Daily submarine picture

[greenman407]

Good overhead shot. Looks like a XIA or the updated JIN. Dont forget to wave back.

[greenman407]

Another one. Never seen a boat lashed down on the deck of a submarine. Have you?

[greenman407]

Another view

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Notice that that 'boat' is now being towed off a fixture on the missile deck. The 'boat' seen on the starboard side of the rudder.

Antenna buoy? I love the blue colored submarine! Any good drawings of this SSBN?

Mark: this is my new 'go to' site. Thank you so much for digging this great stuff up.

David,

[greenman407]

Im glad for the positive feedback, Thanks. Im always on the lookout for drawings. Not on this guy.........YET!

[KevinMc]

I'll second David's comments - I too am really impressed by the continuous stream of great photographic material you continue to unearth! My day's never complete without a peek at what's new...

[greenman407]

Walrus class on the way down, hopefully not to Davey Jones.

[greenman407]

The Surcouf

[Outrider]

Surcouf is one of the most interesting submarines ever built. Guns and a float plane. Big. Met a mysterious end..."still on patrol." Note the post card's origin in French Territory south of Nova Scotia (!). That location is part of the story. Might have been an interesting part of an Indiana Jones movie...

[greenman407]

It had a float plane too? Learn sumpin nu every day. Thanks Dude! Now we just need to get the "Wizard" to chime in and tell us when he will be offering a kit? LOL

[Outrider]

More on Surcouf

The Wikipedia page on this is pretty good:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_submarine_Surcouf_(N_N_3)

The need for aircraft is really important for a sub armed with guns for their main armament. Aircraft are better for visual detection at distance and they can provide spotting as well. So even a slow floatplane has a lot of value...

This sub would work best as an armed cruiser raiding under-protected merchantmen. It would be pretty useless in circumstances where it was exposed to return fire. Sure, it's tough to hit because of the low freeboard...but any hit would likely be lethal.

I think the gun subs failed for several reasons. They had to be awful gun platforms because of a sub's inherent tendency to roll. If you can't hit anything with a gun, why have one?

The economy of the game is that shells are cheaper than torpedoes and they are more compact. But guns necessitate that a sub stay in a dangerous environment, and they do tend to give away one's position. None of the big gun boats could submerge quickly without damage. And most had very shallow crush depths. Some on the big British boats could have the bow near crush depth while the stern was on the surface! So what you've got is a big expensive target...

I think the whole idea was the big gun navy trying to adapt itself and its paradigms into technologies that were poorly suited for artillery duels. The surface navy doesn't much like aircraft either for the same reason.

The winner...torpedoes. A torpedo that hits home (and explodes) is hugely lethal and puts the sub at far less risk than any gun ever could.

[greenman407]

Great pictures gantu!

[Rpmtech1]

Yah! What a beast!

That picture of the Walrus diving is great.

[greenman407]

Heres another one.

[greenman407]

Theres your float plane just as you said there Outrider. As far as the other pictures, I just couldnt help myself.