5 ms·

I'm surprised about the relative space. I once toured a Los Angeles-class sub (sorry, no photos) and I never felt I had enough headroom. Seeing all that open sp

I'm surprised about the relative space. I once toured a Los Angeles-class sub (sorry, no photos) and I never felt I had enough headroom. Seeing all that open space in "workout area" and the "lounge area" and a lot of headroom was very strange.

doikor 6y ago
The Russian nuclear submarines are just crazy big compared to the American ones (or anything made by anyone else for that matter) Typhoon class has a displacement of 48000 tons. Los Angeles class has displacement of 6927 tons. Typhoon class is a bit under 7 times bigger. Even the largest American sub (Ohio class) is still less then half the size of a Typhoon (the largest submarines ever built) at 18750 tons edit: As a side not Russians have mainly moved away from the old Typhoon and replaced it with Borei class which is half the size (24000 tons). Only 1 Typhoon class sub is still in active service.
- Hamuko 6y ago
  >Typhoon class has a displacement of 48000 tons. That's quite massive. The Japanese I-400-class submarines/submersible aircraft carriers, which I believe are still the largest diesel submarines built, were under 7000 tons.
  - masklinn 6y ago
    > which I believe are still the largest diesel submarines built According to the internet you seem to be right, the Qing-class gets very close but not quite there: wiki lists 6628t, versus 6670t for the for the I-400.
  - hu3 6y ago
    Here's a nice picture comparing their sizes: https://inteng-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/images/import/2017/04/WW2_submarines_comparison.jpg https://inteng-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/images/import/2017/0... Source: https://interestingengineering.com/uncovering-i-400-japanese-submarine-aircraft-carriers-ww2 https://interestingengineering.com/uncovering-i-400-japanese...
wazoox 6y ago
For anyone interested in visiting a Los Angeles class sub, "Smarter everyday" made a nice series of videos inside one.
crazydoggers 6y ago
Your comparing a fast attack sub to a ballistic missile sub. The Typhoon is nearly twice as large. Compare instead an Alfa or Akula class Russian fast attack.
dmurray 6y ago
Attack submarines are much smaller than missile subs. I don't understand exactly why this is and what the trade offs are here - manoeuvrability, cost? They seem to need approximately the same size crew of 100-150. The closer comparison would be to the US Ohio-class missile sub, which is 3x the size of the LA class with the same complement. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio-class_submarine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio-class_submarine
- brandmeyer 6y ago
  > I don't understand exactly why this is and what the trade offs are here - manoeuvrability, cost? Payload. One type carries a couple dozen medium-range ballistic missiles, and the other doesn't.
  - dmurray 6y ago
    The Ohio-class carries 24 60-ton Trident missiles, 1,440 tons of dead weight. That doesn't seem like enough on its own to justify the difference in displacement of 18,000 tons vs 6,000 on the Los Angeles-class. (I'm just getting these numbers from Wikipedia so may misunderstand something)
    - chasd00 6y ago
      "24 60-ton Trident missiles". wow, so let's say each has a MIRV with 5 W88 warheads at 500KT each. That's about 120 independently targetable warheads (each 6-7x more powerful than the Fatman nuclear weapon dropped on Nagasaki) per submarine. Wikipedia says they are on 14 Ohio class subs operated by the US. That's 1,680 total but let's say only 75% are operational at a time. So the US Trident II SLBM cocked-locked-ready-to-rock capability is around 1.3K 500KT warheads alone. That's... a lot.
      - angry_octet 6y ago
        More like half active, a quarter in port or in light maintenance, a quarter in deep maintenance. Realistically, two always on station from each fleet, sometimes four. Enough to maintain second strike deterrence even with enemy attack subs to contend with. It also important to note that once an SSBN launches, there will likely be return fire from either land or sea based ballistic missiles that will boil the ocean for 50nm, incoming in 30-60 minutes. So tactically it is hard to launch just one nuke... It's full commitment or nothing. Just another cheery aspect of escalation dynamics.
astura 6y ago
Los Angeles-class are fast attack boats, they are much smaller than boomers, which is what the Typhoon class is (they carry nuclear warheads). But Typhoon class is even larger than the American boomers (Ohio class - and the soon to be Columbia class).
nabla9 6y ago
Typhoon was made from two two parallel full length pressure hulls and three smaller pressure hulls (and missiles tubes ) between them inside one outer hull. It was like 3 submarines joined together. http://www.skitzone.com/2010/photos-of-russian-typhoon-class-nuclear-submarine-construction-process/ http://www.skitzone.com/2010/photos-of-russian-typhoon-class...
- hartator 6y ago
  That’s crazy big. Does that me the submarine can operate with one side flooded?

doikor 6y ago

The Russian nuclear submarines are just crazy big compared to the American ones (or anything made by anyone else for that matter) Typhoon class has a displacement of 48000 tons. Los Angeles class has displacement of 6927 tons. Typhoon class is a bit under 7 times bigger. Even the largest American sub (Ohio class) is still less then half the size of a Typhoon (the largest submarines ever built) at 18750 tons edit: As a side not Russians have mainly moved away from the old Typhoon and replaced it with Borei class which is half the size (24000 tons). Only 1 Typhoon class sub is still in active service.

Hamuko 6y ago
>Typhoon class has a displacement of 48000 tons. That's quite massive. The Japanese I-400-class submarines/submersible aircraft carriers, which I believe are still the largest diesel submarines built, were under 7000 tons.
- masklinn 6y ago
  > which I believe are still the largest diesel submarines built According to the internet you seem to be right, the Qing-class gets very close but not quite there: wiki lists 6628t, versus 6670t for the for the I-400.
- hu3 6y ago
  Here's a nice picture comparing their sizes: https://inteng-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/images/import/2017/04/WW2_submarines_comparison.jpg https://inteng-storage.s3.amazonaws.com/images/import/2017/0... Source: https://interestingengineering.com/uncovering-i-400-japanese-submarine-aircraft-carriers-ww2 https://interestingengineering.com/uncovering-i-400-japanese...

wazoox 6y ago

For anyone interested in visiting a Los Angeles class sub, "Smarter everyday" made a nice series of videos inside one.

crazydoggers 6y ago

Your comparing a fast attack sub to a ballistic missile sub. The Typhoon is nearly twice as large. Compare instead an Alfa or Akula class Russian fast attack.

dmurray 6y ago

Attack submarines are much smaller than missile subs. I don't understand exactly why this is and what the trade offs are here - manoeuvrability, cost? They seem to need approximately the same size crew of 100-150. The closer comparison would be to the US Ohio-class missile sub, which is 3x the size of the LA class with the same complement. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio-class_submarine https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio-class_submarine

brandmeyer 6y ago
> I don't understand exactly why this is and what the trade offs are here - manoeuvrability, cost? Payload. One type carries a couple dozen medium-range ballistic missiles, and the other doesn't.
- dmurray 6y ago
  The Ohio-class carries 24 60-ton Trident missiles, 1,440 tons of dead weight. That doesn't seem like enough on its own to justify the difference in displacement of 18,000 tons vs 6,000 on the Los Angeles-class. (I'm just getting these numbers from Wikipedia so may misunderstand something)
  - chasd00 6y ago
    "24 60-ton Trident missiles". wow, so let's say each has a MIRV with 5 W88 warheads at 500KT each. That's about 120 independently targetable warheads (each 6-7x more powerful than the Fatman nuclear weapon dropped on Nagasaki) per submarine. Wikipedia says they are on 14 Ohio class subs operated by the US. That's 1,680 total but let's say only 75% are operational at a time. So the US Trident II SLBM cocked-locked-ready-to-rock capability is around 1.3K 500KT warheads alone. That's... a lot.
    - angry_octet 6y ago
      More like half active, a quarter in port or in light maintenance, a quarter in deep maintenance. Realistically, two always on station from each fleet, sometimes four. Enough to maintain second strike deterrence even with enemy attack subs to contend with. It also important to note that once an SSBN launches, there will likely be return fire from either land or sea based ballistic missiles that will boil the ocean for 50nm, incoming in 30-60 minutes. So tactically it is hard to launch just one nuke... It's full commitment or nothing. Just another cheery aspect of escalation dynamics.

astura 6y ago

Los Angeles-class are fast attack boats, they are much smaller than boomers, which is what the Typhoon class is (they carry nuclear warheads). But Typhoon class is even larger than the American boomers (Ohio class - and the soon to be Columbia class).

nabla9 6y ago

Typhoon was made from two two parallel full length pressure hulls and three smaller pressure hulls (and missiles tubes ) between them inside one outer hull. It was like 3 submarines joined together. http://www.skitzone.com/2010/photos-of-russian-typhoon-class-nuclear-submarine-construction-process/ http://www.skitzone.com/2010/photos-of-russian-typhoon-class...

hartator 6y ago
That’s crazy big. Does that me the submarine can operate with one side flooded?