U212A promo footage
 

...with an interesting tour of the interior and details of its construction

A promo video released by the Bundeswehr. Advertising a sub isn't easy. They don't come cheap! :hmmm:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YV5VDyBfIbA

Very cool! :yeah:

Surprised that they're still using diesel engines.

Also, think the sailors aboard are proud to be serving on a U-boat with all of us geeks on here wishing we could spend a day on one?

It's the MOST advanced conventional boat in the world :)

Battery endurance has been reduced (it's direct ancestor, the TR1700 had 960 cells / 500tons of batteries and could travel at 10kts for 300Nm) but the rather small battery complement is supplemented with a fuel cell plant.

Thanks to fuel cell technology, it can travel for 2 weeks without snorkelling and cover over 1200Nm. Since diesel electric boats have no moving parts other than the slow turning motor they're very quiet and can be positioned in ambush against surface groups or other submarines without the enemy knowing it.

In all the navies, the sailors aboard submarines are those who face the greatest perils but usually also the most motivated. An old submariner's motto says: "On a sub, everyone wins or everybody die!"

Well that's open to debate. The Russkies may just have topped her with their Sarov class submarine B-90. Its something relatively untried in the realm of conventional submarines, a Hybrid Nuclear-Electric boat. Basically the sub runs on batteries for silent operations and when it needs to charge them or go fast it used a quiet BWR (that's Boiling Water Reactor) insted of a diesel engine.

At least if the reports on her are accurate... so far it looks like she is just a testbed for equipment that will be installed in some future submarine class.

I said conventional ;)

Although I don't really think any AIP system can be classified as a truly "conventional" mean of propulsion, no more than a backup nuclear reactor.

With France, Russia, China, Germany, Italy and Sweden adopting AIP technology, conventional submarines are a dieing breed. The last truly conventional submarine is probably the German built, Israeli operated, Dolphin class. It's another offspring of the little know TR1700 submarine.

The TR1700 was truly impressive when it was launched in the late '70s. With a huge 6.6MW electric motor and 500t of batteries, it could reach 24kts underwater making it the fastest conventional sub to reach operational status. A few experimental submarines built both by the US and USSR reached even higher speeds but they were experimental and unarmed, mere test beds.

I agree to an extent.

The Sarov is really blurring the line between the two, much as the 212, Scorpene' and the other AIP boats are with their fuel cells or closed cycle diesels. Unless the Sarov is charging her batteries she is purely conventional.

On the flip side of that is a sub with a Closed Cycle Diesel a conventional boat? It functions almost exactly like any other Diesel Electric sub except it doesn't have to snort or surface to charge her batteries.

I think a few new terms are going to be added to our lexicon soon. AIP boats are going to be a diverse group of boats when it comes to propulsion, perhaps even more than the SSNs with their two or three types of nuc plants.

But I think until these boats are more common "Conventional" is going to be the term used on any sub without a proper nuclear reactor and steam turbines.

Italy has 2 operational Type 212, and they have superior performance at least in terms of maximum depth to the german Type 212s.
Furthermore, the group I'm part of, Betasom.it had the opportunity to visit the interior of one of the subs Type 212 that was out of the water for a full refit.
I wasn't there, but many of the forum were there and the visit they said was exciting. They got to see the sonar room, the navigation room and so on. Really cool, and of course the captain and officers of the sub were acting as hosts. Answering a lot of questions. :03:
To visit a real combat ready sub is different from seeing one in a museum.
Great stuff. :woot: