Shipbucket

Submarines change color between dock visits!

The US Navy is also switching to blue!

SHIPDUDE wrote:Submarines change color between dock visits!

The US Navy is also switching to blue!

What?!?! Where the Hell did you hear or read that?

This is 2009 news!

I think you're crazy.

If you ask me, the Navy's ships looked better with red below the waterline.

How's that applicable to submarines?
Specifically nuclear submarines whose operating pattern makes anti fouling paint superfluous?
(Their tendency to move constantly makes it very hard for marine growths to get a grip on them.)

Well...many US submarines receive antifouling in the yards - I suspect for aesthetic reasons during launching ceremonies!

This turns to an unsightly green during patrols and wears away.

New silicon based fouling release paints work on different principles - the poor marine creatures can't get a grip!

So constant motion is actually an advantage for this type of paint. Of course last I heard it only being applied to Arleigh Burkes and Ticonderogas, but marine fouling is a larger problem for submarines than commonly suspected!



Good for sonar?

But this is straying off topic.

Short answer - some US submarines will have antifouling paint, some will not. It will depend on the individual boat and time period!

Good God, that is one disgusting image!

Yes - submarines can be gross.

(Although I haven't heard much about the "artificial mucus" idea from the 80s lately! )