Discussion
CoolHands said:
Just watching a bit hunter killer (film)
Subs - do we need them? What are they for? What do they do? They’ve had 50-odd years of floating around the world, what’s the point?
Presumably the ability to have hidden vessels that can be almost anywhere around the globe for a number of months at end, with the ability to launch missiles at a moment's notice? Subs - do we need them? What are they for? What do they do? They’ve had 50-odd years of floating around the world, what’s the point?
Yes this. I like to think that when North Korea were sable rattling few years ago, they looked out to sea and thought..somewhere, just out there, there is a submarine ready to launch a nuclear weapon which will obliterate their country before "our" missles reach the stratosphere.
That fear is worth any amount of cash. Even if they are never used. A detereent which is very good value
That fear is worth any amount of cash. Even if they are never used. A detereent which is very good value
I think submarines and infantry are probably the most valuable part of our armed forces.
Infantry because they are human faces adaptable to anything.. to quote starship troopers
Infantry because they are human faces adaptable to anything.. to quote starship troopers
awesome book said:
There are a dozen different ways of delivering destruction in impersonal wholesale, via ships or missiles of one sort or another, catastrophes so widespread, so unselective that the war is over because that nation or planet has ceased to exist. What we do is entirely different. We make war as personal as a punch in the nose. We can be selective, applying precisely the required amount of pressure at the specified point at a designated time. We've never been told to go down and kill or capture all left-handed redheads in a particular area, but if they tell us to, we can. We will.
Submarines because you never know where they are in wartime, so they can cause an enemy to restrict operations more than any other asset, and in peacetime they are still useful for spying and covert ops. albeit they are a bloody expensive way to do it.Submarines did stealth before stealth was a thing. When submerged they are invisible to radar.
Nuclear power gives nearly infinite submerged endurance. Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) is giving non nuclear boats about a week submerged.
The only naval mission they can’t perform is air defence.
So despite submarines only having sunk 3 ships since the Second World War, that we know of, they are most used naval vessels.
Nuclear power gives nearly infinite submerged endurance. Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) is giving non nuclear boats about a week submerged.
The only naval mission they can’t perform is air defence.
So despite submarines only having sunk 3 ships since the Second World War, that we know of, they are most used naval vessels.
Digger said:
Has a sub ever launched a missile in a war situation or environment?
Yep, HMS Triumph in 2011 sailed back home flying the Jolly Roger after launching missiles at Libya.“In March 2011, she participated in Operation Ellamy, firing Tomahawk cruise missiles on 19 March 20 March and again on 24 March at Libyan air defence targets. One of these strikes hit a command and control centre in Colonel Gaddafi's presidential compound.[3] Triumph returned to Devonport on 3 April 2011 flying a Jolly Roger adorned with six small tomahawk axes to indicate the missiles fired by the submarine in the operation.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Triumph_(S93)
For SSBNs it's CASD - continuous at sea deterrent, that's our nuclear weapons strategy defined as to "deter the most extreme threats to our national security and way of life, which cannot be done by other means".
For SSNs it's normal 'hunter-killer' sub stuff, but we can also covertly deliver and recover the SBS.
I think our subs get a hard time considering Russia for example has 20 different ways to deploy nuclear weapons and is developing 6 more (that we know of), we obviously have 1, the US only has 4.
For SSNs it's normal 'hunter-killer' sub stuff, but we can also covertly deliver and recover the SBS.
I think our subs get a hard time considering Russia for example has 20 different ways to deploy nuclear weapons and is developing 6 more (that we know of), we obviously have 1, the US only has 4.
Edited by Pastie Bloater on Sunday 2nd May 02:01
Cyder said:
Digger said:
Has a sub ever launched a missile in a war situation or environment?
Yep, HMS Triumph in 2011 sailed back home flying the Jolly Roger after launching missiles at Libya.“In March 2011, she participated in Operation Ellamy, firing Tomahawk cruise missiles on 19 March 20 March and again on 24 March at Libyan air defence targets. One of these strikes hit a command and control centre in Colonel Gaddafi's presidential compound.[3] Triumph returned to Devonport on 3 April 2011 flying a Jolly Roger adorned with six small tomahawk axes to indicate the missiles fired by the submarine in the operation.”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Triumph_(S93)
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