50s: Starting with a storage ring

Chapter 834 Stainless Steel Takes to the Skies, Titanium Alloy Goes Underwater

Sun Zhiwei's current naval forces in Southeast Asia need ships that can directly participate in combat, so if he wants to acquire a submarine, he can only choose an attack submarine.

On the way back, he kept sifting through his memory for submarines from various countries that had been developed in the 1980s, and specifically those that were easy to obtain.

After thinking for a long time, he finally came up with a few alternatives, but he still needed to go and see the ship in person to decide which one to choose.

In this era, the most advanced submarines among all countries are undoubtedly those of the Soviet Union and the United States.

This can be further divided into conventional and nuclear power. Among them, the best conventionally powered submarine is the Kilo-class submarine, nicknamed "Flounder," which is known as the quietest diesel-electric submarine in the world.

The reason for choosing this model is that the Kilo-class submarine is an export-oriented submarine.
Historically, a total of 53 Kilo-class submarines were built, of which 24 were used domestically and 29 were exported.

In later stages, Kilo-class submarines gradually spread to dozens of countries around the world through exports and resales.

Therefore, acquiring a Kilo-class submarine from a small country is a very low-risk endeavor.

The Kilo-class submarines are also of excellent performance, making them a suitable choice for Ji Yongjia to command, as a reward for his contributions in this operation.

Sun Zhiwei felt he was really bad. The cowherd had done a good job herding the cattle, but the cow died. To reward the cowherd, he would give him a new cow, and the cowherd would probably be very happy.

The most mature and advanced conventional submarines are all in the Soviet Union, while America's conventional submarine technology is actually inferior.

There is a reason for this, because America has been gradually phasing out its conventional submarines since the 60s, preparing to gradually convert its submarine force to nuclear power.

Currently, the number of non-nuclear-powered submarines in the American Navy is very small; they are either older or experimental vessels.

Therefore, Sun Zhiwei did not consider America when choosing a conventional submarine.

Strategic nuclear submarines are not a consideration; they are for second-strike nuclear purposes and are meaningless to Sun Zhiwei.

Those are things that only a few H countries need, things they'll never use in their lifetime. If one day they really need them, the whole world will probably be doomed.

Even if Sun Zhiwei manages to get his hands on a ship, would he dare to fire a bomb?

As for attack nuclear submarines, both countries have made significant achievements. In terms of extreme performance, the Soviet Union's submarine is undoubtedly superior, but considering overall optimized performance, America's submarine is better.

America's main attack submarines are currently the Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarines. She had previously acquired one, which has been transported back to the United States for research.

This is too sensitive. Once the research is complete, it's highly unlikely that it will be taken out for public display again.

America is extremely strict with its equipment; the voiceprint of almost every nuclear submarine is recorded in the submarine force's voiceprint database for use in friend-or-foe identification.

This means that even if he acquires another Los Angeles-class ship in the future, he still can't just use it casually.

However, the Russians have several nuclear submarines, which would make them suitable targets.

During that era, the three major submarine design bureaus of the Russian Empire possessed highly advanced technologies in the research of nuclear submarines.

At this point, in order to compete with each other, the three design bureaus began to design submarines with titanium alloy hulls.

The Soviet Union's current weapons designs are incredibly imaginative; the use of stainless steel in the air and titanium alloys in the water refers to this period.

The synthesis process for titanium alloys is still immature, resulting in very limited annual production. They are even more expensive than gold, highlighting the extravagance of using them to build submarines. However, titanium alloys possess truly outstanding properties: high strength, light weight, and low magnetic properties.

It can be said that apart from its high cost and demanding manufacturing process, it has almost no other drawbacks in practical applications.

Among the three major submarine design bureaus, Malachite Design Bureau (Central Ship Design Bureau) designed the Type 661 cruise missile nuclear submarine, with an underwater displacement of 7000 tons, a maximum diving depth of 550 meters, and a maximum underwater speed of 44.7 knots.

See the speed? The underwater speed is 44.7 knots, making it the fastest submarine in the world.

That translates to about 80 kilometers per hour. That's fast enough for a road trip, but 80 miles per hour underwater is simply amazing.

It was faster than any of America's surface warships, and even though it wasn't very stealthy, no other warship could catch it.

Aside from speedboats, but speedboats shouldn't even think about taking down an underwater nuclear submarine.

The Type 661 cruise missile nuclear submarine was the world's first submarine built with titanium alloy as its hull material, and it was also the world's first cruise missile submarine capable of launching missiles from underwater.

Of course, it also has many shortcomings, which we will not discuss for now.

Malachite Design Bureau also designed another titanium alloy nuclear submarine, the Project 705 attack submarine.

The Type 705 nuclear submarine is inferior to the Type 661 in performance, with a displacement of only over 3000 tons.

However, it was the first titanium alloy submarine to be put into service. Its shape was very unique, with an overall streamlined design that made it look chubby.

However, the 705 was a good submarine, but not a popular one.

One reason was that it was too expensive to build, and another was that it did not actually meet the original design requirements and was not very popular with the Russian Navy. It was a compromise product, and only 7 were built in the end, and its use was restricted.

Having discussed the Malachite Design Bureau, let's now talk about the Ruby Design Bureau, whose full name is: Ruby Central Design Bureau for Marine Machinery.

It is the largest submarine design bureau in Russia, designing 6% of all submarines in Russia and building more than 70% of them.

Masterpieces such as the Kilo-class, Delta-class, Typhoon-class, and Borei-class aircraft were all designed here. It can be said that Ruby Design Bureau is the undisputed leader among the three major design bureaus of Russia.

It also designed a titanium alloy nuclear submarine, the Project 685 (NATO reporting name: M-class) attack submarine.

As the head of the design bureau, the submarines he built also boasted the best data.

The only experimental vessel of the Project 685 attack nuclear submarine: Komsomolskaya Pravda (K-278), with a displacement of 8500 tons and a maximum diving depth of 1250 meters.

Excluding the later research models of deep-sea submersibles, in terms of nuclear submarines alone, the Komsomolskaya Pravda is the world's deepest-diving nuclear submarine.

Even disregarding its stealth capabilities, its ability to operate below 1000 meters renders all anti-submarine measures ineffective against it.

Because at a diving depth of 1000 meters, sonar and other equipment have a very difficult time detecting the K-278 submarine, and it is also very difficult for enemy weapons to attack it.

Ordinary underwater weapons, due to water pressure, cannot even reach a depth of 1000 meters before being crushed by the seawater.

The Communist Youth League Member doesn't need to do anything; just by staying submerged at a depth of 1000 meters, you can't do anything about it. It's like a fortress.

(End of this chapter)