The Submarine Tracking System was a fictional electronic system used to detect, range (determine the distance of), and map the location of submerged nuclear submarines. It was developed by Dr. Bechmann and Professor Markovitz for wealthy entrepreneur and criminal, Karl Stromberg. The equipment appeared in the 1977James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me and its accompanying novelisation, James Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me.
History[]
Contracted by wealthy entrepreneur and criminal, Karl Stromberg, the submarine tracking system was developed by Dr. Bechmann and Professor Markovitz. The equipment was designed to locate a submerged nuclear submarine by its wake using heat-signature recognition; analogous to detecting an intercontinental ballistic missile in flight by its tail fire. The equipment was installed aboard Stomberg's submarine-hunting super tanker, the Liparus, and appears to have had an operating range of minimally 3,500 km (2175 miles).[1] It is operated from a computer console in the Liparus control room and displays its output on both a 4½" LCD display and a large globe map. The system works in tandem with capture equipment capable of jamming a vessel's electromechanical systems.
It was first used during the capture of the BritishHMS Ranger in the Norwegian Sea, followed by the Soviet vessel Potemkin. Shortly after the field test, Stromberg murdered its creators in a helicopter "accident". The equipment was used to capture one further submarine, the USS Wayne. Stromberg intended to trigger a nuclear holocaust by destroying cities with their payload of nuclear missiles, but was sabotaged by the duplicity of an employee. Prior to her demise, the assistant attempted to sell the plans of the Tracking System to competing international governments; leaking incomplete blueprints and gaining the attention of both the British and Soviet intelligence services. Following a prisoner break-out aboard the Liparus led by James Bond, the tracking equipment was used to locate the two hijacked submarines before they fired on New York and Moscow, sending counter-orders to inadvertently nuke each-other. Severely damaged from the internal battle, the Liparus and its tracking system subsequently explode and sink below the waves.
Gallery[]
.png "Submarine tracking system (1).png (1.96 MB)"){kind=tracking}
.png "Submarine tracking system (2).png (1.9 MB)"){kind=tracking}
.png "Submarine tracking system (4).png (1.58 MB)"){kind=tracking}
.png "Submarine tracking system (3).png (2.14 MB)"){kind=tracking}
References[]
- ↑The Liparus globe map shows the tanker situated outside the Strait of Gibraltar, with the system showing Stromberg 1's location c.500 km south of Newfoundland.
