Talk:Sonobuoy

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This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 16 May 2019 and 24 August 2019. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): JohnHGaff.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 09:48, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Use of Sonobuoys in WWII
(See Japanese submarine I-52 (1943) )

According to the article, the submarine was traced and later sunk thanks to sonobouys from TBF Avengers from the USS Bogue.
 * That article also provides some interesting details (albeit unreferenced) which aren't mentioned in this article:
 * "Taylor dropped a purple sonobuoy, a newly-developed device that floated, picked up underwater noise, and transmitted it back. A searching aircraft usually dropped these in packs of five, named purple, orange, blue, red and yellow (POBRY); the operator was able to monitor each buoy in turn to listen for sounds emitted by its target."
 * Maybe this is worth including in some form in the sonobuoy article? Wingman4l7 (talk) 00:51, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Cost of Sonobuoy Devices
These things come in loads, and are therefore expendable, is that correct? What is the cost of such equipment? Are these devices inexpensive enough to be used in throw-away mode, like artillery shells or bullets? I'm just wondering how efficient these are. If they are cheap enough, do users deploy tens, or hundreds of them, to saturate an area? Deploying three would seem like a minimum to me. I'm just interested in what the economies of scale are now that they are only 5"! Thanks for any comments!  // Brick Thrower 08:35, 4 September 2006 (UTC)


 * If you do a Google search for sonabuoy and cost, you get a figure of around $ 300. Seaphoto 21:36, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

In the mid-1970s, I heard a figure of $60 for an omnidirectional sonobuoy (SSQ-41, IIRC). The directional passive sonobuoys (SSQ-53?) were around $300. I heard a figure of $500 for an active (command-activated pinger) bouy. We used shedloads of them, ten to thirty in a six to ten hour mission. Spacing was dictated by several factors (five factors IIRC), and ambient noise was a biggie. They had scuttling plugs, with a delay that was user selectable. I believe that the actual figures are still classified, as are the hydrophone depth selections. Think of this: if a sub has moved from the initial search area, the radio frequencies that were in use need to be available in the new search area, so the buoys need to visit Davy Jones. I don't recall of an instance when we would have liked to have one resurface. Efficient? Well, they were quite good, with consistent quality, at least the one made by Magnavox, the primary contractor. The bulk of the solution hinged on ambient noise, proper spacing, the expertise of the operators, and the tactical savvy of the TACCO. Constant training and study. I do believe that the US won the Cold War, albeit at a significant cost. LorenzoB (talk) 06:23, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure why, but shouldn't sonobuoys be useful in the search for aircraft downed in the ocean, particularly if they are fairly inexpensive? Sonobuoy's can be deployed over wide areas and fairly quickly (using aircraft vs. ships). Consider too that the aircraft is usually TRYING to be located with active transponders! Consider the mysterious loss of Malaysia Airlines 370 in March 2014.71.10.145.225 (talk) 22:48, 7 January 2015 (UTC)

In short, not really. The main difference between systems in sonobuoys and those in ships is precision. Sonobuoys are designed to find enemy vessels, whose behavior is predictable—they stay away from the seafloor, as they must avoid hull damage, as well as safe depth/pressure. This distance between the vessel and the floor results in a time separation between echo components. As a crashed aircraft would be very close to sediments, you would need an extremely sensitive device to map the sea floor with high precision. Axeyop (talk) 08:47, 4 September 2022 (UTC)

RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command in WW II used some sonobuoys under the codename High Tea - there's a picture of a Liberator GR.Mk.VIII that mentions the High Tea name here:  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.248.28 (talk) 14:25, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Citation Discrepancy
EVOLUTION OF THE SONOBUOY.pdf Holler, Roger A., "The Evolution of the Sonobuoy From World War II to The Cold War," U.S. Navy Journal of Underwater Acoustics, January 2014, p. 323. No longer works.

Terraine, John (1985). The Right of the Line: The Royal Air Force in the European War, 1939–1945. London: Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-26644-1. OCLC 13125337 is under copyright, however, could be found at a local library.

JohnHGaff (talk) 16:38, 24 May 2019 (UTC)