PHGamer | 25 Aug 2014 8:24 a.m. PST |
Chinese engineers propose on how to make a submarine supersonic. But the article quickly devolves into making a long range supersonic submersible missile. Probably a translation issue. link Enjoy. Looks like I get a modern navy submission in ahead of Armand :) |
Phil Hall | 25 Aug 2014 9:28 a.m. PST |
I can see the possibility of a supersonic sub. It is no longer a case of inventing it, just a case of engineering it. Making a whole sub supercavitate should be possible. It will certainly change the face of undersea warfare if it can be engineered. |
Only Warlock | 25 Aug 2014 9:51 a.m. PST |
I can hear the Greenpeace activists howling already. Also, first time it hits a Tuna or Whale at that speed it's all over. |
The G Dog | 25 Aug 2014 10:21 a.m. PST |
Would you not be flying blind at that speed? |
Lion in the Stars | 25 Aug 2014 10:51 a.m. PST |
Yeah, you'd be flying completely blind, but frankly you're pretty much flying blind above 25 knots. But this sounds like they're playing with polymer injection more than supercavitation. I can't see how polymer injection would work with supercavitation. Besides, to break the speed of sound in water, you'd need a speed of 5800kph (3000+knots!!!). |
cloudcaptain | 25 Aug 2014 11:11 a.m. PST |
They've been watching Blue Submarine No. 6 :) |
Milites | 25 Aug 2014 11:26 a.m. PST |
The Iranians got there first! |
Zyphyr | 25 Aug 2014 11:30 a.m. PST |
The Iranian sub isn't supersonic. It just travels to its destination conventionally and then travels backwards in time to make it seem like it is. |
Milites | 25 Aug 2014 3:25 p.m. PST |
Reverse temporal engineering eh? Damn! Those Persians sure are smart. |
gameboards | 25 Aug 2014 3:30 p.m. PST |
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rmaker | 25 Aug 2014 5:35 p.m. PST |
Ahem. The speed of sound in seawater is 1560 meters per second (as compared to 343 mps in air). A supersonic submarine would have to move at better than 3000 knots. Yes, that's right, three thousand. Do the math. Not possible, because the energy required is stupendous and the friction would produce enough heat to boil away the water which is supposed to be supporting the sub. |
Stryderg | 25 Aug 2014 6:03 p.m. PST |
Yeah, but if you could transfer the heat to the back, all that boiling water should help push you along. Right?? |
Lion in the Stars | 25 Aug 2014 8:29 p.m. PST |
Not possible, because the energy required is stupendous and the friction would produce enough heat to boil away the water which is supposed to be supporting the sub. What do you think 'supercavitation' is? It's flying through a continuously-regenerated steam bubble! The only part of the ship that is actually in contact with the water is the very tip of the nose cone. Those Russian Shkval rocket torpedoes are pretty dang scary, actually, since they can travel 15km in ~3minutes or less. The only saving grace was that they were unguided, but it seems the Russians have figured that out now. |
Whatisitgood4atwork | 25 Aug 2014 9:16 p.m. PST |
A question from the ignorant. If the idea of supercavitation is to gasify the water in front of and around the sub or missile, would 'supersonic' count as faster than the speed of sound through the surrounding water, or faster than the speed of sound through the gas the sub/missile is actually traveling through? Either way, pretty damn quick of course. |
Ascent | 26 Aug 2014 4:42 a.m. PST |
Wouldn't the noise from the cavitation make it very easy to track? |
Lion in the Stars | 26 Aug 2014 9:45 a.m. PST |
If it's supersonic to the water, then there's almost no way to track it from a sub. LIDAR, maybe, but no sonar could track it. If it's subsonic to the water, then you can track it with sonar. As I understand supercavitation, there's just one big honking bubble, most of the noise would be from the rockets driving it. |
Mako11 | 26 Aug 2014 4:59 p.m. PST |
Sounds like perhaps they are trying to leverage/copy Russia's work on the subject, which has been published a number of years back. The Russkies claim to already have super-cavitating torpedoes, though not to the speed of 3,0000+ MPH. More like 300 knots, or so, IIRC. Rumors of guidance/non-guidance have been rampant, with most seeming to fall on the side of the latter. I often wonder if some of their sub-losses were due to testing of these new designs. I think the Kursk was lost while conducting a military exercise, and that there were rumors of Chinese observers being onboard at the time, but then again perhaps I am confusing that with another one of their weapons demos. |
Mako11 | 26 Aug 2014 5:02 p.m. PST |
Lion has it right on the super-cavitation technique, making it far less difficult to move through the water at very high speeds. |