"Images emerge of new Chinese submarine" Topic

"Photographs have emerged on online forums showing that a new design of submarine has been built at China's Jiangnan Changxingdao shipyard. Although the images do not allow accurate estimates of the size of the boat to be made, it appears that the submarine is about 50 m long with a pressure hull diameter of about 5 m.

The most significant feature evident from the photographs is the absence of a fin (sail). The images were taken looking upwards and show no detail of the casing and the fairing, which appears to be in the position where the fin would normally be constructed…."
More here

link

Amicalement
Aramnd

Huh, that's unusual, since you put the periscopes in the sail for height.

And the Virginia-class put photonics masts in the sail, to not put holes in the pressure hull.

Interesting design.

There is a small, slightly raised platform on the top, amidships, with a dome-like sensor there. Looks like it's perhaps slightly shorter than the rear tail fin, or possibly the same height – hard to tell from the angle.

I don't see any bow tubes, though perhaps they've been airbrushed out of the pic.

Probably designed for covert, shallow-water patrols, where a fin would be problematical.

Less concern about piercing the hull with periscopes, if being used in shallow waters. Then again, perhaps it has the sensors in the middle of two pressure hulls, fore and aft of the sensors/periscopes mounted amidships, outside of those.

Actually, 50m is 165ft long (so 5m is about 16.5ft wide), which makes that very much a special ops boat like the Advanced Seal Delivery System minisub (though the ASDS was only 20m long and 2.1m wide). The ASDS had a folding periscope and comms antenna.

It's probably too small for inboard torpedoes (Russian/Chinese 21" torpedoes are significantly longer than their western counterparts).

Oh, that sub is actually about the size of the Russian Losharik minisub, or the US NR-1, so it is actually remotely possible it is nuclear powered.

Glad you enjoyed the article my friends!.

Amicalement
Armand