I'm missing..... my Yellow Submarine

[discombobulate]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17264735/

Classy.

We’ve lost track of a yellow submarine ...
10-foot-long, 3 1/2-ton homemade vessel hasn’t been seen since Feb. 15

FELTON, Calif. - A 3 1/2-ton yellow submarine has fallen off the radar. The 10-foot-long sub, built by a resident to patrol Monterey Bay during the 1940s and 1950s, was reported missing Feb. 15 from its Santa Cruz Mountains berth on Steinmaier Road by owner Carl Barker.

"It sounds bizarre," said Detective Kevin Coyne of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's Office. "All I know is ... there's no suspects."

Irven Thomson built the vessel from an old propane tank about 60 years ago. He added a turret, hatch, windows and a cement keel, rudder and navigational instruments.

"I think they launched it a couple of times," Barker said.

There were no arrests.

"One of the neighbors said they saw a tow truck loading it up," Barker, 38, said. "Someone knew they wanted it and came and took it. I don't think they stole it for any kind of recycling value."

Barker said Thomson would go on vigilante patrols of the bay and used the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf as his home base. Neighbors said the sub worked but that Thomson quickly gave up the patrols and beached the vessel on his land in south Felton.

Thomson left the yellow submarine on the property when he moved to Watsonville years ago. Family members lived on Steinmaier Road until 2003, when they sold the property and moved to Red Bluff.

[RadioactiveMan]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17267256/

Santa Cruz Yellow Submarine Not Stolen After All

FELTON, Calif. - The mystery surrounding a 3 1/2-ton yellow submarine, from Felton, has been solved. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the vessel has been found and the sheriff's investigation has been closed.

A man name Kevin Deetz drove to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff's office Wednesday and told deputies he had taken the submarine. He said he had permission to take the vessel and said that he was beginning to restore it.

A sheriff's spokesman called the incident a misunderstanding.

The 10-foot-long sub, built by a resident to patrol Monterey Bay during the 1940s and 1950s, was reported missing Feb. 15 from its berth on Steinmaier Road by Carl Barker.

The submarine had been parked on Barker's property for years.

Another man, Irven Thomson, built the submarine from an old propane tank about 60 years ago. He added a turret, hatch, windows and a cement keel, rudder and navigational instruments.

According to the paper, Thomson's grandson gave the submarine to Deetz, who is a local artist.

It's not clear if Barker knew the grandson had given the submarine to someone else.

Sheriff’s deputies set up a meeting between Deetz and Barker Wednesday morning to resolve the ownership questions, according to the paper.

"Now that it's someone who's into the history of it and fixing it up, I'm fine with it," Barker said.

Decades ago, the vessel's original owner would go on vigilante patrols of the bay and used the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf as his home base.

[discombobulate]

You trying to one up me Mister?

Personally, I think it's hilarious.

[RadioactiveMan]

What kind of a nutter patrols his neighbourhood in a ****ing submarine? I bet that they didn't get much crime, though.

[waltky]

Terrorist submarines...

Insurgent submersibles
16 June 2008 - Is it possible that terrorists could launch a submarine attack? Jane's looks at the development of improvised semi- and fully-submersible vessels and assesses their use in offensive operations.

A terrorist submarine attack might seem like a James Bond scenario, but drug smugglers linked to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia: FARC) are already using semi-submersible vessels to transport multi-tonne cargoes of cocaine. Up to 40 such vessels left South American shores in 2007 and more are expected in 2008.

While these vessels are developed specifically for and financed by the illicit narcotics trade, it is not inconceivable that similar craft could be used in suicide attacks on targets such as warships or fuel tankers. A dramatic submersible strike would certainly appeal to Al-Qaeda, although small cells of jihadists would almost certainly find the technical and financial burdens difficult to overcome. With its history of innovation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is the group most likely to deploy such weapons and tactics.

Semi-submersible vessels - in the form of sealed containers towed behind ships - have been used by drug smugglers for years. The development of self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) vessels is a more recent phenomenon. Captain Robert Watts, a United States Coast Guard officer who has tracked maritime drug smuggling trends, told Jane's that the first experimental SPSS was found in Colombia in 1989. However, such vessels did not become practical until global position system (GPS) technology became widely available and the US and Colombian authorities began to effectively counter the �go-fast' speedboats typically used by the smugglers, according to Capt Watts.

The growing numbers of SPSS vessels indicates that their stealthy characteristics and ability to carry many tonnes of cocaine have helped them develop into what now seems to be a major component of the narcotics logistics chain. The Colombian Navy believes that during the past two to three years, cocaine smuggling SPSS vessels have been arranged mostly by the drug trafficking factions of the FARC, probably in association with organised crime groups also involved in drug trafficking. The involvement of Colombia's largest insurgent group raises the possibility of an attack being launched with an SPSS vessel. If a single cocaine smuggling SPSS can carry 10 tonnes of cargo, a small model would easily be able to carry enough high explosives to cause significant damage to any target vessel.

Insurgent submersibles - Jane's Terrorism & Insurgency News