The greatest depth of immersion submarines of the Russian Navy, US Navy and Japan
The fact of the existence of the bathyscaphe, which managed to conquer the deepest abyss, testifies to the technical feasibility of creating inhabited vehicles for diving to any depths.
Why is it that not one of the modern submarines is even able to plunge - even at 1000 meters?
Half a century ago, assembled fromimprovised means standard steel and plexiglass bathyscaphe reached the bottom of the Mariana Trench. And he could continue his dive if in nature there were great depths. The safe calculated depth for Trieste was 13 kilometers!
Over 3/4 of the World Ocean area falls on the abyssal zone: an ocean bed with depths of over 3000 m. A genuine operational space for underwater fleet! Why is nobody using these features?
The conquest of great depths has nothing to do with the strength of the Shark, Boreev and Virginia hulls. The problem is different. And the example with the bathyscaphe “Trieste” has absolutely nothing to do with it.
A bathyscaphe is a “float”. A tank with gasoline, with a crew gondola fixed under it. When taken aboard the ballast, the structure acquires negative buoyancy and plunges into depth. When dropping ballast - returns to the surface.
Unlike bathyscaphes, submarines are required to repeatedly change the depth of underwater during one dive. In other words, the submarine has the ability to repeatedly change the buoyancy margin. This is achieved by filling outboard ballast tanks, which are flushed with air when floating.
Typically, boats use three air systems: high pressure air (VVD), medium (VVD) and low pressure (VND). For example, on modern American nuclear powered ships, stocks of compressed air are stored in cylinders under 4500 psi pressure. inch. Or, humanly, about 315 kg / cm2. However, not one of the consumer systems of compressed air does not use VVD directly. Sudden pressure drops cause intense freezing and clogging of the valve, while creating the risk of compression outbreaks of oil vapor in the system. The widespread use of VVD under pressure above 300 atm. would create unacceptable dangers on board the submarine.
VVD through a system of pressure reducing valves enters consumers in the form of VVD under pressure 3000 fnl. per sq. inch (approx. 200 kg / cm2). It is with this air that the tanks of the main ballast are blown. To ensure the operation of the remaining mechanisms of the boat, launch weaponsAs well as blowing out trim and leveling tanks, “working” air is used under even lower pressure at about 100-150 kg / cm2.
And here the laws of dramaturgy come into effect!
At a depth of 1500 m, the pressure is 150 atm. At a depth of 2000 m, the pressure is 200 atm. This just corresponds to the maximum value of the VVD and VND in submarine systems.
The situation is exacerbated by limited volumes of compressed air on board. Especially after a long stay of the boat under water. At a depth of 50 meters, the available reserves may be enough to displace water from ballast tanks, but at a depth of 500 meters this is only enough to purge 1 / 5 of their volume. Great depths are always a risk, and it is required to act with extreme caution.
Nowadays, there is a practical possibility of creating a submarine with a hull designed for an immersion depth of 5000 meters. But blowing tanks at such a depth would require air under pressure above 500 atmospheres. To design pipelines, valves and fittings designed for such pressure, while maintaining their reasonable weight and eliminating all the associated dangers, is today a technically insoluble task.
Modern submarines are built on the principle of a reasonable balance of characteristics. Why make a high-strength body that can withstand the pressure of a kilometer column of water if the ascent systems are designed for much shallower depths. Submerged for a kilometer, the submarine will be doomed in any case.
However, in this stories there are heroes and outcasts.
The hulls of American boats for half a century are made of one alloy HY-80 with very mediocre characteristics. High-yield-80 = high strength alloy with yield strength 80 000 psi inch, which corresponds to the value of 550 MPa.
Many experts doubt the adequacy of such a decision. Due to the weak hull, boats are unable to fully utilize the capabilities of the ascent systems. Which allow the purging of tanks at much greater depths. According to estimates, the working depth (the depth at which the boat can stay for a long time, performing any maneuvers) for American submarines does not exceed 400 meters. The maximum depth is 550 meters.
The use of HY-80 makes it possible to reduce the cost and speed up the assembly of hull structures; the good welding qualities of this steel have always been mentioned among the advantages.
For the skeptical skeptics who immediately declare that the fleet of the “probable adversary” is massively replenished with unworkable junk, the following should be noted. Those differences in the pace of shipbuilding between Russia and the USA are caused not so much by the use of better grades of steel for our submarines, but by other circumstances. Anyway.
Overseas have always believed that superheroes are not needed. Underwater weapons should be as reliable, quiet and plentiful as possible. And there is some truth to this.
The elusive “Mike” (K-278 by NATO classification) set an absolute record for diving depth among submarines - 1027 meters.
The maximum immersion depth of Komsomolets was estimated to be 1250 m.
Among the main design differences unusual for other domestic submarines are the 10 Kingstonless tanks located inside a sturdy hull. Ability to fire torpedoes from great depths (up to 800 meters). Pop-up rescue capsule. And the main highlight is the emergency system of purging tanks with the help of gas generators.
To realize all the inherent advantages allowed the case made of titanium alloy.
Titan alone was not a panacea for conquering the depths of the sea. The main thing in creating the deep-sea “Komsomolets” was the build quality and shape of a sturdy hull with a minimum of holes and weak points.
The 48-T titanium alloy with a yield strength of 720 MPa only slightly exceeded the structural strength of HY-100 (690 MPa), from which SiWulf submarines were made.
The other described “advantages” of the titanium case in the form of low magnetic properties and its lower susceptibility to corrosion were not worth the costs. Magnetometry has never been a priority way to detect boats; Underwater, everything is decided by the acoustics. And the problem of marine corrosion has been solved for more than two hundred years by simpler methods.
Titanium from the point of view of domestic submarine shipbuilding had TWO real advantages:
a) lower density, which meant a lighter body. Emerging reserves were spent on other load items, for example, power plants of greater power. It is no coincidence that submarines with a titanium hull (705 (K) Lira, 661 Anchar, Condor and Barracuda) were built as speed conquerors .;
b) Among all high-strength steels and alloys 48-T titanium alloy turned out to be the most technologically advanced in the processing and assembly of hull structures.
“The most technologically advanced” does not mean simple. But the welding qualities of titanium at least made it possible to assemble structures.
Overseas had a more optimistic outlook on the use of steels. For the manufacture of hulls of new submarines of the 21st century, high-strength steel of the brand HY-100 was proposed. In 1989, the United States laid the foundation for SeaWulf. Two years later, optimism diminished. The SiWulf case had to be dismantled into needles and the work started again.
Currently, many problems have been resolved, and steel alloys equivalent in HY-100 properties are more widely used in shipbuilding. According to some reports, such steel (WL = Werkstoff Leistungsblatt 1.3964) is used in the manufacture of a durable body of German non-nuclear submarines "Type 214".
There are even more durable alloys for the manufacture of cases, for example, the steel alloy HY-130 (900 MPa). But due to poor welding properties, shipbuilders considered the use of HY-130 impossible.
Not yet received news from Japan.
As the old saying goes, “No matter what you can do well, there is always an Asian who does it better.”
In open sources there is very little information about the characteristics of Japanese warships. However, experts are not stopped by the language barrier or the paranoid secrecy inherent in the second most powerful Navy in the world.
From the available information it follows that samurai along with hieroglyphs widely use English designations. In the description of the submarines there is an abbreviation NS (Naval Steel - naval steel), combined with the digital indexes 80 or 110.
In the metric number system "80" when designating a steel grade, it most likely means the yield strength of 800 MPa. The stronger NS110 steel has a yield strength of 1100 MPa.
From the American point of view, the standard steel for Japanese submarines is HY-114. Better and more durable - HY-156.
“Kawasaki” and “Mitsubishi Heavy Industries” without any high-profile promises and “Poseidons” learned to make hulls from materials that were previously considered indigestible and impossible when building submarines.
The data given correspond to obsolete submarines with an air-independent installation of the Oyashio type. The fleet consists of 11 units, of which the two oldest, which entered service in 1998-1999, are transferred to the category of training.
Oyashio has a mixed two-hull design. The most logical assumption is that the central section (solid hull) is made of the most durable NS110 steel, in the fore and aft parts of the boat a two-hull structure is used: a light streamlined shell made of NS80 (pressure inside = pressure outside), covering the tanks of the main ballast, carried outside the solid hull .
Modern Japanese submarines of the Soryu type are considered to be improved Oyashio with preservation of the basic design solutions that they inherited from their predecessors.
With a robust NS110 steel case, the Soryu working depth is estimated to be at least 600 meters. The limit is 900.
Given the circumstances, the Japanese Navy self-defense today has the deepest fleet of combat submarines.
The Japanese “squeeze” everything possible out of the affordable. Another question is how much this will help in a maritime conflict. To confront the deep sea requires a nuclear power plant. Pitiful Japanese "half measures" with an increase in working depth or the creation of a "battery-powered boat" (the Oryu submarine that surprised the world) look like a good mine with a bad game.
On the other hand, the traditional attention to detail has always allowed the Japanese to have an advantage over the enemy. The emergence of a nuclear power plant for the Japanese Navy is a matter of time. But who else in the world still has the technology for manufacturing heavy-duty steel cases with yield strength of 1100 MPa?
Why is it that not one of the modern submarines is even able to plunge - even at 1000 meters?
Half a century ago, assembled from
Over 3/4 of the World Ocean area falls on the abyssal zone: an ocean bed with depths of over 3000 m. A genuine operational space for underwater fleet! Why is nobody using these features?
The conquest of great depths has nothing to do with the strength of the Shark, Boreev and Virginia hulls. The problem is different. And the example with the bathyscaphe “Trieste” has absolutely nothing to do with it.
They look like a plane and an airship
A bathyscaphe is a “float”. A tank with gasoline, with a crew gondola fixed under it. When taken aboard the ballast, the structure acquires negative buoyancy and plunges into depth. When dropping ballast - returns to the surface.
Unlike bathyscaphes, submarines are required to repeatedly change the depth of underwater during one dive. In other words, the submarine has the ability to repeatedly change the buoyancy margin. This is achieved by filling outboard ballast tanks, which are flushed with air when floating.
Typically, boats use three air systems: high pressure air (VVD), medium (VVD) and low pressure (VND). For example, on modern American nuclear powered ships, stocks of compressed air are stored in cylinders under 4500 psi pressure. inch. Or, humanly, about 315 kg / cm2. However, not one of the consumer systems of compressed air does not use VVD directly. Sudden pressure drops cause intense freezing and clogging of the valve, while creating the risk of compression outbreaks of oil vapor in the system. The widespread use of VVD under pressure above 300 atm. would create unacceptable dangers on board the submarine.
VVD through a system of pressure reducing valves enters consumers in the form of VVD under pressure 3000 fnl. per sq. inch (approx. 200 kg / cm2). It is with this air that the tanks of the main ballast are blown. To ensure the operation of the remaining mechanisms of the boat, launch weaponsAs well as blowing out trim and leveling tanks, “working” air is used under even lower pressure at about 100-150 kg / cm2.
And here the laws of dramaturgy come into effect!
As you dive into the depths of the sea for every 10 meter, pressure rises in the 1 atmosphere
At a depth of 1500 m, the pressure is 150 atm. At a depth of 2000 m, the pressure is 200 atm. This just corresponds to the maximum value of the VVD and VND in submarine systems.
The situation is exacerbated by limited volumes of compressed air on board. Especially after a long stay of the boat under water. At a depth of 50 meters, the available reserves may be enough to displace water from ballast tanks, but at a depth of 500 meters this is only enough to purge 1 / 5 of their volume. Great depths are always a risk, and it is required to act with extreme caution.
Nowadays, there is a practical possibility of creating a submarine with a hull designed for an immersion depth of 5000 meters. But blowing tanks at such a depth would require air under pressure above 500 atmospheres. To design pipelines, valves and fittings designed for such pressure, while maintaining their reasonable weight and eliminating all the associated dangers, is today a technically insoluble task.
Modern submarines are built on the principle of a reasonable balance of characteristics. Why make a high-strength body that can withstand the pressure of a kilometer column of water if the ascent systems are designed for much shallower depths. Submerged for a kilometer, the submarine will be doomed in any case.
However, in this stories there are heroes and outcasts.
American submariners considered traditional outsiders in the field of deep diving
The hulls of American boats for half a century are made of one alloy HY-80 with very mediocre characteristics. High-yield-80 = high strength alloy with yield strength 80 000 psi inch, which corresponds to the value of 550 MPa.
Many experts doubt the adequacy of such a decision. Due to the weak hull, boats are unable to fully utilize the capabilities of the ascent systems. Which allow the purging of tanks at much greater depths. According to estimates, the working depth (the depth at which the boat can stay for a long time, performing any maneuvers) for American submarines does not exceed 400 meters. The maximum depth is 550 meters.
The use of HY-80 makes it possible to reduce the cost and speed up the assembly of hull structures; the good welding qualities of this steel have always been mentioned among the advantages.
For the skeptical skeptics who immediately declare that the fleet of the “probable adversary” is massively replenished with unworkable junk, the following should be noted. Those differences in the pace of shipbuilding between Russia and the USA are caused not so much by the use of better grades of steel for our submarines, but by other circumstances. Anyway.
Overseas have always believed that superheroes are not needed. Underwater weapons should be as reliable, quiet and plentiful as possible. And there is some truth to this.
Komsomolets
The elusive “Mike” (K-278 by NATO classification) set an absolute record for diving depth among submarines - 1027 meters.
The maximum immersion depth of Komsomolets was estimated to be 1250 m.
Among the main design differences unusual for other domestic submarines are the 10 Kingstonless tanks located inside a sturdy hull. Ability to fire torpedoes from great depths (up to 800 meters). Pop-up rescue capsule. And the main highlight is the emergency system of purging tanks with the help of gas generators.
To realize all the inherent advantages allowed the case made of titanium alloy.
Titan alone was not a panacea for conquering the depths of the sea. The main thing in creating the deep-sea “Komsomolets” was the build quality and shape of a sturdy hull with a minimum of holes and weak points.
The 48-T titanium alloy with a yield strength of 720 MPa only slightly exceeded the structural strength of HY-100 (690 MPa), from which SiWulf submarines were made.
The other described “advantages” of the titanium case in the form of low magnetic properties and its lower susceptibility to corrosion were not worth the costs. Magnetometry has never been a priority way to detect boats; Underwater, everything is decided by the acoustics. And the problem of marine corrosion has been solved for more than two hundred years by simpler methods.
Titanium from the point of view of domestic submarine shipbuilding had TWO real advantages:
a) lower density, which meant a lighter body. Emerging reserves were spent on other load items, for example, power plants of greater power. It is no coincidence that submarines with a titanium hull (705 (K) Lira, 661 Anchar, Condor and Barracuda) were built as speed conquerors .;
b) Among all high-strength steels and alloys 48-T titanium alloy turned out to be the most technologically advanced in the processing and assembly of hull structures.
“The most technologically advanced” does not mean simple. But the welding qualities of titanium at least made it possible to assemble structures.
Overseas had a more optimistic outlook on the use of steels. For the manufacture of hulls of new submarines of the 21st century, high-strength steel of the brand HY-100 was proposed. In 1989, the United States laid the foundation for SeaWulf. Two years later, optimism diminished. The SiWulf case had to be dismantled into needles and the work started again.
Currently, many problems have been resolved, and steel alloys equivalent in HY-100 properties are more widely used in shipbuilding. According to some reports, such steel (WL = Werkstoff Leistungsblatt 1.3964) is used in the manufacture of a durable body of German non-nuclear submarines "Type 214".
There are even more durable alloys for the manufacture of cases, for example, the steel alloy HY-130 (900 MPa). But due to poor welding properties, shipbuilders considered the use of HY-130 impossible.
Not yet received news from Japan.
耐久 means yield strength
As the old saying goes, “No matter what you can do well, there is always an Asian who does it better.”
In open sources there is very little information about the characteristics of Japanese warships. However, experts are not stopped by the language barrier or the paranoid secrecy inherent in the second most powerful Navy in the world.
From the available information it follows that samurai along with hieroglyphs widely use English designations. In the description of the submarines there is an abbreviation NS (Naval Steel - naval steel), combined with the digital indexes 80 or 110.
In the metric number system "80" when designating a steel grade, it most likely means the yield strength of 800 MPa. The stronger NS110 steel has a yield strength of 1100 MPa.
From the American point of view, the standard steel for Japanese submarines is HY-114. Better and more durable - HY-156.
Silent scene
“Kawasaki” and “Mitsubishi Heavy Industries” without any high-profile promises and “Poseidons” learned to make hulls from materials that were previously considered indigestible and impossible when building submarines.
The data given correspond to obsolete submarines with an air-independent installation of the Oyashio type. The fleet consists of 11 units, of which the two oldest, which entered service in 1998-1999, are transferred to the category of training.
Oyashio has a mixed two-hull design. The most logical assumption is that the central section (solid hull) is made of the most durable NS110 steel, in the fore and aft parts of the boat a two-hull structure is used: a light streamlined shell made of NS80 (pressure inside = pressure outside), covering the tanks of the main ballast, carried outside the solid hull .
Modern Japanese submarines of the Soryu type are considered to be improved Oyashio with preservation of the basic design solutions that they inherited from their predecessors.
With a robust NS110 steel case, the Soryu working depth is estimated to be at least 600 meters. The limit is 900.
Given the circumstances, the Japanese Navy self-defense today has the deepest fleet of combat submarines.
The Japanese “squeeze” everything possible out of the affordable. Another question is how much this will help in a maritime conflict. To confront the deep sea requires a nuclear power plant. Pitiful Japanese "half measures" with an increase in working depth or the creation of a "battery-powered boat" (the Oryu submarine that surprised the world) look like a good mine with a bad game.
On the other hand, the traditional attention to detail has always allowed the Japanese to have an advantage over the enemy. The emergence of a nuclear power plant for the Japanese Navy is a matter of time. But who else in the world still has the technology for manufacturing heavy-duty steel cases with yield strength of 1100 MPa?
Information