Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military
From: gwh%tornado.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Converting Subs [Was:Re: Military Cuts Summary]
Summary: Possible but unlikely
Message-ID: <13425@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Date: 23 Jan 90 03:57:48 GMT
Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Lines: 40
Approved: military@att.att.com



From: gwh%tornado.Berkeley.EDU@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU (George William Herbert)
Two cents from a naval architect-in-training on the continuing discussion
on converting ssbn's to ssn's.

First: the sonar.  Many of the current generation SSBN's use the BQQ-6
sonar set.  this is in every way but the active sonar a BQQ-5, the same
as the Los Angeles uses.  The BQQ-6 has no active component, but that
could be added back in with "minimal" trouble from what i have been told
[i.e. no need to rebuild the bow too badly...  tho the person who told me
that was a techie not a naval architect.]

Second: the weapons.  a torpedo is a torpedo, and the SSBN's have the tubes
to launch 'em.  If you want the vertical launch Tomhawk tubes that the newer
LA's have, you can replace a few [or a lot] of the SSBM tubes with vls.  
caveat:  this would require a bit of structural work and will thus cost some
money.

Third:  the reason why i don't think it will happen.
We are USING the more modern SSBN's in our force.  There are a lot of our
deterrent warheads at sea at this moment on them.  Therefore, if we were
to convert any they would be the old ones...
And old SSBN's have old reactors.  The end result of the conversion would be
a relatively noisy [older quieting technology] and more trouble-prone boat,
with a relatively short lifetime before it needs to be scrapped due to reactor
aging.

I think that the disatvantages outweigh the atvantages.  It is a quick cheap
to get some boats fast, but it gives a substandard force.  The navy may well
be planning to do this if we have a big war that lasts more than three months,
but i doubt it will happen in peacetime.


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George William Herbert |  UCB Naval Architecture [On schedule? at UCB? Yes!]
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