I went on a very nice fishing trip today and snapped a few pics I thought I'd share.

The 104' (Feet, OK! ) sportfisher we went out on:





We went out about 50 miles or so southwest of Perdido Pass in Orange Beach... It was a beautiful day.



Had some pesky but pretty cool porpoises follow us to several spots. They were very curious acting about us. It was the most interactive I have ever seen them. Snapped one quick pic.



The fishing was pretty good. Things have not bounced back fully from either Danny or Katrina but we had a damned good time.



Anyway, we also saw several Navy Sea Stallions towing what I assume to be towed sonar arrays several miles east of a seriese of oil rigs. Were were on course to cross in front of one of them and were told to hold short until he advised us to move on. We don't know what they were doing... Looking for something lost after the hurricane or maybe just doing mapping or training. One guy speculated that it had something to do with President Bush's visit to MS (which was north of our location by that point) but that would seem unlikely wouldn't you think? Terrorist submarines?

There were two of them working a grid low and slow and were out there for hours.

Anyone know much about them or their capabilities?



Just thought I'd share!

damn thats a nice boat...

cool

Awesome boat... good pictures none the less.

I am not sure what the primary helos the Navy uses for sub hunting, but they do tow sonars in the water to hunt subs. Sonar, however, can be used for many other things not directly related to sub hunting. Unless there was a carrier group nearby, I doubt they were doing sub hunting.

It could be training or things related to checking out oil lines/rigs, etc...

But someone with Navy experience could probably give more useful info.

CH-53s are cool birds.

Trying to locate sunken oil platforms maybe?

MH-53E Sea Dragon

Airborne Minesweeping

lookin for the drug sub

Quoted: MH-53E Sea Dragon Airborne Minesweeping

Beat me to it!  Big ol' MH-53.

bmick hit the nail on the head. They're minesweeping helos. My guess is they are looking for chunks of debris that might interfere with sea lanes. Sweep gear is good for finding objects like that underwater. A mine, after all, is no more than a chunk of metal.

Quoted: I am not sure what the primary helos the Navy uses for sub hunting, but they do tow sonars in the water to hunt subs. Sonar, however, can be used for many other things not directly related to sub hunting. Unless there was a carrier group nearby, I doubt they were doing sub hunting. It could be training or things related to checking out oil lines/rigs, etc... But someone with Navy experience could probably give more useful info. CH-53s are cool birds.

That helo is an MH-53E sea dragon.  It is an airborne mine countermeasures platform (AMCM).  It was towing some type of mine detection or clearance device.

The AMCM birds do not have a dedicated ship since the decomissioning of the USS Inchon.  The USS Bataan was originally deployed to the GOM to support HM-15 out of Ingleside.  This is probably a Bataan helo doing training.  MH-53Es aren't much good for close-in SAR because of the high velocity downwash.

The MH-53E does not have an anti-submarine capability.

ETA - I type too much and too slow

Quoted: Anyway, we also saw several Navy Sea Stallions towing what I assume to be towed sonar arrays several miles east of a seriese of oil rigs. Were were on course to cross in front of one of them and were told to hold short until he advised us to move on. We don't know what they were doing... Looking for something lost after the hurricane or maybe just doing mapping or training. One guy speculated that it had something to do with President Bush's visit to MS (which was north of our location by that point) but that would seem unlikely wouldn't you think? Terrorist submarines?

They are mapping the underwater pipelines that carry explosive gas/fluid from the rigs offshore. There is a spiderweb network on the seafloor hooked to surface and undersea platforms. They will also check the usual things: changes in the contours, additional lines, known wrecks and hazards, etc.

Then again, maybe Karl Rove and Rumsfeld want to go fishing and they want the fish to be located ahead of time.

Isn't the Bataan in the Gulf right now to assist with New Orleans?

Quoted: I went on a very nice fishing trip today and snapped a few pics I thought I'd share. The 104" sportfisher   we went out on: www.missceleste.com/pictures/Pict0001.jpg www.gulftel.com/tnolfe/celeste.jpg We went out about 50 miles or so southwest of Perdido Pass in Orange Beach... It was a beautiful day. www.gulftel.com/tnolfe/pass.jpg Had some pesky but pretty cool porpoises follow us to several spots. They were very curious acting about us. It was the most interactive I have ever seen them. Snapped one quick pic. www.gulftel.com/tnolfe/dolphin.jpg The fishing was pretty good. Things have not bounced back fully from either Danny or Katrina but we had a damned good time. www.gulftel.com/tnolfe/fish.jpg Anyway, we also saw several Navy Sea Stallions towing what I assume to be towed sonar arrays several miles east of a seriese of oil rigs. Were were on course to cross in front of one of them and were told to hold short until he advised us to move on. We don't know what they were doing... Looking for something lost after the hurricane or maybe just doing mapping or training. One guy speculated that it had something to do with President Bush's visit to MS (which was north of our location by that point) but that would seem unlikely wouldn't you think? Terrorist submarines? There were two of them working a grid low and slow and were out there for hours. Anyone know much about them or their capabilities? www.gulftel.com/tnolfe/seastallion.jpg Just thought I'd share!

Pretty impressive for a boat that is 8.6 ft long.

Quoted: Quoted: I went on a very nice fishing trip today and snapped a few pics I thought I'd share. The 104" sportfisher   we went out on: Pretty impressive for a boat that is 8.6 ft long.

DOH!

Well the minesweeping for debris and the mapping and checking of the pipes makes sense. Pretty neat thing to see.

As far as debris goes, the Cpt of the boat said that about 3 days after the storm they went west and came ascroo the weed line or tide line. He said it was full of all types of debris and hundreds of dogs, pigs, cows and horses. The sharks were feasting! Said it was a sight he will not soon forget. He also said they saw entire roofs floating around and actually struck a big pole and badly beny a prop!

OH MY GOD!


A 104 inch boat!?   That must have been dreadful.  


CMOS

 Cool pics

I have a few years experience maintaining the electrical/electronic systems aboard the MH-53E.

Their avionics suite differs quite a bit from the Marine Corps' CH-53E.  My guess is that they were doing what they were trained to do; sweep for mines.  IIRC, there are several ships in the GOM supporting Katrina relief ops.  The minesweepers go where the ships go.

They do that after every major hurricane, hoping to find doubloons uncovered by the storm.  

They were looking for the bottom features you caught those fat american red snappers on.

Quoted: damn thats a nice boat...

and expensive too.

I'm guessing you guys didn't run any trotlines. What an impressive vessel.

Great pics.

Who knows how much silt and crap washed back into the shipping channels. They might need to be dredged. It would suck to get a fuel tanker beached on some silt and cut off the natural gas supply.

They're probably just doing a floor map by working a grid.