very bad misconception about the alfa it was made for speed and average diving capabilities, its acctual test depth is 700 meters and its crush depth is 750meters this is the real alfa project 705 and 705K.
They are small and nice boats fast but noisey i have been on K123 in gremikha she is all but stripped but you do get a sence that this is one powerful boat but it does have some wierd ass limits.
a captain who i spoke to who was on tests with an alfa in 1995 when they reactivated one for specialist high speed tests told me that if your at flank speed 45 knots and you turn full rudder the submarine could flip over.
the misconception was made by american engineers guessing its design parameters yes it was made with titanium so they said easy 900 meters it was backed up later by tom clancys hunt for red october however at the end of the cold war with many of the older submarines being decomissioned it was revealed they could only go down to 700 meters.
The sierra class can achieve 35 knots and dive to 850 meters (deepest diving submarine in the world still in commission)
The mike class was misconcieved to, the americans believed it hasa new ever more powerful power plant that previous submarines giving it a top speed of 38+ knots the only thing they got right was its diving depth of 1020 meters yet the submarine crushes at 5,100 feet its a shame that in 1989 she was lost with most of her crew it would have made an excellent boat no torpedo in the world could touch it.
It wasnt untill 2000 they released some data on the mike and her powerplant that the americans realised that infact she had the same reactor systems as previous boats meaning she could reach 35 knots on a good day.
|