Domestic submarines with a titanium hull: on projects 945 Barracuda and 945A Condor

During the Cold War, with the arms race gaining momentum, designers on both sides of the Iron Curtain tried to outflank their competitors in the creation of weapons. The submarine fleet was definitely no exception in this regard. Developers with varying degrees of efficiency were engaged in the implementation of projects that were supposed to surpass everything that the enemy was trying to implement.

In the early 1970s, work began in the USSR on the unique project 945 Barracuda. This project involved the creation of multipurpose nuclear submarines with a heavy-duty hull. The robust hull of such submarines was designed based on the potential use of a durable alloy - titanium. As a result, engineering solutions involving the use of titanium alloy were embodied in reality.

The titanium case is stronger, lighter and more durable.

The hull of the nuclear submarine "Barracuda" consists of 6 compartments. At the same time, when designing the submarine, the possibility of rescuing the entire crew was also taken into account. For this, a rescue capsule was eventually provided.

In the 1980s, Project 945A Condor nuclear-powered submarines with third-generation cruise missiles began to join the Soviet Navy. At the same time, the second boat of the project became part of the Northern fleet already in the Russian Federation - at the end of 1993.

About what these projects are, about the technical features of the "Barracuda" and "Condor" is described in the plot of "Military Acceptance" at the TK "Zvezda".

Comments

[agond]

In addition to titanium, Maragene steel (Maragene), developed in the 1960s in the US Navy, is known, whose strength / density ratio is 10% better than that of titanium (the spheres of Mir deep-sea vehicles were made from such steel.) Maragene would be 10% lighter than titanium, and if they had guessed to make it single-hull, it would be lighter about one and a half times than double-hull

[Vladimir Lenin]

Quote: agond

and if they had guessed to make it single-hull, then it would be lighter about one and a half times

Do you offer shipbuilders to return to the beginning of the twentieth century? Then let the separate engines be installed at once, one for the surface course and the second for the underwater one!

[Popandos]

if a boat, a Maragene boat would be 10% lighter than a titanium one, and if they had guessed to make it a single-hull one, it would be lighter about one and a half times than a double-hull

Sorry, you urgently need to call Rubin or Malachite, tel. 112, extension 03, there is a great need for "specialists" of this level.

[onstar9]

Quote: Popandos

Sorry, you urgently need to call Rubin or Malachite, tel. 112, extension 03, there is a great need for "specialists" of this level.

Well, and you explain ... if a specialist ... We want to listen to a knowledgeable person, and not spitting in different directions ...

[Popandos]

To do this, you need to enroll in a university with a degree in shipbuilding.
I cannot briefly explain materials science and the basics of submarine hull architecture, in two lines. I was taught this for three years at the university.
If you are not lazy, read the submarine device even in the wiki, there are related pages there, too, useful for understanding the submarine device.

[Diverter]

Perhaps that's why they still buy titanium from us?

[Vadim Zhivov]

It's a pity the comments are few ...

[Alex777]

One of the key characteristics of the nuclear submarine hull, PMSM, is the number of dives to the maximum depth.
As far as I understand, titanium nuclear submarines have this figure significantly higher than steel ones.
And I have only one question about the article - why were they removed from the modernization? Why "cherish"?

[Vmf949a]

The same boats are waiting for modernization.

[agond]

Quote: Popandos

Sorry, you urgently need to call Rubin or Malachite, tel. 112, extension 03, there is a great need for "specialists" of this level.

Not an ordinary taxpayer will not get through, but it would be interesting to find out at the Rubin Central Design Bureau, for example, why 636t or 1600% of water was poured into the 40 Varshavyanka project (buoyancy reserve)
and why the diameter of the case is already 9.9m !!! ,
for comparison, the atomic single-hull Virginia has a case diameter of 10.4m
displacement 7300t above water, 7925 underwater buoyancy reserve of only 625t or 7.8%, maximum immersion depth of 500m
In our project, the 945A 5900t is surface, 9600t is underwater, the water is 3600t or 38%, although the maximum immersion depth is 100m more, but the weapons are significantly less.
, as we can see from the use of titanium in the double-hull design of the boat, it turned out to be of little use, but it would be interesting to imagine a single-hull Virginia with a durable titanium hull, but in the USA boats are made of steel, but we do not make them single-hull. ...

[Popandos]

Listen, you spend so much effort on reading all these facts, read the basics of the submarine device, this is not secret information. And you will immediately understand why all modern boats are double-hulled.

[agond]

Everywhere in the world where submarines are being built, they are built single-hull, even in Iran and North Korea, this applies to both diesel and nuclear-powered boats (double-hull are very rare among them as an exception) and only our country in splendid isolation built and continues to build double-hull ships with an excess buoyancy margin of 38-40%, and the nuclear submarine Belgorod in general 51%, in the project 941 Akula was 52%, (for example, in the nuclear submarine Virginia, the buoyancy margin is only 7.8%) in the diesel Varshavyanka 40%, even the Piranha mini boat of project 865 made a double-hull !!! , with a length of 28m, the diameter turned out to be 4.7m !!!, the buoyancy margin was 33%, and the strong hull was made of titanium alloy !!!, but the maximum immersion depth was only 200m, with a single-hull scheme, the hull could be made even from cast iron then, neatly turn and get the same desired 200m. One gets the impression that the work of designers directly depends on this buoyancy reserve. This is probably why our submarines are the largest in the world, they can be seen from space even when they are underwater.

[Popandos]

Since you are not too lazy to knock on the keys, give a link to the drawings of a modern single-hull submarine of any production, otherwise I cannot understand what you are talking about, and how a light hull affects the buoyancy margin.

[agond]

Type in a search engine for example "Ohio submarine blueprints", and it will appear,
and briefly in words, a single-body scheme is a steel pipe with a wall thickness of 40-50 mm and a diameter of 10 m from the inside, stiffeners (frames) are welded on the ends of the cylinder are closed with hemispheres, to which ballast tanks (aft and bow) are welded, they are small in size with a wall thickness in different places 10-20mm

[Diverter]

not moreman, but I have a question. Why are Russian Varshavyanka women considered Black Holes if they are so big? 941 projects are the largest in the world, the goldfish is the fastest in the world. Are our shipbuilders and their customer definitely unfit for professional use? After all, in your opinion, they will never guess to make monohull boats.

[Eug]

As I understand it, the requirement to design a two-, one-and-a-half- or single-hull boat with a buoyancy margin specified in the technical specification comes from the customer.

[agond]

941 project is the largest in the world, because we have such customers and shipbuilders, if we calculate the technical perfection of this submarine, that is, divide the mass of abandoned warheads in kilograms by the underwater displacement in tons
(51000 kg we divide by 40000 20 t t .. 39 pieces of R-2550 missiles x throw weight 51000 kg = XNUMX kg)
then we get for 1 ton of underwater displacement there is 1.28 kg of the thrown mass of warheads
For comparison, the Ohio PL
has 24 missiles, the total throwable weight of warheads is 67200kg
2800 kg x 24pcs = 67200kg, we divide by 18750t of underwater displacement. and we get one ton of displacement, which accounts for 3.58 kg of the abandoned warhead mass.
this means (3.58 kg. divided by 1.28 kg. = 2.8) that the technical perfection of the Ohio-class nuclear submarine is 941 times higher than that of the project 2.8 "Akula".

[Eug]

As far as I remember from work at Khartron, the onboard equipment of Soviet SLBMs had to withstand a pressure of 8 atm. In my humble understanding, this corresponds to a launch from a depth of 80 meters, the Americans carry out such operations from 20 meters. This requirement certainly does not contribute to the growth of the indicator with which you operate. To what extent it (the requirement of 8 atm.) Is justified - I do not presume to judge.

[Castro Ruiz]

The nuclear submarine 945 / 945A is my favorite submarine.