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EPIRBs only go off when activated by switch, or when immersed in salt water. In theory, so long as the ship is above water, they do nothing. If the ship sinks, they detach from their mount, float to the surface, and scream continually until destroyed or batteries die. When sailing normally, said warship is not broadcasting it's location on emergency frequencies. 

AIS transponders *can* be turned off (legally) on warships, but not commercial or private vessels. Under the Rules of the Road, every time the Navy turns off it's lights and goes dark to try to hide, it's illegal. That's minor, unless there's a collision. Then the warship will be considered liable for causing the collision because it didn't have lights. SWCC inserting SEALS will be unlit, but also wait for the area to be clear. If they run over a log they didn't know was semi-submerged, and their boat sinks, THEN their EPIRBs should go off. If they removed those EPIRBs, which I would see as reasonable for such a mission, they would be liable for prosecution upon discovery. 

My experience with SEALS is limited, but I did learn that they believe in what works and what's cool, and screw what's legal whenever you can get away with it. They claimed that there were regs requiring their beards (no such reg, just the ones prohibiting beards) because of their jobs. They didn't blatantly disobey; they obfuscated disobedience. I suspect that they might illegally tamper with their EPIRBs so the saltwater sensors don't work, but sharp inspectors can catch that. 

The ones who matter most are INSURV - the Congressional Board of Inspection and Survey, who decide what units are worth congress spending money on. And they are utter assholes. We had former INSURV inspectors as the Decom inspectors on the Juneau. They expected us to clean every space to white glove standards before they accepted that space, sealed it, and eventually took ownership of the ship so it could sit at anchor off Hawaii for 5+ years while the Navy decided if the new LPDs cut the mustard or not, or the old Austins would have to be brought back. I ended up cussing one of them out for that. If the navy ever brought the ship back, it'd be filthy by then anyway. There was no point to making us clean it to those standards, but it's what he was used to. He was also used to E-5s who treated Senior Chiefs like gods, even retired ones. He wasn't used to an E-5 who expected leadership to follow the same rules they held us to and knew the regs better than he did. Towards the end, about two weeks after I yelled at him, he finally allowed that, in order to finish in time, they could permit a lower standard of cleaning. We stopped disassembling racks to get pennies out and swabbing corners with q-tips. 

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From: Phil Pugliese (via tml list) <xxxxxx@simplelists.com>
To: xxxxxx@simplelists.com
Sent: Sunday, February 14, 2016 7:04 AM
Subject: Off-topic - tracking enemy vessels, was Re: [TML] Instant city

So that means that all warships are legally required to constantly broadcast their positions to any enemy that may be interested in same?

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