A different scenario...
Having this view … a Thai patrol boat steering toward me in hostile intention i would just attend channel 16 - explain that i am a private yacht on free passage claiming the freedom of the seas - this call is recorded and published on internet…for safety reasons…
To back up my claim i would dive and dissapear … leaving a bouy for them to fish out of the water with a written declaration what are my intentions (private research submarine | panama flagged | no business to intercept | internet adress to google up | ) - this closes the door completley for them of taking it as "unknown submarine with unclear intention in their waters near their secret naval installation " that needs to be hunted and intercepted …
Nothing on legal base to board and molest left for them…
The living space bubble in the pictures is bigger than Chad´s home, costs half the money to build, and allows a much better “interception handling” keeping you in charge of “the handling of the situation”…
Make sure that it is VERY difficult for them to get a handle on you for very practical reasons (how do you board a dived submarine and dragg the crew out, the standard proceedure of boarding and pointing guns at somebody is not very feasible …)
How would you find and intercept a…mobilis in mobili…concept boat in first place ?
This would be a task way above the head of a standard navy patrol boat like the one that intercepted Chad´s project.
If you ever went whale watching you know how difficult it is for a surface boat to find and follow a whale who does not want to be “intercepted” and prefers to get lost in the wide blue ocean.
Being a sitting duck in the crosshair of the big navy cannon (resembling the bespoke middle finger) is not a great setup…not a “desireable baseline” for a useful interaction and peacefull come along between a floating community and a land government…
| submarine yacht that is the technical equivalent of a whale body | long oceanic voyages with low energy requirements | get lost in the blue ocean | Galt’s Gulch is oceanic | undisturbed oceanic living |
• Who holds all the best cards to play in a theorical interception situation ?
• Can people get pissed off by a presence they are not even aware of ?
• And if they would ever become aware of it, it is clearly covered by the freedom of the seas and the right of free passage.
In practical terms if they do - you are long gone - when they are finished discussing what to do about it…file complaints with the police chief…get interception authorized high up the command chain…bring the necessary equipment in …etc…etc… |
All this plays in your favor - keeps you away from trouble with anybody by default …
• How successful are the most advanced Navies, with the most advanced gear, in hunting " non nuclear mini submarines" in practice ? - the internet gives you the hints…
(sonar gear needs a acoustic signiture to search for - much like a dog tracing a person needs a scent signiture - hunting something unknown with unclear signiture in the vast ocean is - very hard - at best )
The swedish Navy (NATO high tech equipment) is hunting for minisubmarines in their waters - they suspect are there - for decades - without ANY success…
• How much do you think that you need to fear something like the Thai Navy in a casual encounter ?
At the end it is something similar like in the case of cars - you don´t plan to crash into another car - but just in case it happens by accident - you want a car that has airbags…
What you want to avoid, is to be intercepted by somebody random on the open ocean, put as accused in front of a court with rules you don´t understand ( certainly not consent ) and be sentenced to death on base of medival dead law…to make a statement…
So you might consider to go for something “richer in options” and with wider “safety margins” than a spar right outside the 12nm zone of Phuket.
The merit of Chad and Nadia is to have shown in a “real world experiment” - not on a discussion forum - that Unclos is worth shit, if somebody who has a Navy, gets pissed, and comes after you - for whatever reason - when sitting on a spar.
What saved their life in practice was the capability of a small cabinboat to get lost on a big ocean…and good intelligence knowing they where comming…
• Postulate: I think it is safe to postulate that our “submerged and mobile living space bubble habitat” has a capacity much greater to get lost and avoid any Navy than Chad´s cabin boat.
How would somebody know that the guy eating icecream in front of the beach kiosk, who came in with that white rubber dinghi, is living in a submarine yacht that stays a mile out at sea, completly invisible - the guy does not get a cavity check on the airport, and travels worldwide unmolested minding his own business…beyond state interference…subdue to nobody…
