Giant Russian Typhoon Class subs

Giant Russian Typhoon Class subs

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Brother D

Original Poster:

3,719 posts

176 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
https://m.imgur.com/r/WarshipPorn/xi3P3

Absolute nuts. Same displacement as the Bismarck. Even had sauna and 'swimming' pools on them. But seriously the scale is staggering

anonymous-user

54 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
Fascinating! The amount of work in those subs, wow, and all before CAD become commonplace, meaning vast, complex 3d structures could be accurately drawn etc. I suspect a lot of those subs was made up as the build went along. IE the basic shapes and layout of the pressure hull(s) was drawn, but i bet lots of services and fittings just got nailed in where they landed......

Krikkit

26,521 posts

181 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
I'd imagine being labour-rich they had huge design offices creating thousands and thousands of pages of drawings for every nut and bolt. Wether it was put together like that or not is another matter!

I've seen a lot of that info before, but it's a great post to tie it all together.

anonymous-user

54 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
Krikkit said:
I'd imagine being labour-rich they had huge design offices creating thousands and thousands of pages of drawings for every nut and bolt. Wether it was put together like that or not is another matter!

I've seen a lot of that info before, but it's a great post to tie it all together.
The problem is getting all those separate pieces of paper to join up! (which is the real power of 3d CAD) and that's before you have to translate the design into real metal, often about 5" thick looking at some of those pics or the top deck and sail construction.

I was interested to see the integrated escape pods too, something not seen on our subs.

stevesingo

4,854 posts

222 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
Project started in 1972.

TK-208 laid down in 1976 and in service by 1982.

10 years from start to operational boat, and only 6yrs in construction, commissioning and trials.

Please don't ask how that compares to Astute class or how that might compare to Dreadnought class.

lufbramatt

5,342 posts

134 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
Didn't these have some crazy molten metal based cooling system for the reactors that had to be kept hot with an on shore steam plant when they were docked. Think they lost a couple of them when the steam plants failed and the whole lot set solid, writing the whole vessel off. Insane engineering.

Ginetta G15 Girl

3,220 posts

184 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
It was the Alfa class attack sub that had the liquid sodium coolant system.

Brother D

Original Poster:

3,719 posts

176 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
Ginetta G15 Girl said:
It was the Alfa class attack sub that had the liquid sodium coolant system.
Says it was lead-cooled reactor - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfa-class_submarine

I take interest in Nuclear Engineering, but honestly wasn't aware of lead-cooled reactors, I would have assumed what you said.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to waste the rest of the evening researching lead-cooled fast reactors on the internet.

Edited by Brother D on Friday 16th June 21:32

texaxile

3,290 posts

150 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
I understand there are a few books written about the role of RN Subs in the Cold War, but any written from the Soviet point of view?.

Also, excuse the slightly daft question from a non military person, but were these Typhoon class (and others) very easy to detect by our tech at the time?.

lufbramatt

5,342 posts

134 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
Yes was the Alfa class I was thinking of. Just as impressive as the Typhoons in their own way- top speed of nearly 50mph submerged!

Ginetta G15 Girl

3,220 posts

184 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
texaxile said:
Also, excuse the slightly daft question from a non military person, but were these Typhoon class (and others) very easy to detect by our tech at the time?.
Relatively easy yes.

The difficult boats were the Alfa/Akula/Sierra class attack subs and the Oscar SSGN.

PAUL500

2,634 posts

246 months

Friday 16th June 2017
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I often marvel at the technology that currently comes out, then read a post like this and realise the engineering skills that were in place a long time ago. As mentioned this must all have been done by countless men and women on drawing boards with amazing precision then turned into metal be equally gifted individuals.

Imagine what could be achieved if each side had been working together!

When you look back at the moon landings/concorde etc the post war period engineering moved at an amazing pace where a calculator was high tech!

anonymous-user

54 months

Friday 16th June 2017
quotequote all
stevesingo said:
Project started in 1972.

TK-208 laid down in 1976 and in service by 1982.

10 years from start to operational boat, and only 6yrs in construction, commissioning and trials.

Please don't ask how that compares to Astute class or how that might compare to Dreadnought class.
It was in service in 1982, but not with operational missiles.

And to be fair, it's a very simple boat compared to any modern one, where the electronics systems integration is what makes for a long project (that and a continuously changing set of specifications..)

anonymous-user

54 months

Saturday 17th June 2017
quotequote all
Have we got any naval architects on PH? I have a sub question!

How is buoyancy controlled in practice? If you have the ballast tanks inside the pressure hull then you need to pump against external water pressure to loose weight, but you don't need to have tanks that can withstand full diving depth pressure (unless you blow the tanks with air pressure of course, in which case you do) But if you have the ballast tanks external to the pressure hull, those tanks can remain at local ambient pressure (at whatever depth) so the tank structure can be much less massive, but you need to continuously add air as you descend to avoid the tank self filling, leading to a positive gain to diving force, which would be bad! Of course you can trim to always maintain a small net positive buoyancy, and use dynamic loads (dive planes etc) when moving, but that then rules out zero speed operations?

stevesingo

4,854 posts

222 months

Saturday 17th June 2017
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I doubt you will get anyone involved to answer, if they value their job, despite there being lots of open source info.

Space is of a premium inside of the pressure hull.

http://www.baesystems.com/en/download-en/infograph...


MBBlat

1,623 posts

149 months

Sunday 18th June 2017
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
Have we got any naval architects on PH? I have a sub question!

How is buoyancy controlled in practice? If you have the ballast tanks inside the pressure hull then you need to pump against external water pressure to loose weight, but you don't need to have tanks that can withstand full diving depth pressure (unless you blow the tanks with air pressure of course, in which case you do) But if you have the ballast tanks external to the pressure hull, those tanks can remain at local ambient pressure (at whatever depth) so the tank structure can be much less massive, but you need to continuously add air as you descend to avoid the tank self filling, leading to a positive gain to diving force, which would be bad! Of course you can trim to always maintain a small net positive buoyancy, and use dynamic loads (dive planes etc) when moving, but that then rules out zero speed operations?
Try here
http://science.howstuffworks.com/transport/engines...

For a more comprehensive answer you could try this book
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Concepts-Submarine-Design...

There is nothing sensitive about the basic operating principles.

stevesingo

4,854 posts

222 months

Sunday 18th June 2017
quotequote all
MBBlat said:
There is nothing sensitive about the basic operating principles.
There isn't, but anyone who worked on recent or current UK designed submarines would be unlikely to divulge anything as their current/future employment depends on security clearance. The vetting agency would have to assume that anyone discussing any element of work for which a the vetting agency have cleared them to do are a risk.

aeropilot

34,564 posts

227 months

Monday 19th June 2017
quotequote all
Max_Torque said:
Krikkit said:
I'd imagine being labour-rich they had huge design offices creating thousands and thousands of pages of drawings for every nut and bolt. Wether it was put together like that or not is another matter!

I've seen a lot of that info before, but it's a great post to tie it all together.
The problem is getting all those separate pieces of paper to join up! (which is the real power of 3d CAD)
From my days in a pukka old fashioned drawing office long before 2D CAD let alone 3D, it was in many ways an easier job than it is today, as people were trained, knew how to micro manage the many teams and it was largely a case of many hands make light work.....

People bang about CAD today, but the problem is now that too many people nowadays that are 'managing' the jobs have no hands on experience of how it all works, and have the press-a-button mentality that the computer is intelligent rather than the person using it as a tool, plus now one man is probably doing that 10 would have done in the drawing board days......
For all the positives of CAD, there are also negatives.

Junior Bianno

1,400 posts

193 months

Tuesday 20th June 2017
quotequote all
texaxile said:
Also, excuse the slightly daft question from a non military person, but were these Typhoon class (and others) very easy to detect by our tech at the time?.
Not when they engaged the caterpillar drive...

Brother D

Original Poster:

3,719 posts

176 months

Tuesday 20th June 2017
quotequote all
Junior Bianno said:
texaxile said:
Also, excuse the slightly daft question from a non military person, but were these Typhoon class (and others) very easy to detect by our tech at the time?.
Not when they engaged the caterpillar drive...
I'll bite. Was/is that a real thing?