Sea-based SM-62 "Snark" carrier

[Dilandu]

On a bad day

I beg your pardon, but is "Snark" did not fly above the overcast?

[TimothyC]

On a bad day

I beg your pardon, but is "Snark" did not fly above the overcast?

One Snark missile flew off course and ended up in Brazil.

[Dilandu]

One Snark missile flew off course and ended up in Brazil.

Well, it wasn't by a bad weather!

[deankal55]

The errant Snark was aimed at Ascension Island, but landed in Brazil. I think the problem was something besides not being able to see the stars.

According to a source I found on the web (an always accurate and relivant source) above 45,000 feet cloud cover should not interfer with astronavigation systems. This would mean that the Snark would have to fly near its maximum altitude most of the flight.

[orihara]

The errant Snark was aimed at Ascension Island, but landed in Brazil. I think the problem was something besides not being able to see the stars.

According to a source I found on the web (an always accurate and relivant source) above 45,000 feet cloud cover should not interfer with astronavigation systems. This would mean that the Snark would have to fly near its maximum altitude most of the flight.

The max height of cloud cover varies with the height of the tropopause. Generally speaking, outside of the tropics, the tropopause is below 45kft. This does depend on weather, and the tropopause could reach 30kft or lower during the winter in the arctic. With thunderstorms, you can have clouds above the tropopause, but this is a relatively rare occurance, and with proper weather forecasting, should pose relatively little problem.

[Dilandu]

Well, "Snark"-carried submarine number II!

Hull is lengthened to accommodate longer missiles.

[deankal55]

Dilandu, this looks a little more practical. I'm still not sure you would have room for a torpedo room in the bow. However, tubes outside of the pressure hull that could not be reloaded would be possible for forward torpedo tubes. I don't know that you need all of the photo registration lines on the missile, those would only be on test missiles. The U.S. flag seems too large, and I'm not sure, but I seem to remember that flagstaffs on U.S. subs are at the stern end of the sail.

If I knew what an astrotracker looked like I would suggest adding one so the submarine could feed launch location information into the missile prior to launch.