Protection of Trade
The title above is a complete misnomer, but seems to fit the image.
What you are seeing is one of the very early Los Angeles-class (SSN-688) nuclear attack submarines transitting outbound in the Straits of Gibraltar late in 1980. The old-school break-bulk merchant ship silhouetted on the horizon beyond is coincidentally doing the same thing. They are most definitely not in company or operating together.
This image was taken from aboard HMS Ardent (F184) within a couple of hours of departing Gibraltar heading into the Mediterranean, en route to the Gulf of Oman for the commencement of our participation in Operation Armilla. Seeing what was then such a modern American submarine on the surface was a novelty - no-one aboard had seen a 688 before...
The shot was looking directly into the sun and I have converted it to black and white. Scanned from a slide.
Protection of Trade
The title above is a complete misnomer, but seems to fit the image.
What you are seeing is one of the very early Los Angeles-class (SSN-688) nuclear attack submarines transitting outbound in the Straits of Gibraltar late in 1980. The old-school break-bulk merchant ship silhouetted on the horizon beyond is coincidentally doing the same thing. They are most definitely not in company or operating together.
This image was taken from aboard HMS Ardent (F184) within a couple of hours of departing Gibraltar heading into the Mediterranean, en route to the Gulf of Oman for the commencement of our participation in Operation Armilla. Seeing what was then such a modern American submarine on the surface was a novelty - no-one aboard had seen a 688 before...
The shot was looking directly into the sun and I have converted it to black and white. Scanned from a slide.