Quote:
Originally Posted by Gorshkov
@goldorak: What about becoming to know what this forum exists for? 
@LWAMI Team: Your PSL values are ridiculous:
- American: Seawolf, Virginia: 55, 55
- Russian: Graney, Borey: 55, 56
Sorry but I didn't know such amazing PSL levels can be achieved after rusting 15-20 years in Russian shipyard and not having any technological progress in that time due to economic crisis and fall of Soviet R&D base. Strictly speaking I have to use DWEdit to correct these funny values to 57 and 58 respectively for both "brand-news" Russkie nuclear subs founded on 20 years old Soviet technology. I suppose in real life noise level of both these subs is most probably not much better than old Akulas but I won't waste my time to edit all Russian subs PSL values in the LWAMI 3.10 mod. Well, I also tuned PSLs of Astute to 56, Akula II's to 58 and Victor III Imp to 63 so now nuclear subs noise level seems to be rational enough:
- Russia: Victor III 67, Victor III Imp 63, Akula I 63, Akula I Imp 59, Akula II 58, Borey 58, Granay 57
- US: LA 62, LA Imp 58, Seawolf 55, Virginia 55
- UK: Switfsure 63, Trafalgar 59, Astute 56
And please don't give me an explanations like "game-play balance" and similar BS. 
PS. Well, it seems that someone have already changed both values to 56 and 57 respectively as I noticed in DWEdit. That was move in right direction but rather too short one, I am afraid.  |
CNO CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY: House National Security Committee Testimony, 1996 Defense budget, February 22, 1995:
“... The Russians today have six submarines at sea that are quieter than the 688(I)s, our best submarine.
This is the first time since we put Nautilus to sea that they have had submarines at sea quieter than ours. As you know, quieting is everything in submarine warfare.”
But even as these words were spoken, the Soviet era had given way, and the submarine warriors had a few years to rest on their laurels.
Under the statement of the representatives US NAVY, on operative speeds about 5-7 kts, noise submarines such as Improved Akula, fixed means of hydroacoustic investigation, was less noise USS such as Improved Los Angeles. According to the chief of an operative department US NAVY of the admiral Jeremy Boorda, the American subs were not able to accompany Improved Akula on speeds less than 6-9 kts (contact to a new Russian sub was held in the spring of 1995 at east coast of USA.
And statement by Norman Polmar:
As the Soviet submarine force advanced in these areas, U.S. submarine leaders held to the view that the U.S. submarine force was superior because of our lead in acoustics or quieting. There were, however, ominous signs that the Soviets were making progress in submarine quieting. The Soviet Akula class, which went to sea in the mid-1980s, was far quieter than expected. The Akula's appearance led to a House-sponsored study that concluded that because of Soviet submarine acoustic quieting, "We believe that the [U.S.] Navy must, in effect, 'start over' in its approach to ASW."
Addressing specific Soviet submarine developments--called into focus by the unexpected low noise levels of the Akula--the report continued:
... it is true that the Soviets' submarine R&D [research and development] program is extremely ambitious, [it] seems to over-look no promising technologies, and--in that it dates back many years--is no flash in the pan. As a result of their years of intensive research it appears that the Soviets may well be ahead of us in certain technologies, such as titanium structures and control of the hydrodynamic flow around a submarine.
But far more important is the improvement that the Soviets have made in submarine quieting. The problem is not that Soviet submarines are now quieter than ours; they are not. But after decades of building comparatively noisy submarines, the Soviets have now begun to build submarines that are quiet enough to present for us a major technological challenge with profound national security implications.
The Improved Akula SSN, which went to sea in 1990, soon revealed that the Soviets had surpassed the U.S. Navy in some areas of acoustic quieting--the Improved Akula was quieter than our newest attack submarines, the Improved LOS ANGELES class. Admiral J.M. Boorda, the Chief of Naval Operations, told the House:
This is the first time since we put NAUTILUS to sea that [the Russians] have had submarines at sea quieter than ours. As you know, quieting is everything in submarine warfare.
While we are told that the SEAWOLF is the quietest submarine in the world, one wonders if we have "all" the data needed to evaluate the acoustic signature of the Akula II, and the potential noise level of the Russian SEVERODVINSK, now on the building ways. If the past is any guide to the future, it is likely that the SEVERODVINSK will be significantly quieter than the Akula series--and quieter than the SEAWOLF, which was designed several years before the SEVERODVINSK. Discussions that I have had with senior officials of Russia's Rubin and Malachite design bureaus reinforce the view that future Russian submarines will be quieter and have significantly improved performance.
True, the size of the Russian submarine force has been cut in half; relatively few submarines are going to sea; and the construction of new submarines is proceeding at a sluggish rate. But the Russian submarine force remains, in the words of the U.S. Director of Naval Intelligence, the "technological pacing challenge."