As said
Nuclear boats can go faster and sustain high speed for however long they want they are noiseyer than diesel electrics and AIP's but the nuclear boats can normaly dive alot deeper than thier diesel counterparts and also stay down longer and carry more weapons as they tend to be alot larger.
Fastest boat know at the moment was the russian papa (project 661 anchar)class 44.7 knots only to be suceaded on a run by an alfa (project 705k lira) class at 45.2 knots there was roumers the mike class (project 685 plavnik) was to be able to reach 38 knots however it was a failed design and never reached its top speed but it would out dive every modern nuclear submarine at the time and even today it can still out dive subs like seawolf and virginia diving to a maximum safe operational depth of 1020 meters (well over 3000 feet this is maximum safe depth crush depth was estimated at 5,100 feet)(source global security.org).
Given that the nuclaer boats are noiseyer they dive deeper so they can dive below a layer (thermocline layer where hot and cold water meet making sonar detection harder) an alfa at 200 meters could be heard a thousand miles away (source blind mans bluff tv prog from ret USN sub captain) however when dived right down to 650meter it was very hard in mid ocean to hear.
Its very rare that a nuclear submarine surfaces mid ocean its only when theres been an accident problem or on an exercise (EVEN THEN YOU WOULD BE LUCKY TO SURFACE).
There are three types of nuclear boats (main fleet not including specialist boats)
SSN attack submarine designed primarily for ASW and ASuW and in some cases land attack (688i springs to mind akula for russia)
SSGN a cruise missile submarine normaly larger than its attack submarine counterpart it carrys cruise missiles like the converted ohios and the massive russian Oscar II mainly used in the ASuW role (oscar II is designed for carrier battle group destruction) the ohios carry land attack missiles.
SSBN the biggest boats in the fleets carrying nuclear missiles the largest is the typhoon class (project 641 akula) of russia 562 feet long 86.4 feet wide and a submerged displacement of 48,000 tonnes (same wieght as the titanic and more than twice the wieght of britains current HMS Ark royal aircraft carrier and aprox 4,000 tonnes havier than the current LPDs in the USN)
on the surface a diesel boat would make more noise simply because the engine output is well above 150db (most subs reactors are about 60db forgot where i red this) also the waves crashing over the hull makes noise the properllor makes more noise in the sea when surfaced.
most diesel submarines are used for medium range sea going patrols and littoral operation (coastal) they carry a small crew 58 to 70 they are alot smaller meaning they can dive in shallower waters than a nuke they carry fewer weapons than nuclear boats (and some boats dont carry as good sensors as a nuclear sub the kilo (project 636 and 877 improved) dont have a towed array) most nuclear subs have towed arrays very very few now dont even SSBNs have TA's
But which one is the better submarine ?
It depends on what its about to do where its going and the conditions types of submarine used so niether one excells in all areas they are just good all around.
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