American Littoral Submarine

[acelanceloet]

gamma can penetrate everything TT.TT
and catz: not everything that is said to the press should be called the truth. the simple thing that it is forbidden to dump nuclear materials in the sea now, shows that there is danger.

[klagldsf]

gamma can penetrate everything TT.TT

Yes and no. As someone once said there's a limit to everything. Sufficient shielding will effectively block gamma emissions.

[Demon Lord Razgriz]

Like a meter of lead!

[Thiel]

Or a couple of kilometres of water. The issue isn't so much that the radiation penetrates water, but that all the stuff in the water and in some cases the water itself becomes irradiated. That's why we could measure increased radiation levels in Danish coastal waters after the Bikini Atoll tests.

[Mike]

I guess I am still looking for some feedback on the ideas presented by everyone. I originally came to the forum because I thought there was some merit in SSK designs to compliment and or augment SSN's typical mission assignments. Also since the forum started there is now a confirmed reality of huge budget cuts coming. As a minimum the US armed forces alone will be faced with 500 billion USD in future cuts which more than likely means a significant portion will be allocated to capital programs A.K.A. Subs.

Having said that, I also loved the sex-appeal of the updated Barbel class and threw in my two bits in support of SSK's in general as well as some other proven designs. Still looking forward to other ideas anybody has to advance the discussion. I think that was original intent I believe of the initiating post and Barbel sub drawing.

Mike

[Carthaginian]

As a minimum the US armed forces alone will be faced with 500 billion USD in future cuts which more than likely means a significant portion will be allocated to capital programs A.K.A. Subs.

Contrary to this forcing the U.S. to build diesel subs, this is simply going to force the U.S. to stop building any subs. We will simply maintain and update these as long as they will operate- or until the economy improves, whichever comes first. Then, the U.S. will likely start building more nuclear subs, as they are more versatile than diesel submarines, in spite of not allowing you to field as many hulls.

[nighthunter]

What I wouldnt mind seeing, is the navy's that run SSKs to use Bio-diesel.

[Thiel]

What I wouldnt mind seeing, is the navy's that run SSKs to use Bio-diesel.

I can't really see the point of that, not that it would be hard. Getting a diesel engine to run on bio-fuels doesn't require more than a simple adjustment to the fuel injectors and in and outlet valves, maybe new nozzles. Shouldn't take more than a week and most of the time will be spent on testing. The fix itself shouldn't take more than a couple of hours.

[TimothyC]

As a minimum the US armed forces alone will be faced with 500 billion USD in future cuts which more than likely means a significant portion will be allocated to capital programs A.K.A. Subs.

Contrary to this forcing the U.S. to build diesel subs, this is simply going to force the U.S. to stop building any subs. We will simply maintain and update these as long as they will operate- or until the economy improves, whichever comes first. Then, the U.S. will likely start building more nuclear subs, as they are more versatile than diesel submarines, in spite of not allowing you to field as many hulls.

I could see SSN procurement slowing down, but not stopping all together. If it stops restarting it would be a massive massive pain, and risks being more expensive than just letting it run at a very low rate.

[Carthaginian]

I could see SSN procurement slowing down, but not stopping all together. If it stops restarting it would be a massive massive pain, and risks being more expensive than just letting it run at a very low rate.

Oh, I understand that it will not stop entirely... they will simply drag out the building of the subs on the ways as long as possible, and build any planned and as yet unstarted subs at the slowest possible pace- possibly even cutting the numbers of subs and forcing even more cooperative building among the yards.

We'd never shut down construction completely, but they could bring it to a virtual halt.