OK, I'm stumped! You folks ID this!

[TLAM Strike]

A friend sent these pictures to me and I can't seem to identify this class of submarine.

... Oberon stop laughing! :O: Even Jack Ryan has limits to his Knowledge!

http://img409.imageshack.us/img409/5510/14662739433056.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4237/14662739200802061320208.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4121/14662739200802061320186.jpg

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/9601/14662739200802061320193.jpg

[SteamWake]

I dunno but heard it was spotted off the coast of florida the other day :cool:

[kiwi_2005]

I have no idea, typing in Google 'submarine 168' didn't help brought up a Swedish sub but was much larger than the one pictured

[TLAM Strike]

Forgot to mention but its most likely Chinese built, note the Komar/Hoku class missile boat behind it.

[Gerald]

from? looks not as a Swedish sub,maybe a small one in Italy!
:lurk:

[krashkart]

Isn't that the Rustbukkit-class? :D

[Buddahaid]

Seems to be lacking a means of propulsion! I think I saw one at Disneyland. :shucks:

[TLAM Strike]

from? looks not as a Swedish sub,maybe a small one in Italy!
:lurk:
Nope not a COSMOS built sub either. Checked those already.

Seems to be lacking a means of propulsion! I think I saw one at Disneyland. :shucks:
Look closely at the last picture you will see a tiny circle that has been patched, that must be where the shaft for the prop was.

[thorn69]

Uh, I don't know?... Maybe Rosie O'donnell's bath toy! :hmmm:

[AVGWarhawk]

I don't know but it is a cool looking submarine. I would love to take a look inside.

[TarJak]

I'm guessing from the web address that it's in China somewhere. Buggered if I can tell what it is though.

[convoy hunter]

maybe a chinese one:hmmm:

[Raptor1]

Never seen one of these. It looks like some sort of coastal submarine, too big for a midget sub but way too small for a normal submarine, yet I have never heard of China using anything of the sort...

[NeonSamurai]

That is a very weird sub what ever it is. I don't see anywhere where bow or stern planes were mounted, I also don't see any mountings where a screw would have fit (which i would expect to be ahead of the rudder). Small one too, Seems to be about 12-14 meters long (from the markings on the nose the rails around are about 1m tall)

[SteamWake]

What an eclectic website :88)

[Weiss Pinguin]

That is a very weird sub what ever it is. I don't see anywhere where bow or stern planes were mounted, I also don't see any mountings where a screw would have fit (which i would expect to be ahead of the rudder). Small one too, Seems to be about 12-14 meters long (from the markings on the nose the rails around are about 1m tall)
Maybe a replica? (Unfinished?) Or partly scrapped? Either way it does look incredibly cramped...

[Oberon]

:hmmm: :haha:

I'd say a prototype of sorts, perhaps related to the Osprey class? :hmmm:

[Raptor1]

:hmmm: :haha:

I'd say a prototype of sorts, perhaps related to the Osprey class? :hmmm:

Can't see it being related to the Osprey, that thing's made for entirely different purposes. I'd say it being some kind of prototype is reasonable though...

[Gerald]

Nope not a COSMOS built sub either. Checked those already.


Look closely at the last picture you will see a tiny circle that has been patched, that must be where the shaft for the prop was.

If you look to entire environment,there are large place for spirited thinking....:up:

[FIREWALL]

They look like something for kids to play on in a park.

So much for swings and slides.:haha:

[Gerald]

They look like something for kids to play on in a park.

So much for swings and slides.:haha: Or some suitably recreation area for landlubber....:agree:

[Jimbuna]

Could be the next high tec super top secret design awaiting export to NK :hmmm:

[Weiss Pinguin]

They look like something for kids to play on in a park.

So much for swings and slides.:haha:
DUDE

If my park had that thing I would spend every day messing with it. And pretend to fire off torpedoes at all the monkey bars and slides and forts :haha:

[Buddahaid]

Well I don' see a covered shaft hole, dive planes, or a moveable rudder. Matbe it used an external electric motor on a steerable pod? Or maybe it was just a low tech trainer for ballast control? Towed?

[Schroeder]

Well I don' see a covered shaft hole, dive planes, or a moveable rudder. Matbe it used an external electric motor on a steerable pod? Or maybe it was just a low tech trainer for ballast control? Towed?
Maybe all that stuff was removed/reused when that thing got put up on display. I guess it's more difficult to conserve moveable parts than just putting the hulk there. :hmm2:

[flatsixes]

It's the last remaining example of the infamous North Korean manned mine (code named the "African Queen.)" It was to be towed it out to the shipping lanes, where it would be submerged to periscope depth and wait for something to run into it. Immediately upon visual contact, the crew would inflate a huge yellow mylar balloon tethered to the periscope that read "FREE BEER HERE" and then light the fuses on the torpedoes before running away. Like I said, there were two of these, once.

[Jimbuna]

How do you 'run away' from a submerged submarine? :hmmm:

:DL

[flatsixes]

A design flaw, to be sure.

[krashkart]

How do you 'run away' from a submerged submarine? :hmmm:

:DL

With good running flippers, of course. :shucks:

[NeonSamurai]

I do think I see mounting points for a rudder on it though, there looks to be a hole for the rudder just aft of the vertical fin on the underside that it would be attached to, plus the 4 holes (I assume on each side) on that fin for support mountings.

As for dive planes I can't see any sign of mounting points anywhere on the aft of the sub, though there may have been planes just below the torpedo tubes on the bow. There are hole(s) just below the tubes, and a set of brackets above the tube.

I wonder though if this was a full scale prototype that didn't not go any further in development. I still can't see any trace of a propulsion system though, or support brackets for propulsion, though I do wonder what those square cutouts just in front of the rudder fin are.

[Weiss Pinguin]

I wonder though if this was a full scale prototype that didn't not go any further in development. I still can't see any trace of a propulsion system though, or support brackets for propulsion, though I do wonder what those square cutouts just in front of the rudder fin are.
Maybe a mock-up? Too bad there's no pictures looking inside.

[AVGWarhawk]

Maybe a mock-up? Too bad there's no pictures looking inside.


Yeah, it might be a mock up. Agreed, I do not see props. The rudder is welded right to the body of the submarine. No evidence of actual planes. The hand rail around the sail looks odd to me. Probably a hollow shell :hmmm:

[Weiss Pinguin]

The hand rail around the sail looks odd to me.
If you look the ends of the railing are open and look a little off, but they might have just been unfinished. But some other details just appear somewhat shoddy and unlike what you might expect to see on a working submarine...

[AVGWarhawk]

I think it is a Bulgarian submarine that might have plied the waters of the Black Sea. :03:

[TLAM Strike]

I think it is a Bulgarian submarine that might have plied the waters of the Black Sea. :03:

I thought that too, Soviet Malyutka-class from WWII. But its too short, the sail is in the wrong spot and it appears to only have 2 tubes (it could have four but where would the engines go?)
http://img514.imageshack.us/img514/2343/sy009t.jpg

Unless you are talking about some other boat, the only Bulgarian subs I've found were one in WWI, this, whiskeys and romeos.

[gimpy117]

looks like a "Sea-wolf-fodder" class

[Buddahaid]

If you look the ends of the railing are open and look a little off, but they might have just been unfinished. But some other details just appear somewhat shoddy and unlike what you might expect to see on a working submarine...

I'm sure those rails are just added on to keep visitors from falling off, and not the sea-going set-up.

[Weiss Pinguin]

I'm sure those rails are just added on to keep visitors from falling off, and not the sea-going set-up.
Or there's always that :smug: