So where is sub-tech going?

[kschang]

Haven't seen too many future extrapolations of submarine technology by the authors so far. Seems like everybody who writes is based in present, or past. The only two writing about future seems to be Joe Buff and Michael DiMercurio.

(if I missed some, let me know!)

Joe Buff's future: ceramic hull subs that dive deeper and go faster than anything that came before, surface ships can't even touch them. Only another sub, specifically another ceramic hull sub, can kill them, but only if it has some super-duper sonar tech like that acoustic VR thingie.

Hmmm... Building a ceramic hull isn't THAT hard, I suppose, and his super-subs aren't that different from the present day subs, albeit the sensors are definitely upgraded and the signal processing that goes into it to produce a VR environment based on sound alone is interesting to say the least.

Michael DiMercurio's future: Vortex torpedoes with plasma warheads that's so ****ing powerful, you're done for even with a near miss, but not much sonar improvement or even basic weapons besides the Vortex torps. Vortex torps are blue-laser guided, and runs at super-cavitation speed of 200+ knots. Basically, they are nukes without the fallout. Yeah. One sub before had polymer injection system, but never mentioned again. Then there's this AI driven sub... That basically had a psychosis. Everybody else (namely, the Japanese) had nice torps that are much better than American torps ,which are still some derivatives of ADCAPs, besides the Vortex torps.

While supercavitation torp isn't new (the Russian Shkval?) the lack of developement of some super torpedo that's loads better than ADCAP is somewhat surprising. Is the problem solely limited to bore (i.e. torpedo tube) size? What happened to the polymer injection system? Or the AI?

[AntEater]

How about that:
Fuel cell submarines which take the hydrogen/oxygen for the chemical reaction to generate electricity directly out of the surrounding water!
A absolutely no fuel AIP engine with almost no moving parts...
Sofar only a concept for the next generation HDW Submarines (Successors to type 212/214).

[TLAM Strike]

I want them to build a submersible Aircraft Carrier/Toop Ship like in Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri series of games.

[Oberon]

Either that or the submersible carrier Scinfaxi or Hrimfaxi from Ace Combat 5

[Bill Nichols]

Originally Posted by AntEater

How about that:
Fuel cell submarines which take the hydrogen/oxygen for the chemical reaction to generate electricity directly out of the surrounding water!
A absolutely no fuel AIP engine with almost no moving parts....

Unless you had another energy source (such as nuclear power) to split the H2O molecule, that would fall under the category of "Perpetual Motion Machines", which violate the Laws of Thermodynamics

[Type XXIII]

The only way to tap energy out of water is, and this is for now purely theoretical, if you can split it into hydrogen and oxygene, isolate the heavier isotopes of hydrogen and then start a fusion process. There are working fusion reactors, but it is unlikely that you can fit one on a sub for any time soon. not to mention one that produces enough energy to split the water molecules, isolate the heavier isotopes and still propel the sub.

Ceramic hull sounds interesting though. :hmm:

[Bill Nichols]

Originally Posted by Type XXIII

The only way to tap energy out of water is, and this is for now purely theoretical, if you can split it into hydrogen and oxygene, isolate the heavier isotopes of hydrogen and then start a fusion process. There are working fusion reactors, but it is unlikely that you can fit one on a sub for any time soon. not to mention one that produces enough energy to split the water molecules, isolate the heavier isotopes and still propel the sub.

Ceramic hull sounds interesting though. :hmm:

You could, through electrolysis, split H2O into hydrogen and oxygen, but you need energy to do that. You could then use the H and O to run a fuel cell. However, you'll never get as much energy out of the fuel cell as was needed to split the H2O in the first place

[AntEater]

Whoops, didnt think of that :hmm:
Well, it wasnt my idea and surely sounds great...
Another concept which I read about in the "Soldat und Technik" Magazine was a kind of Periscope pod, which could contain either a small UAV (Luna), a SAM launcher or a 30mm recoilless cannon!
Somehow a nice concept of having a periscope mounted deck gun, so to speak.
Being in a small boat and suddenly having a chain gun rising out of the waves in front of you is one of the worst forms of "wtf??" one can imageine

[SeaQueen]

Originally Posted by kschang

Only another sub, specifically another ceramic hull sub, can kill them, but only if it has some super-duper sonar tech like that acoustic VR thingie.

The problem with sonar advances right now, is that for decades engineers and physicists have focused on ways of extracting more and more energy from the surrounding water. Now they're edging right up against the physical limits of how much energy is there TO extract. Is it worth it to spend another billion dollars to extract another 0.5dB of signal excess when there might be other alternatives out there?

I think big sonar advances are going to come in the field of advanced statistical pattern recognition software which will filter noise and recognize signatures previously masked.

Yeah. One sub before had polymer injection system, but never mentioned again.

Several subs owned by both the US and the Soviets experimented with the idea. It works, but there's problems. What do you do when you run out of polymer? I suspect there's also probably environmental issues.