[Milsurplus] Re:Sub radio gear

[Mike Morrow]

>Picked up an AN BRT 1 radio buoy at a swap meet.
>I've been told it is for prerecorded audio messages
>to be broadcast on UHF AM when the BRT 1 surfaces. 

I forget most of the technical details of these units, because we almost never used them.  US submarines during the cold war kept these and the associated messenger bouy electrically de-activated.  In fact, the bouy was restrained by a welded bracket to prevent any possibility of deployment.  Only during post-overhaul sea trials (which since the Thresher loss were conducted in waters less than crush depth) did I ever see these systems armed to deploy.

Given that the average depth of the Atlantic Ocean is about two miles, these systems were unlikely to provide much benefit during normal patrol operations.  Inadvertent deployment would present substantial inconvenience.

We also kept control of the removed power fuses to the IFF transponder to prevent it from responding to interogation (it was a common aircraft AN/APX-72 set).

Mike / KK5F