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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Letters

Waves under the sea and submarines

The Titanic leaves from Southampton on 10 April 1912 on its maiden voyage
The Titanic leaves from Southampton on 10 April 1912 on its maiden voyage, during which it hit an iceberg and sank off Newfoundland. ‘Titanic was located with scanning sonar,’ writes Tony Meacock. Photograph: AP

Nick Batho, Captain RN (rtd), is completely wrong to say that the oceans are “impenetrable to sound and radio waves” (Letters, 18 July). Very low frequency radio (ELF) has been used to communicate with submarines for years. As for sound, what about sonar? Even on my small yacht I had a depth gauge which worked with pulses of high frequency sound, the Titanic was located with scanning sonar, and there was, and may still be, a chain of sonic detectors in the North Atlantic to detect submarines. Are these methods supposed to be state secrets?
Tony Meacock
Norwich

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