Any idea what these are for? (Golf class SSB)

[Osmium Steele]

Originally Posted by TLAM Strike

any idea what these are for? Notice those bumpers on the deck of this Golf class SSB?

Purely speculation... ... to protect against accidental docking damage. Docking with what? Good question.

The paint scheme on the hatches is my best clue. Never seen that on an operational Golf before.

The sonar sticking up from the bow rules out the sub coming up under something to dock, so something is coming down to the sub.

My tupence...

[NeonSamurai]

My guess is that they are using that sub to practice rescue missions on using DSRVs. That is the only answer I can think of, where you would want to have bumpers both fore and aft (if they were transporting a DSRV, you would likely only see bumpers on the aft portion, as most nations transport DSRVs aft of the sail, not to mention the lack of room forward of the sail for one. I also do not see any mountings for anything. It would also explain the brightly colored hatches

[Growler]

Definitely fenders of some sort.

Would anyone surface a Golf-boat through ice?

I wonder about DSRV testing, though; seems to me you'd be better off testing in as close to a real-world scenario as possible, and I'd think that fenders wouldn't be that. Can't say for sure, though. Those folks do things differently.

[Osmium Steele]

Originally Posted by Growler

Would anyone surface a Golf-boat through ice?

Iirc, they are specifically designed to do so. The main armament is in the sail, and could only fire from the surface, also dem russkies do love the Arctic.

PRC subs use neon orange

This, I did not know.

[Growler]

Originally Posted by Osmium Steele

Iirc, they are specifically designed to do so. The main armament is in the sail, and could only fire from the surface, also dem russkies do love the Arctic.

OK, then, the logical follow-on: would/could these fenders be used to protect the upper hull from ice upon surfacing?

[nikimcbee]

Hey TLAM, I know, but I'm not going to tell.

[Osmium Steele]

Originally Posted by Growler

OK, then, the logical follow-on: would/could these fenders be used to protect the upper hull from ice upon surfacing?

Very doubtful. They've never needed them before.

Unless the chinese have tried to shave weight by shaving the hull.

[Growler]

Originally Posted by Osmium Steele

Very doubtful. They've never needed them before.

Unless the chinese have tried to shave weight by shaving the hull.

Any ideas how old the boat is? Or is there something else on the hull that's more fragile that they're trying to protect? Maybe they are just DSRV guards - as I said before, those folks do tend to do things differently that we do.

I'm just throwing out thoughts as they come up. Interesting little discussion here.

[TLAM Strike]

Originally Posted by NeonSamurai

It would also explain the brightly colored hatches

Those hatches are rescue buoys in case the sub goes down. On Russian boats they are painted like a barber's poll, PRC subs use neon orange, we use yellow but hide it under the deck.

[Bilge_Rat]

purely a guess, but it could be an attempt to lower the noise signature of the sub.