Here's a question that you don't hear very often; if a submarine and a whale collided, who would emerge victoriously? The answer to that is not definite because such an incident has not occurred so far. However, back in 2005, the USS San Francisco did collide with a seamount at full speed.
Submarines have to distill water they need for drinking, cooking, and bathing from seawater and have a limited supply, so the crew takes "submarine showers" - turn the water on and wet down, turn the water off and soap up. Turn the water on and rinse off.
The limits on how long they can stay underwater are food and supplies. Submarines generally stock a 90-day supply of food, so they can spend three months underwater. The diesel-powered submarines (not now used by the United States Navy) had a limit of several days submerged.
As you might expect, private submarines are phenomenally expensive. So while dozens of private submersibles are bobbing around the deep, there are currently no private luxury subs in existence.
Fresh food lasts about two weeks, then it is canned, dried, and frozen food for the rest of the patrol. When a submarine leaves on patrol, food fills every available corner. Eating takes place in the crew's mess. Despite the tight galley space, good meals are the rule, with the same menu for officers and enlisted men.
The underwater environment is a dangerous one. Submarines face many perils of the deep. Even a small fire or gas leak inside a submerged submarine can have catastrophic consequences. A collision with another vessel or grounding may be much more serious for a submarine than for a surface ship.
It was actually somewhat calming. As for normal running submerged, subs handle very gently. There is no pitch or roll due to wave action. You can sort of sense a turn as the sub will roll ever so slightly, similar to but less than for an airplane.
The revelation that 23 of the Kursk's 118 crewmen survived the sinking, at least for a while, set off a sensation and demolished assurances by senior military officials that the Kursk's entire crew most likely had perished within minutes of the accident.
When Surfaced
- Hold W to dive.
- After holding W for about 2 seconds, hold F.
- When approaching desired depth, hold S and release F.
- Make small changes with W and S until the submarine is level.
Use an empty water bottle and baking powder to create a simple submarine that will sink and float several times before needing to be refilled. Turn your bathtub into an afternoon of fun with submarine races, seeing whose submarine can resurface the fastest or the most times.
Using just a few household materials, a water bottle can be made into a submarine to help demonstrate these principles. Cut a hole in the cap of the water bottle to allow the straw to fit inside. Use a sharp knife or a nail to make the hole in the cap. Cut two holes into the body of the water bottle.
Submarines use ballast and trim tanks, which are filled with air or water to submerge or raise the ship. When the submarine is floating on the surface, the tanks are filled with air causing its density to be less than the surrounding water. Some submarines use two hulls—one inside of another—instead of ballast tanks.
In 2018, the Virginia-class submarine USS John Warner (#8 on the list) launched Tomahawk missiles against chemical weapons facilities in Syria.
Nine nuclear submarines have sunk, either by accident or scuttling. Three were lost with all hands - the two from the United States Navy (129 and 99 lives lost) and one from the Russian Navy (118 lives lost), and these are also the three largest losses of life in a submarine.
The name is foreboding and fairly self-explanatory; it's when the submarine goes so deep the water pressure crushes it, causing an implosion. The crush depth of most submarines is classified, but it's likely to be more than 400 metres.
The German submarine U-864 was a Type IXD2 U-boat of Nazi Germany's Kriegsmarine in World War II. It is the only documented instance in the history of naval warfare where one submarine intentionally sank another while both were submerged.
Nuclear submarines are much bigger and heavier. Although they are also quite a bit tougher, they cannot lie down on the bottom of the sea. The risk of getting stuck is too big, but it is also more difficult to perform such manoeuvre safely. Part of the problem are water intake valves that are at the bottom of the hull.
There are, but whichever method you use, the odds aren't great. The best chance is to send a smaller sub down to dock with the stranded sub so that crew can be rescued. The Royal Navy also has a 'Submarine Parachute Assistance Group' trained to airdrop to the site of a sinking sub and recover survivors as they emerge.
When someone dies on a Navy ship, including submarines, the body is placed in a body bag and stored in the coolers (we call them reefers) until the body can be delivered to a morgue. Depending on the ship's current operations, that could be anywhere from a day or two, to several weeks.
On April 9, 1963, the Thresher was 220 miles east of Cape Cod, conducting diving tests. But Thresher never surfaced, and the Navy later found the sub in six pieces on the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. All 129 personnel on board were killed.
Weapons
- B57 nuclear bomb.
- Naval Mines.
- Torpedoes (acoustic or wake homing, wire-guided)
- Depth charges.
- Rockets.
- Mk 101 Lulu.
- Anti-submarine missiles.
- Anti-submarine mortar.
Even when a submarine is on the surface, the crew's access to the internet is severely restricted. There would be NO allowed personal use of wi-fi or bluetooth within a submarine. The vessel MIGHT have a wired LAN for MWR, protected against signal leakage or intrusion.
Submarines are relatively unaffected by weather or tsunamis when submerged in deep open waters. However if a submarine has to go shallow or to periscope depth then conditions on the surface become a major concern. Large enough waves can cause a submarine to be pulled (sucked) up to the surface.
A submarine can be faster than a boat. Nuclear power allows submarines to go faster than surface ships. (This may be true.) The fastest submarine is claimed to be the Soviet K-162, launched in 1969, with a top speed of 44.7 knots (82.8 km/hr).
Each type of mini-sub is different from the next. They range from the do-it-yourself kit subs for about $18,000 all the way to luxury subs that sleep up to 20 people and cost more than $80 million.
The Atlantis submarine Hawaii adventure begins with a short (approximately 10 minutes) shuttle ride out to the submarine boarding site. Descending below the waves, your actual time underwater on the Oahu submarine tour is around 50 minutes.
