You Call That A Scorpio?

Many people have probably followed the plight of the Russian sailors stranded 190 meters under water in a mini-sub. It was nice to see militaries around the world put aside their differences and come to the mariners’ aid.

But it’s worth pointing out this article lest anyone believe that the air of camaraderie in crises diminished the sense of machismo, competition, and old fashion "mine is bigger than yours" boosterism that is so central to our militaries. I quote:

Britain, responding to a request from the Russians, was sending a Scorpio remote-controlled underwater vehicle capable of descending 925 meters.

A U.S. Navy spokesman said a Super Scorpio, an unmanned deep diving submarine capable of reaching a depth of 1,515 meters, would be airlifted to the scene from San Diego naval base in California.

I’m glad to see that nobody was distracted from singing the praises of their expensive toys’ 900 meter plus diving capabilities by the fact that the stranded mini-sub in question was only 190 meters below the surface. It’s a shame that the British did not have time to arrange for an "Ultra-Scorpio." Something like that could have really saved the day.

3 Replies to “You Call That A Scorpio?”

  1. More likely it was a clueless reporter putting his spin on it. It is amazing how little people know about the military. You send any help you have available. Frankly no one cares how deep the equipment goes if it gets the job done. Thankfully the crew was rescued.

    Besides, how is this spin any different than “my supercomputer is fastest” or “Linux is faster than Windows”?

  2. >  Besides, how is this spin any different than
    > “my supercomputer is fastest” or “Linux is faster
    > than Windows”?

    It isn’t.

    What makes you think I would treat these arguments any differently?

    In fact, I run two 4+ year old underclocked machines and could care less about speed as long as the job is getting done.

  3. Hey let those boyscouts have a ball with their toys. If they do any good with them it’s probably the first time :-)

Leave a Reply to Mark Miller Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *