Originally Posted by Ministry of Defence

Data collected by Royal Navy submarines, as part of standard operations, is set to provide clues on Arctic climate change.

More...

Makes perfect sense. Even if one no longer have a significant operational role one must still seek to add value somewhere.

Originally Posted by Counter-Bluffer-Ops

Makes perfect sense. Even if one no longer have a significant operational role one must still seek to add value somewhere.

This is the RN bit of ARRSE. Why are you bringing the Army and RAF into it?

Originally Posted by Dunservin

This is the RN bit of ARRSE. Why are you bringing the Army and RAF into it?

Wrong, old boy. This is the forum on the Army Rumour Service where one who serves in the Army can comment (generally adversely) upon the Service that would have difficulty filling a Norther Premier league club's football stadium. I'm very much afraid that the RN's future lies predominately within the fish and weather domain.

I am not keen on fish.

Totally enthralled-now my life has meaning.

Wasn't that how we first broke the German naval enigma codes? They were teutonically efficient in sending regular weather reports in a fixed format. If you knew what the weather was up to, it was rum and medals all round.

Originally Posted by Counter-Bluffer-Ops

Wrong, old boy. This is the forum on the Army Rumour Service where one who serves in the Army can comment (generally adversely) upon the Service that would have difficulty filling a Norther Premier league club's football stadium. I'm very much afraid that the RN's future lies predominately within the fish and weather domain.

There's no need to get jealous just because it takes several squaddies to do the job of one matelot. It's not your fault that the minimum reading age for entry as a soldier has been reduced to six years. Is it true that the instructions printed on thunderflashes have been changed from "Ignite fuse then throw away immediately" to "Light up and chuck like fuck"

As well as fish and weather, the RN also does a lot of wildlife research - and not just in Johanas/Diamond Lils. You'll never get closer to a Blue Whale than when it's raping the submarine you're trying to navigate under the ice cap. Remember that next time the bin men go on strike and your country needs your specialist, squaddie skills.

I would imagine that the RN's bathythermograph readings going back years and covering every ocean in the world, if they have been enywhere preserved, would make a treasure trove for oceanographers. I don't think this was recognised in my day and doubt if the readings were kept though.

Oh and for those who don't know the things, a bathythermograph is a thingy you lower into the water and it scribes the temperature on a slide as it goes down, so that you get a graph of temperature against depth.

Sippican, Inc. - Expendable Probes

I would be surprised if the records haven't been preserved, though I would imagine that they are mixed in with other data which is classified.