Excellent article Matthew. It is vital that defence is demystified for the public. That would improve understanding, scrutiny and outcomes. Too much of defence is subject to groupthink due to the lack of broad informed debate. I look forward to future posts in the same vein.
Paul and Matthew, I absolutely agree and It is really important that people who understand military and defence issues write in an inclusive manner and encourage a broad informed debate. Great work, the article was easy to understand and interesting to read.
A great primer. I’d add to your SSK section that underwater operations usually require the sub to slow down significantly.
While SSNs can easily keep up with a carrier group or move to intercept a threat underwater, the SSK will either have to travel on the surface (still slower than many surface combatants during war time) and risk detection or wait for enemy combatants to come to them (while snorkeling occasionally).
So, autonomous drones do not make submarines any more detectable per se. However, they offer another cheap, flexible platform for sensors to be carried upon, increasing the number of sensors in the water and the chance that said sensors could locate and track a submarine independently.
This is not necessarily new, just it's much easier to do at range and scale. If you think about it, a homing torpedo is basically a one-way explosive underwater drone!
Yes -- but is it now reasonable to think of Submarines as extremely hard to detect. Lots of cheap systems measuring ocean properties & doing sound detection seems to be feasible now. The scientific Oceanographic community has been running gliders for a decade +. Further, I could imagine the Russians or Chinese putting autonomous drones in the Firth of Clyde. When a boomer comes by up they pop and latch on. If needed, boom time and end of boomer. I would not be surprised if the USA has such a capacity for the Russian boomers based in Murmansk.
A lot happens underway. A former colleague of mine served on a SSN and got stuck in a confined space during regular PM tasks due to the hull compressing. Sub had to come up to let him crawl back out. He’s pretty skinny too.
Reactors require a lot of careful maintenance to keep happy as the power plants in SSNs have to be able to do things that civilian reactors never have to. For example, a civilian power plant will ramp up at maybe 1% per minute, if not a lot slower.
SSN power plants have to be able to ramp from standby to full power in very little time, by design.
Excellent article Matthew. It is vital that defence is demystified for the public. That would improve understanding, scrutiny and outcomes. Too much of defence is subject to groupthink due to the lack of broad informed debate. I look forward to future posts in the same vein.
Thank you!
Paul and Matthew, I absolutely agree and It is really important that people who understand military and defence issues write in an inclusive manner and encourage a broad informed debate. Great work, the article was easy to understand and interesting to read.
Thanks for this. V useful to non-nerdy but interested people.
A great primer. I’d add to your SSK section that underwater operations usually require the sub to slow down significantly.
While SSNs can easily keep up with a carrier group or move to intercept a threat underwater, the SSK will either have to travel on the surface (still slower than many surface combatants during war time) and risk detection or wait for enemy combatants to come to them (while snorkeling occasionally).
Thank you!
With autonomous underwater drones are submarines much more detectable?
Hello! Thanks for the question.
So, autonomous drones do not make submarines any more detectable per se. However, they offer another cheap, flexible platform for sensors to be carried upon, increasing the number of sensors in the water and the chance that said sensors could locate and track a submarine independently.
This is not necessarily new, just it's much easier to do at range and scale. If you think about it, a homing torpedo is basically a one-way explosive underwater drone!
Yes -- but is it now reasonable to think of Submarines as extremely hard to detect. Lots of cheap systems measuring ocean properties & doing sound detection seems to be feasible now. The scientific Oceanographic community has been running gliders for a decade +. Further, I could imagine the Russians or Chinese putting autonomous drones in the Firth of Clyde. When a boomer comes by up they pop and latch on. If needed, boom time and end of boomer. I would not be surprised if the USA has such a capacity for the Russian boomers based in Murmansk.
Another great read, well-written and informative. Thank you, Matthew! Keep up the good work. (Loved the “booo” link too!)
Thank you so much!
Also - I can't help myself with Princess Bride references, they will keep coming!
Don't waste your time doing research on this, but is there much repairing of submarines during a cruise or are they built to be maintenance free?
They definetely require maintenance and upkeep, but afaik beyond the most basic of repairs this usually has to be done while docked.
Interestingly, the nuclear reactors usually come with enough fuel to last the expected in-service lifetime of most nuclear submarines.
A lot happens underway. A former colleague of mine served on a SSN and got stuck in a confined space during regular PM tasks due to the hull compressing. Sub had to come up to let him crawl back out. He’s pretty skinny too.
Reactors require a lot of careful maintenance to keep happy as the power plants in SSNs have to be able to do things that civilian reactors never have to. For example, a civilian power plant will ramp up at maybe 1% per minute, if not a lot slower.
SSN power plants have to be able to ramp from standby to full power in very little time, by design.
This is great context, thanks!