The Virginia-class nuclear attack submarine USS Minnesota. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Steven Hoskins
Popular Mechanics: Should the U.S. Navy Buy Non-Nuclear Submarines?
Backers claim the Pentagon would get more bang for its buck, but the Navy disagrees.
It was 1990, and it was the end of an era. The U.S. Navy decommissioned the attack submarine USS Blueback, the last non-nuclear attack submarine in U.S. service.
Nuclear subs have distinct advantages over their conventionally-powered cousins, but they also take a long time and a lot of money to build. As China’s Navy ramps up, is it time for America’s shipyards to build diesel electric submarines again? A new article in The National Interest takes up this issue.
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WNU Editor: You can buy 5 non-nuclear submarines for the price of one nuclear submarine. That alone makes it very tempting to maybe explore this option.
3 comments:
Even in a non-nuclear war just a handful of destroyed nuclear propelled vessels will do the damage to the oceans. No win situation there. Get to the beaches while you still can.
And the electric boats are super quiet. Quieter than the nuclear powered ones. The problem would be range and endurance.
"problem would be range and endurance."
Keep them in around high density SLOC (Panama Canal region, Singapore, ...), where nuke subs might want to hunt.
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