Quote:
Originally Posted by raymond6751
I've read that nuke boats are noisy when compared to the diesel-electrics. They (nukes) are a threat based on their weapons carried. The DE boats are a threat by silence.
Since most of the subs built are not nuke powered, they represent the actual state of the art.
Just as most wars are settled by the conventional forces rather than the fancy gadgets, the naval wars will be settled by the simple, time-tested silent service.
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partially true. It really depends on who you ask, there are two camps on the subj each with their own supporters. I try to remain impartial.
Nucs at cruise speeds tend to be noisy, not because the are nuclear powered alone but because they have pumps to cool the reactor and turbines to turn the screw. Now there have been experiments to overcome this. There have been US Subs with a turbo-electric drive instead of a turbine (Glenard P. Lipscomb and Tullibee), both were very quiet but the TE drive was complex, and resulted in slower speeds than turbine equipped subs. The Narwhal had a natural circulation reactor with sea water intakes that gets rid of the coolant pumps. Narwhal was quite possibly the quietest SSN ever built. Her natural circulation reactor (but not the sea water intakes) were repeated on the Ohio SSBNs and maybe other submarines. Natural circulation reactors have also been used on Russian Nuc boats and on the French Rubis class attack boats. At low speeds a Natural Circulation boat will run almost as quiet as a SSK on batteries but still be capable of high SSN Speeds on demand. Personally I think Natural Circulation is the best option for submarine population, especially for submarines tasked with ASW.
As for weapon outfits SSN and SSK have much the same weapons capabilities (diesels tend to have more tubes in fact), although some SSNs have VLS tubes. Nuc boats also have space for larger sensors meaning they are better suited for ASW.