Why don't they put "windshields" on submarines so it will be easy for the crew to see the outside?
86192
Besides, its dark down there.
864788
The 'Ballast' tanks are 'flooded' with either sea water, or 'blown' with compressed air, from reserve tanks.  Once the submarine has achieved 'neutral bouyancy' (neither sinking nor rising) then the the forward motion of the sub forces water over the control surfaces (elavators to rise & fall) and rudder (Yaw).  Thus the sub is 'flown' under water, in a similar fasion to an aircraft.
956167
yes but you you would have to make sure that the water pressure is not too high so only on shallowish sea beds and it would be dangerous if the structure did fail it's bye bye to everyone.\nWe have made air tight structures before (eg space craft and submarines) so its possible just not practical.
636542
Invisibility.  The Department of Defense is working on cloaking technology which would cause light to bend around a plane, making it invisible.\n\nedit: invisibility isn't interesting enough?  Then building a better lens or antenna probably isn't going to do it for you either.\n\nHow about a sunscreen that takes the absorbed radiation and recharges your iPod.  Totally fabricated idea, but more imaginative.
309182
Its amazing how much guff there is about this question! As a naval officer, I have an idea as to the right answer - red is used because it is the longest wavelength of the visible spectrum and as such the eye is least sensitive to it.  If you were to stretch the wavelength a little more, you would be in the infra red band which is actually invisible to the human eye.  The reason red is used in the submarine control room (the bridge is on the top of the fin or sail as it is known in the US) is that when looking through the periscope, the officer-of-the-watch's eyes are accustomed to the darkness and do not have to re-adjust to achieve night vision which can otherwise take up to five minutes. He can therefore switch quickly between looking through the periscope and looking around the control room.  They can continue with white light in the daytime when it makes little difference.  On more modern submarines, optical periscopes are now being replaced with tv monitors and this problem will therefore be solved.  Its absolutely nothing to do with reminding people what time of day it is as submariners tend to do 6 hours on, 6 hours off, meaning that the time of day doesn't really matter!
846920
Well, it should be close to what I did as a nuclear power qualified Sailor on US Submarines.  There is a small space called maneuvering that provides a place for three men to control the reactor, electric plant and the steam turbines.  The engine room has several other watch standers that monitor the turbines, generators, air conditioning, evaporators, switchgear and other stuff.
119190
Technically yes, you would be able to see to the edge provided nothing was obscuring your view (like buildings or trees).  The problem is that dust, water vapor, and other impurities in the atmosphere would place some limitations on how far you could see.
124113
Well,long ago sailors would avoid a certain rock gathering just below the surface of the blue waters of our sea.Tricks I suspect of wind and radiance.The [song]would actually lure unsuspecting sailors to their frightful deaths.the mistaked for a sea wench.
1002052
Invisibility so I can go see things I probably shouldn't.\nBut, flying is the correct anwser for the Radio Trivia!
78173
Ain't no such thing.... if there was the front window of your car would have the electric defroster and you wouldn't look like a dummy driving down the road looking thru a 3" hole on the front glass while the entire back glass is clear.
1034438
I suppose we could find some sort of clear plexi-glass type of material that would be suitable for aircraft-grade structures, but making the entire plane clear would probably be impossible.  A materials science engineer would probably know more about this.\n\nOne question from me though: is there a need for this?  The stealth bomber, for example, flies so high that visual detection by ground based anti-aircraft emplacements is quite low.  So low, in fact, that I have heard that it has never been fired upon from the ground (don't quote me on that though).  So for modern military aircraft applications, I would say radar invisibility is far more important than visual invisibility.\n\nAs a side note, I had read about a clothing-like light scattering material in either Popular Science or the Spectum magazine (forget which).  Anyway, it somehow bends or scatters light in such a way as to partially reveal what is behind the covered object.  There was a picture of a guy wearing a piece of it, and I was pretty amazed.  It was far from perfect (could still obviously see the guy), but I could imagine it being a very useful camo material if it improves.
662705
Submarines (especially nuclear) are the best combat machines ever developed by man.  A nuclear submarine can carry enough fire power to turn the entire world into a burnt piece of charcoal and can stay submerged as long as their is food to eat.  Their virtually undetectable if you handle them right and can turn the tide in almost any battle.  There are a few disadvantages though but their mostly contained to the crews themselves.  The biggest is the threat of death from another submarine (torpedo's, nuclear weapons, etc) that would kill the entire crew instantaneously.  Also, in nuclear subs you also have to worry about reactor problems, because if you're reactor starts leaking there's nowhere to run.
951347
Super-silent obviously is good for submarines.  High-tech is irrelevant.  The question is how efficient, reliable and cost-effective it is.  The chance the US navy has overlooked such a technology is about 1 in a gazillion.
602385
how can a submarine glide through the water shaped like a disc, perhaps, without being detected or try escaping an enemy submarine shaped like a sphere?\n\nit has nothing to do with your penis extension. it's just is.\n\ni tried answering your question, as seriously as i can. but i'd rather not and just give me my two points.
1178772
Because they don't exist, and they'd have to think of a new excuse to keep things like this quiet:\nhttp://www.area51zone.com/aircraft/index.shtml
785776
I did this a long time ago at a science fair.  You need a small glass tube, like a test tube, but not too big.  Put a weight around the opening so it will float with the open end down.  The tricky part is to adjust the weight in the tube to it just floats.  Another way is to adjust how much water is in the tube when it is floating.  Put it in a plastic bottle with enough water to allow for submerging and surfacing.  (They don't like the work "sink" on submarines.)  To make the tube submerge, squeeze the bottle.  This compresses the air inside the tube.  The air takes up less space, provides less floatation and it submerges.  Release the bottle and the tube rises again.  It was acutally a lot of fun when I did it.
285215
If you are in an airplane they are circular.  We usually can't see the bottom because there is no rain to reflect the colors in the earth.