Why do we love submarines ?
 

Many of us here are "naval nerds" and we have our special boats that we love and we also tend to have our own era that we like to talk about.
Obviously I am a big fan of Russian design and built Ships and submarines and my era is the cold war to modern day so i cant comprehend to much when people ask me about sailing ships like the 3 masted schooner or the frigate.

So what is it that drives you to love Naval bits? well for me I have had a good sense of what systems are what given that I have been able to jump borders so to speak what attracts me to Russian designs rather than the western designs (I am from the UK) is the design element everything looks different than anything any one else produces.

https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5667/...5b561e93_b.jpgDelta IV SSBN by Blair shaw, on Flickr
https://farm1.staticflickr.com/772/2...062000c067.jpgProject 949A Antey by Blair shaw, on Flickr

For example there is nothing like this in the west design wise so thats the reason i prefer the Russian stuff.

So what got you guys into it former service? general interest? perhapse family? do explain :subsim:

Good question really.

I do recall I got a book on submarines from my Aunt and Uncle when I was a young lad, good book too, explained about sonar and active sonar, SINS and the like.
Played Silent Service on the NES when I was about the same age too, but oddly my interest always seemed to drift more towards modern submarines, especially after reading the abridged version of To Kill the Potemkin. Then got Fast Attack for the PC and watched Hunt for Red October, and after that was Sub Command and Subsim.

What do I like about it?
The stalking mainly. I'm not fussed if I don't fire weapons at all, but stalking an enemy submarine, getting a good solution without it detecting you in return. That's good fun. :yep:

the mindset of a submariner=real time perpective
 

Since a kid, always loved history. Not sure why I like subs so much over other games, guess it's because the tactics are so different.

Sure wish they'd make a Silent Hunter COOP where we could have several players in one sub.

Dangerous Waters has that but it's modern sub, would be interesting in a WWII boat, definitely. Have had some fun multi-crewing a Kilo with Raptor and Arclight before, even if the Russian sonar screen drives me crazy. :haha:

They're a succesfull underdog.

Underpowered, underarmed and undermaned. No match for the glorius capital ships and carriers.
But they did the job remarkably well. And were feared. It was a game of chess, not a game of guns.
Tacticaly of course. Even between capital ships was a chess game on a strategical level.

I've always liked subs because they're a bit unconventional since subs are effectively boats designed to go underwater for the purpose of sinking enemy vessels and to do so without being detected by the enemy. Subs are to the Navy as snipers are to the Marine Corps and the Army, their purposes are similar to sneak, stalk and kill without being discovered and if they are discovered, to escape and evade.

Freud would have a theory on why we like subs, but most of us wouldn't want to hear it... :haha:


<O>

Without sounding gay ... I think it's the men that volunteered for submarine service knowing full well
that a chance does excist for a one way trip straight down due to accidents or naval combat.

They have to be more intelligent than the normal sailor (officers or enlisted men) and they have to be loose and not uptight.

of course I'm a little prejudice with my grandfather having
served diesel and nuc's back in the 60's and early 70's.

Plus all of the submarine movies have a bit of romance about them.

The submarine itself is just a huck of steel with wires and stuff inside. The men add the element of surprise.

The body is dead without the spirit and so is a submarine with good men.

This might be an unpopular opinion, but I like submarines because they make for good simulation games :D When it comes to submarines themselves, I always thought that they were, in a way, completely insane. Putting a few dozen people in a metal tube with a lot of very volatile equipment and weapons is crazy, and it fascinates me just how far we as people are willing to go to find creative and unusual ways of killing each other. However, all of this makes for some really fascinating scenarios and human interest stories.

I was a fan since first playing Silent Service at age 9 :yep:

Can't put in words why exactly I fall for submarines... but that picture you posted kinda sums it up. There is a certain flair around it and it gives me goose bumps... and makes me wanna play DW again.

Sink 'em with my pink torpedo!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfhphrmKdsg

I just grew up with a family history of civilian Mare Island shipyard employees. Mare Island was pretty much all about subs post war and I attended the launch of SSBN-642 USS Kamehameha in 1965. I find them fascinating as earthbound spacecraft if nothing else, plus I'm also attracted to the lurching naval sniper aspect.

Good thread. For me, A submarine is the only kind of naval vessel that truly masters the sea. It can sail about on the surface and also deep below whenever it chooses.

http://i.imgur.com/geeWE4L.jpg

WW2 sub movies were always my favourite war films, hence my first sims were the Silent Hunter series, but it's the "open world" nature of the submarine simulator which appeals to me: you can go anywhere you want, whenever you want, attack whomever you wish and with whatever submarine you choose.

Also, even though I'm not into strategy games, I do enjoy having to be mindful as captain of the management of the vessel.