US Navy robot sub found in Norway
The US Navy were testing a robot submarine off the coast of Norway, and the sub fell victim to the weird currents, saline and temperature levels in our waters.
The 3.5 meter (11-foot) mini-sub, or Battlespace Preparation Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, disappeared April 29 during tests off the port of Kristiansand in southern Norway.
"On Monday, the crew of its mother ship, the minesweeper USS Swift, said that they considered it lost for good," said Cmdr. Thom Knustad, a spokesman for the Norwegian joint command.
However, on Tuesday Hermund Arnø (69) and his wife Jorunn, found it on a beach, 200 kms away from where it swam away. They called the police, and the Norwegian navy was dispatched to pick it up for handing it back the the Americans.
What the CNN story didn't tell, however, was the role of beer in the recovery. When the sub went missing, the US navy people went to the Norwegian media, promising a crate of beer in reward for recovering the sub. They obviously know what the stuff costs here, and probably thought it'd make 4.5 Norwegians people hunt for it like crazy. Well, at least it got lots of media attention for the search (as did the fact that specially trained navy dolphins, who presumably don't drink beer, were looking for it). And somebody did find it.
The beer story was apparently a joke, but there is some reward for the guy who found the sub. The first thing the Norwegian police asked him when he told them he had found it, was if he liked beer.
PS: And just as the first one was recovered, now the British Navy has gone and lost a mini-sub in Norwegian waters, too.
3:16:50 AM 
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