Popular Mechanics: How a Plucky Swedish Sub Took Out a US Carrier All on Its Own
In a war game, of course.
In 2005, the USS Ronald Reagan met its match in the form of a single, diesel-powered Swedish submarine. During war games, the plucky submarine was able to sneak through the passive sonar defenses of the Ronald Reagan and its entire accompanying group to score a few precious torpedo hits, (virtually) sinking the cruiser and getting away without so much as a scratch.
How? As Real Engineering explains, it's all thanks to a very old-school engine. Instead of using its diesel to power an internal combustion engine (which is quite loud, what with the explosions and all), the Gotland-class sub instead uses highly-optimized Sterling engines, not unlike what you might find as a desk toy, but considerably more high tech. These exceedingly quiet engines are used to charge batteries which in turn can directly run the engines. The result is a sub that's quieter than any other diesel, and even quieter than its nuclear cousins which require a constant churn of coolant that can give away their position.
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WNU Editor: It makes one wonder this engineering design is not being used by other navies to make their submarines.
5 comments:
Australian navy sunk a u.s carrier during war games off Hawai years ago with the Collins class submarine also without a scratch.
And 2 u.s attack subs
https://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/09/23/1064082993693.html
Our (swedish) home brewed subs are actually very good. Iv'e always heard good things about them. Many cool innovations. The same goes to JAS 39 Gripen. (when we can afford to fly them)
Yep, the Collins class are a,Swedish design, except we put the u.s combat system in it which had huge integration problems.
fazman, cool! I did not know that! Do they still have problems with the Collins class?
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