"Russia's New Submarines Are Being Noticed By The West" Topic

"It looks like the Moscow vs. the USS Jimmy Carter. But can the Kremlin afford the ship's new technology?

On August 11 at the port of Severodvinsk in northern Russia, a huge and imposing black shape emerged from a dry dock, observed by ranks of uniformed dignitaries. The Russian navy's latest submarine is 574 feet long, displaces no fewer than 18,000 tons of water and packs two nuclear reactors.

Named Moscow, she's actually a refurbished, 1980s-vintage ballistic-missile sub that once prowled underneath the Arctic ice, cradling nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, awaiting Armageddon.

Today, as best as any outside observer can tell, the Moscow has a new mission. She appears to be part science vessel, part spy ship, part commando transport, and part "mothership" for mini-subs and drones…"
Full article here
link

Amicalement
Armand

The article says 574 feet long, but that's the length of a Typhoon-class. A Delta IV is 547 feet long. Maybe just a typo. God I wish America would just switch to metric already…

Here's an interesting quote from the article though:

Polmar said he has visited, multiple times, all of the engineering bureaus that design Russia's subs. "These guys are far more innovative than we ever were."

The Russians have spend a lot of time and effort in reducing crew numbers through automation.

The US still has a lot of bodies doing things. It took until the Virginia-class for the US to not have a 4-man Ship Control Party, when the Russians were down to a 2-man SCP in the 1970s.