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From: ruedi@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (David Ruedi)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Submarines
Message-ID: <1991Mar30.020517.28351@amd.com>
Date: 29 Mar 91 13:06:23 GMT
Sender: military@amd.com
Organization: David Taylor Research Center, Bethesda, MD
Lines: 80
Approved: military@amd.com

[ I broke the long run-on paragraph up into something easier to
  read, but the words are all the same.  --CDR]

From: ruedi@dtoa1.dt.navy.mil (David Ruedi)

     Since the subject of submarines has come up, I would like to
provide some background information that might help.  Most of the
technical details come from an UNCLASSIFIED brief given by John Coale
at a recent meeting of the Flagship section of ASNE, his references are
about one and a half pages long (if anyone is interested in them, I can
provide them by separate correspondence).

     First, every ship type has its place.  Surface ships are very good
at moving large amounts of things long distances at moderate speeds.
This includes men, material, and food.  Another strong point of a
surface ship is its ability to operate away from friendly land for
extended periods of time, this is useful for aircraft, medical
facilities, command and control, and other things.  Aircraft are very
good in their field as well.  They can move small quantities of things
very large distances very quickly.  The submarines main strong point is
its stealth, its ability to take the fight to the enemy undetected.
Obviously, every ship type has its drawbacks; surface ships are easily
detectable, aircraft require bases (floating or otherwise) at frequent
intervals, and submarines are limited in payload.

     Some direct comments about some recent posts in the stealth boat
theme.  Submarines are the best stealth platform that exists today.
They have zero radar cross section when submerged and very small with
masts exposed, and they are quieter than any surface ship.  Or, another
way to look at it, what percentage of the warfighting capabilities of
the major powers has been dedicated to finding submarines?  Surface
ships?  Aircraft?

The comments about submarines being slow is misleading.  It is true
that most diesel subs are slow, but the USS Albacore was the fastest
submarine of her day; it depends on what you design it to do.  And this
argument does not hold for almost all nuclear boats.  The LOS ANGELES
class was designed to escort carrier battle groups and the SEAWOLF
class will be even faster.  The Soviets have always had fast SSNs.

Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) is one of the most technically difficult
things to do in the military.  This is evidenced by the massive amounts
of resources invested in it, from R&D through operations.  The military
dedicates many platforms to this role, aircraft, ships, satellites, and
submarines.  Shallow water ASW is, by far, the hardest part of ASW for
many reasons.  And there is much more to ASW than just detecting a
submarine, as the Swedes demonstrated a few years ago in the Baltic Sea
and the Brits at the Falkland Islands.  Once you have detected a sub,
it has to be localized, targeted, then fired at.  All of these are very
hard.  For example the Brits had detected and knew that there was an
Argentine sub trying to attack them, but they were unable to sink it
even after expending over 200 pieces of ordnance, and they are one of
the best at ASW.

     John Benedict (from Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory)
pointed out that the only area although third world defense spending
went down in the 1980's overall, spending on submarines actually went
up.  There is no indication that this will change in the 1990's, if
anything, it will accelerate.

There are currently over 120 submarines in the hands of more than 19
third world countries and more than 60 are on order.  There are
currently more than seven types of submarines available to the third
world from seven countries and another seven types will be available by
the year 2010.  The two most popular are the Germany Type 209 (and
variants) and the Soviet Kilo.

The Type 209 was first introduced in 1986.  It has a maximum speed of
22 knots and an endurance of 8000 nm at 8 kts.  It has eight 21"
torpedo tubes and can carry up to 14 weapons including the Harpoon and
Exocet.  The Germans have exported this boat to a dozen countries and
are also selling the capability to indigenously produce them.

The Kilo was also introduced in 1986.  It has a maximum speed of 18
knots and an endurance of 20,000 nm at 11 kts.  It has six 21" torpedo
tubes and can carry 18 weapons.  The Soviets have exported this boat to
four countries and is actively trying to market it to bring in badly
needed foreign currency.

LT David H. Ruedi, USN