Naval Pictures X: Underway on Nuclear Power

[Colt Ward]

Throwback Thursday (1979): USS Tunny (SSN 682) returns to Pearl Harbor after completing a deployment in 1979.
USS Tunny (SSN 682) and U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photo Collection.

What is funny to me, is b/c my father served on HKs and I read Clancy books, the US sub fleet will always be the 688 LAs . . . but they are mostly retired now.  His plank-owner sub from when I was a kid was decommissioned six and a half years ago.

[nerd]

The dead give away to that era is the uniforms.

The sailors are wearing salt and peppers (white shirt, black trousers) with combination caps.

What gets me is the draft markings. I'm used to seeing them reaching up to the 40s.

[ANS Kamas P81]

Wild waves!

[Daryk]

And tiny ship! ;D

[Fat Guy]

The Hai Kun (SS-711), Taiwan’s first domestically made submarine.

[truetanker]

Men, fetch me my bubble bath... I have Submarine warfare on my mind!

Ee-gads.

Wonder what China's response be like?

TT

[Gorgon]

I mean, it's a SSK and on the larger site for one. For the waters around Taiwan that should suffice. It's not like it's meant for month-long deployments in the arctic or something.

 And without knowing any details about it... 

...it IS a strong step up from the GUPPY II subs that passed their 80th birthday last year or so...

[MoneyLovinOgre4Hire]

Is it armed?

[nerd]

Is it armed?

Released information says she's capable of using Mark 48 and Sub Harpoon. Bow looks like it has at two to four torpedo tubes, but it looks airbrushed to hide features.

[chanman]

Men, fetch me my bubble bath... I have Submarine warfare on my mind!

Ee-gads.

Wonder what China's response be like?

TT

Considering their main ASW threat is dealing with US SSNs and JMSDF SSKs, I don't think one more SSK changes the calculus.

[Fat Guy]

Close-up of the torpedo tubes:

[truetanker]

Curious...

Has there been any data on fish fired Drone tech? I mean, like the Sub Harpoon, but with a areial drone?

Because I've read Omega Sub series back in HS. I even got two of the 6 novels on my shelf. Rather pay cash at a Half-Price or similar store to own the other four, to help the local economy.

But essence, a Sub launched Drone would be just that. A disposable, and hopefully recoverable, aerial companion that can be fired from the mothership sub, while underwater for surveillance purposes. But of course, military won't tell you what capabilities it might carry out. Suicidal charges, cargo carrying (people deployable?) and weapons packages other than the "standard" drone operations.

Imagine being deployed off a coast by a Sub, you and your wet unit are deployed under dark from the mothership, and you need aerial support now. Popping off a trio of tube launched aerial drones, your covered. Also, any aircraft capable of ASW maneuvers could use these as "support" as well.

Now... heh, say a Buff humping into somewhere...

*English translate*
Pilot: It's... launching torpedoes...
Command: Say again? Have you been drinking friend?
Pilot: No sir! I mean... here video uplink...
Command: ... What the... Why? The oceans are miles away...

Buff Pilot: A-yup! Hey Sparky? Launch a few more...
"Sparky": Fish away...
Drone Pilot: Yeah, better than an Arcade...

TT

[glitterboy2098]

it got considered in the early 2000's, with the lockheed Cormarant UCAV (which was to be fired from payload tubes like the refit Ohio's had and the Virginia's were going to be fitted with). but at the time the tech wasn't really there, nor the military need.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_Cormorant

you could probably do it easily now with loitering munitions, though i'm not sure they'd be very useful given that the sub would have to stay near the surface and keep a radio antenna up and transmitting to direct them. kinda defeats the stealth nature of a Sub.

though i suspect we'll be seeing loitering munitions fitted to most surface ships before long

[truetanker]

Launch and Sat config?

I'm incline to that...

Launch and have someone back in the states control the drone.

TT

[glitterboy2098]

Launch and Sat config?

I'm incline to that...

Launch and have someone back in the states control the drone.

TT

not sure you can fit a full satcom radio onto loitering munitions. they tend to be pretty small.
that approach was the intended plan for the cormorant though.. along with "onboard AI control". the AI thing didn't quite pan out (note we're still trying to work out the bugs on the UCAV's that did survive the budget crunches of the period), and we had existing drones for ground attack (like the predator series) that were working just fine for the threats of the time, so a sub launched system wasn't all that needed.

[Daryk]

Iridium phone plus a Raspberry Pi? ???

[Giovanni Blasini]

Iridium phone plus a Raspberry Pi? ???

I get what you're saying, but that's really not a hardened avionics package.

[Daryk]

Hardening is mostly a Faraday cage (not entirely, of course)... smaller stuff will lighten that... :)

[worktroll]

Hardening is also shock-proofing, use of non-flammables, and making it easy to maintain/replace in the field (or under it, as it were). Then there's ensuring the units don't radiate excessive EMR, can't be jammed easily, and a bunch of other things.

On a parallel note, the cockpits of the EA-6B Prrowlers had literally gold-plated cockpit canopies. Because that was exactly the best way to provide a transparent Faraday cage for the crew to see through. The military's accused of gold-plating; appropriate hardening is why sometimes off-the-shelf gear isn't suitable for continued or high-availability use. The sort of drones used in Ukraine are great examples of where the cheap solutions are entirely appropriate, but they didn't bring down 10 Russian aircraft in 10 days, including  an A-50 and two Su-34s, with off-the-shelf kit.

[glitterboy2098]

Hardening is also shock-proofing, use of non-flammables, and making it easy to maintain/replace in the field (or under it, as it were). Then there's ensuring the units don't radiate excessive EMR, can't be jammed easily, and a bunch of other things.

On a parallel note, the cockpits of the EA-6B Prrowlers had literally gold-plated cockpit canopies. Because that was exactly the best way to provide a transparent Faraday cage for the crew to see through. The military's accused of gold-plating; appropriate hardening is why sometimes off-the-shelf gear isn't suitable for continued or high-availability use. The sort of drones used in Ukraine are great examples of where the cheap solutions are entirely appropriate, but they didn't bring down 10 Russian aircraft in 10 days, including  an A-50 and two Su-34s, with off-the-shelf kit.

not to mention the various scrambling/encoding/whatever of the signal to make it hard for an opponent to read or hijack.

and in ukraine, the russians have started using jammer systems for drone control signals mounted on their tanks. the Volnorez system. ironically the soldiers seem to hate them. when they work, they work well. but apparently production quality on the jammers themselves sucks, and they're prone to overheat rapidly.

[kato]

Has there been any data on fish fired Drone tech? I mean, like the Sub Harpoon, but with a areial drone?

The USN tested some prototypes for that 10 years ago. "XFC" UAS. Launch method was with the drone vertically launching from a "Sea Robin" launcher jury-rigged into the surfacing launcher for Tomahawks that is fired from 21-inch torpedo tubes.

https://news.usni.org/2013/12/06/u-s-navy-launches-uav-submarine

XFC itself only had an endurance of 6 hours at 30 knots in the air. For comparison, a 25-kg surface-launched Scan Eagle as deployed be the USN has an endurance of 20 hours at 60 knots, and is pretty much at the low end of naval light surveillance drones.

As far as i know in the USN it never went past these tests and instead an even smaller UAV system was procured in 2020 that launches out of a submarine's 3-inch countermeasures tubes.

There's an Israeli company that offers a similar system launched from countermeasures tubes, and France has tested a comparable system on a Rubis class SSN that ejected from the sub's diver airlock. In all three cases these are very small UAVs with an endurance around one hour and a range of at most 10 km.

[Fat Guy]

Project 22160 patrol ship Sergei Kotov was sank last night by Ukrainian V5 naval drones.

[Daryk]

Heh... they have a Navy... just not one with any ships of their own... ;)

[JadeHellbringer]

Reminder ro please avoid real-world politics, guys... do NOT get this thread locked.

[Daryk]

Aye aye, Jade!

And I have to say, your new avatar is PERFECT! :D

[Colt Ward]

Opportunities to cruise aboard a battleship are rare, so two tickets to ride the museum ship USS New Jersey from Paulsboro to a dry dock at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard on March 27 are being auctioned on eBay. Bidding has already reached $4,150.

Huh, the Texas should have done that . . . unless they were worried she would founder.

[Weirdo]

I believe that was a serious concern, yes. I know I was nervous until I saw her with my own eyes pulling into Galveston.

[Colt Ward]

Once she was out of her slot and past/over the mudbanks it was supposed to be fine.  My wife subscribed me to the preservation group, they shared information and have some cool videos- one I remember was stripping & restoring a AA mount.

[Wrangler]

French Navy Aquitane-class frigate FS Alsace engages a Houthi drone with her 76mm deck gun.

[Fat Guy]