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Gorshkov · 07-06-10, 09:43 AM

I don't know where they did their research but I do not base my estimates on what Russkie old-farts from Makakhit and Rubin Design Bureaus twaddled about rusted Graney and Borey subs being equal or even more quiet than Seawolf. In fact I would be more trustful to specialists from Toshiba on that issue.

Anyway here you are an indirect answer: Seawolf's PSL=55, Graney's PSL=55 (taken from LWAMI 3.10 platform reference guide).

Reality is another story: US simply achieved another qualitative breakthrough in submarine's noise reduction over Los Angeles class SSNs having developed Seawolf program 15-20 years ago. The widely known fact is that in those days US were ten years ahead of the best Russkies had thanks to Seawolf's technology which means they regained lead in submarine warfare again as in the 1970s. As one can note at that time Russkies had on hand: Akula I Imp/Akula II SSNs introduced into service and Graney/Borey programs already launched. Of course in the last 20 years Russian naval R&D base effectively collapsed so only very naive people can think Russkies were able to catch-up Seawolf's technology level. In the meantime US developed next SSN project called NSSN which materialized as Virginia-class. What is known Virgina SSN is at least as quiet as Seawolf being in some ways more advanced design - so US were still making progress in this area. On the other hand Russkies after 15 years of silence showed their "brand-new" submarines which are essentially examples of late 1980s to early 1990s technology. In sum Russia is now 10-30 years behind the US and that is all story.

Translating all that into DW/LWAMI universe: If we assume Seawolf's PSL=55 as a baseline so generational step ahead over 688I's PSL = 58 is 3 points. Yet Russian Akula Imp and Akula II are believed to be more on less on par with 688I noise level and that is why I granted them with PSL equals to 59 and 58 respectively. Later I assumed that Graney SSN is founded on improved Akula II technology being slightly quieter but not generation ahead as new American nuclear subs due to all above obvious facts from reality. Thus Graney's PSL value should equal 57 being "two PSL points louder" than Seawolf's PSL or 2/3 generation behind it. Similar considerations leads to conclusion that Borey-class SSBN should have PSL about 58-60 being still more noisy than 30 years old Ohio-class SSBN (maybe after some stealth upgrades) but better than late 1980s Delta IV SSBN.

07-06-10, 09:43 AM	#50
Gorshkov Commodore Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 604 Downloads: 139 Uploads: 0	I don't know where they did their research but I do not base my estimates on what Russkie old-farts from Makakhit and Rubin Design Bureaus twaddled about rusted Graney and Borey subs being equal or even more quiet than Seawolf. In fact I would be more trustful to specialists from Toshiba on that issue. Anyway here you are an indirect answer: Seawolf's PSL=55, Graney's PSL=55 (taken from LWAMI 3.10 platform reference guide). Reality is another story: US simply achieved another qualitative breakthrough in submarine's noise reduction over Los Angeles class SSNs having developed Seawolf program 15-20 years ago. The widely known fact is that in those days US were ten years ahead of the best Russkies had thanks to Seawolf's technology which means they regained lead in submarine warfare again as in the 1970s. As one can note at that time Russkies had on hand: Akula I Imp/Akula II SSNs introduced into service and Graney/Borey programs already launched. Of course in the last 20 years Russian naval R&D base effectively collapsed so only very naive people can think Russkies were able to catch-up Seawolf's technology level. In the meantime US developed next SSN project called NSSN which materialized as Virginia-class. What is known Virgina SSN is at least as quiet as Seawolf being in some ways more advanced design - so US were still making progress in this area. On the other hand Russkies after 15 years of silence showed their "brand-new" submarines which are essentially examples of late 1980s to early 1990s technology. In sum Russia is now 10-30 years behind the US and that is all story. Translating all that into DW/LWAMI universe: If we assume Seawolf's PSL=55 as a baseline so generational step ahead over 688I's PSL = 58 is 3 points. Yet Russian Akula Imp and Akula II are believed to be more on less on par with 688I noise level and that is why I granted them with PSL equals to 59 and 58 respectively. Later I assumed that Graney SSN is founded on improved Akula II technology being slightly quieter but not generation ahead as new American nuclear subs due to all above obvious facts from reality. Thus Graney's PSL value should equal 57 being "two PSL points louder" than Seawolf's PSL or 2/3 generation behind it. Similar considerations leads to conclusion that Borey-class SSBN should have PSL about 58-60 being still more noisy than 30 years old Ohio-class SSBN (maybe after some stealth upgrades) but better than late 1980s Delta IV SSBN. Last edited by Gorshkov; 07-06-10 at 12:15 PM.