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2011-02-23 Science & Technology

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Posted by Anonymoose 2011-02-23 00:00|| || Front Page|| [2 views ] Top

#1 Hydrogen fuel cells - no reactor pump noise, no exhaust other than fresh water, so quieter than a nuc boat. They can stay submerged for a couple weeks unlike the DE boats that were good only for a couple days. The German 209 boats are being retrofitted with these by the Portuguese and Greek navies.

With the lack of metallic mass in the "A" mod, the only telltale they will have is water displacement if they practice good sound discipline and EMCON/ECM.

The power system limits these to smaller subs, manned by smaller crews (the nominal crew is 27 per Janes), so duration may be an issue, depending on workload. If these types of boats are ever crewed by highly trained and skilled sailors of a hostile power, they could be hell to counter. The Germans and Italians have these on order -- the 212 (non"A") are already in service.

FYI, the 212 linked to there at the "U-boat listing" is NOT an ancestor of these -- thats a bit misleading (the one there is an old WW2 German DE boat). Thats akin to saying the F-4 Corsair was the predecessor of the F-4 Phantom because they were both designated F-4. Simply not so: the 212A is based off the modern 209 design, and only has the 212 designation as a coincidence.

Posted by OldSpook 2011-02-23 00:31|| 2011-02-23 00:31|| Front Page Top

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Posted by Captain Thomsen 2011-02-23 03:26|| 2011-02-23 03:26|| Front Page Top

#3 OS: I was just pointing out the coincidence. But, as boats go, the U-212 did a lot better than most, and lasted a lot longer.

Posted by Anonymoose 2011-02-23 11:11|| 2011-02-23 11:11|| Front Page Top

#4 Wow. Talk about a deadly thing. No noise, no MAD detection, no nothing but a hole in the water.

Posted by DarthVader 2011-02-23 11:31|| 2011-02-23 11:31|| Front Page Top

#5 totally silent, radiates virtually no heat...non-magnetic metals.

And powered by baking soda.

Posted by SteveS 2011-02-23 14:50|| 2011-02-23 14:50|| Front Page Top

#6 And they probably don't need such a full crew, either.

Posted by gorb 2011-02-23 14:50|| 2011-02-23 14:50|| Front Page Top

#7 "And powered by baking soda". Yes, isn't that exciting!. Water, baking soda and electric current. My favorite fuel. Clean and efficient.
The Japanese have a system with no surface tension so no bubbles. Then you have Oxygen separated. Oxygen being non flammable supports combustion dramatically. The Apollo fire was so bad because other flammable gases were mixed with their oxygen. No more pig boats for the submariners(diesel smell) .

Posted by Dale 2011-02-23 21:03|| 2011-02-23 21:03|| Front Page Top

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