im not realy speculating its more my opinion the way i do see it, based on what i think helped by a shot in the dark at what the officals say.

im not saying that the seawolf isnt capible of high speeds im saying its unlikely because of its shape and its not hydrodynamicaly efficent, but the alfa is

it is plausible the seawolf could hit 50 knots but the sub @10,000tonnes and wide not to metion long and the sail thats like a brick kinda says maybe not.

its not a personal bias just the way i see this

you can recreate a wind tunnel test for both these submarines all you need is wol a fan and 2 plastic models

Well, none of us (err, maybe few of us :)) knows the Truth about that speeds, depths etc. My opinion is that smart Commander driving old boat will beat mediocre commander driving new boat ;)
We can endlessly speculate about "Akula vs SW", but I hope that we'll never get a chance to test it in a real battle :cool:
2 Kapitain
Alfa was a really good one. But her reactor, which gave her that incredible possibilities, was too expencive and too difficult to operate. There were enen some accidents because of it. In addition, on that high speeds Alfa was VERY noisy.
The more important thing is that Alfa was kinda the first soviet attemp to create a SmartBoat - everything aboard was highly automated, and even there were no mates in crew - only officers and midshipmen.

Hmmm but Kapitain what you have described what you do is speculation.

Also working out flow patterns takes a lot more then a fan and a couple of models considering that water flow and airflow over a sub are two different things even if the same formulae are used.

Sure if you know the physics you can work it out but that is tough physics.

Not to mention the Soviet Navy tried that whole sodium cooling system in such boats as the alpha and that turned out to be a blunder. I do happen to know some specifics (obviously can't discuss them) but the main thing is that the Seawolf was a good design in theory and on paper but was built a bit late in the game for what she was designed for. They did however take the lessons learned from Seawolf design and construction and applied them when they built Virginia...I think over the next few years you will see that she is a good class as well. :up:

Isn't this by it's very nature speculation? I don't have a problem with it. It makes for interesting reading what peoples hunches are with regards to these topics.

i do say take it with a pinch of salt but as so many have said the seawolf is a good design and i do agree with then reasons:

the sail stops the submarine from turtle if it does a fast sharp turn

the sails ram like shape allows equal displacement of water on each side reducing noise

the seawolf is 2 generations ahead of the alfa you could only ever compair speeds and other such data technology well the obvious its gotta be american.

in terms of metalurgy the russians were ahead and in AIP propulsion too at one stage but germany over took them and russia is only now re visiting this technology.

i speculate because of what history has told us ie bricks dont fly to well nor do they swim well either id consider the seawolf an oddly shaped brick hence why i say what ive said.

:yep:

maybe old, but she is my baby :arrgh!: