery banks. On Board the USS Silversides Submarine, he short circuits the DC generator outputs in attempts to duplicate this inrush current with the hopes of creating the rare fireballs reported only in this series of submarines. For other experiments not in this movie, he has an available array of 500 batteries, each about 1000 pounds at 2 volts per battery and each battery able to sustain about 16,000 anps of shorted discharge. Contact induction@comcast.net « | ||
Flapper |
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Master and Commander Posts: 1107 Location: Tucson AZ | Subject: RE: Submarine Fireball Video What was in that video was NOT like the fireball I witnessed once on Daniel Boone in Guam. What I'm seeing in the video looks like massive arcing and pieces of molten contacts spewing out of switchgear. The one I saw on the Boone was actually like ball lightning - a volley-ball-sized globe of plasma that came out of the switchgear when we were paralleling shorepower with ship's power and Guams power frequency glitched just as the electrical operator closed the shorepower breaker when the ship and shore were out of phase nearly 180 degrees. Any EM will tell you that doing that can wreak havoc. I was in AMR2 upperlevel when it happened and that crazy dancing ball just zigged around the aft corner of the switchgear cabinets, touched the safety railing around access to LL AMR2, deflected down the ladder just missing the LL watch and dissipated when it hit the deck grates over the bilge. It made for some interesting log entries for me and the lower level watch both! In any case it had no resemblence to what the video showed. | ||
jerrydf |
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Crew Posts: 57 Location: Ormond Beach, Florida | Subject: RE: Submarine Fireball Video During WW2 from talking to people who were on Submarines under depth charge attack, Agreenish mist or glow on the deck of control room. I have never heard it explained exactly what happened. But some reported they thought it was a prelude to destruction. Obviously not if they returned to tell the story. SS377, 480, 337, SSN 596, SSBN 644, SS 347, SSBN 657, SSN 653 | ||