I am watching this show and in the latest episode, it's featuring the construction of one of the latest Virginia class nuclear submarines.

http://www.sciencechannel.com/tv-shows/impossible-engineering/

I see they have a dry dock they fill with water to test the submarine for leaks while it's still under construction.

But how do they test the hull to withstand the pressure of its maximum dive depth of 800 feet?

Do they have a large water tank to simulate the depth pressure or do they really take the submarine down to that depth?

Man! I sure don't want to be in one at that depth while it's still being tested for hull stability, engine performance and reliability, etc

Something in the hull buckles or the engine fails and everyone who is in it is screwed.

So what is wrong with the Los Angeles and Seawolf class submarines? They can still do the job of delivering nuclear missiles and non nuclear missiles on land target miles and miles away or take out an enemy surface ship. Why the need for these new Virginia class submarines?

On a side note, the Manager in charge of the interior construction of the Virginia class submarine featured in this episode, SSN-788 Colorado, is a woman.

She makes sure every wire, pipe, conduit, piece of fixed furniture, panel, down to the storage spaces under the bunk for each crew member and that every available square inch of the submarine's interior is utilized and not wasted.

WHAT?

The 688's and Seawolves were designed first and foremost as attack subs to hunt down and destroy Soviet ships and submarines in blue-water or under-ice battles; nowadays, subs are mostly used for special operations and intelligence gathering, and especially in the case of the 688's, they're compromised in those times. The Seawolf class boats are great at most roles, but they're big and very, very expensive, which is why the class was stopped after 3 boats. Plus, neither of those two classes have much future-proofing to provide for new technologies easily- Virginia class does.

Also, in the 30+ years between when the 688's and the 773's were designed, EB and the Navy have made advances in technologies for reducing signatures that can't just be plugged and played into existing boats.

Thanks, NavyNuke99.

Are the new Virginia class subs as good as the Red October?

I don't understand why they call it Electric Boat. Those submarines are not electric like an electric car.

How do they scrap a huge nuclear submarine like a Los Angeles class when it's retired?

1. Apples and oranges. Typhoon class subs are ballistic missile submarines, Virginia's are attack boats.

2. The first subs were gasoline-electric, then diesel- electric. Even now, every submarine has a battery onboard for emergency power needs. So many carried over?

3. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship-Submarine_Recycling_Program

NavyNuke99 is well informed about Subs.

Were you a submariner?

Submariner, no. I volunteered in the nuclear training pipeline, but needs of the Navy sent me surface. But most of my training was in submarine power plants and platforms. And Texas was under construction at the same time as us, and we traded tours with their crew.

CyBerkut, what class of boat were you on?

I don't see a reply from CyBerkut?



I never been to Connecticut.

Now I want to go to see this:

It's nice to see a woman in such a high profile job.Girls,this is what you can achieve if you leave feminism at the door and go into STEM rather than gender studies.

What am I saying,it's a sausage-fest in here.

And she didn't do what women do when they come to a Man's place.

Change the color of your wallpapers and add pink floor mats around the toilet and on the toilet seat.

Yeah man, looks like she has the DECADES of experience to qualify to properly do such an important job. That, or a Phd degree in Power Pointing.

I served on the U.S.S. Jack (SSN-605). It was in what came to be known as the Permit (SSN-594) class, but was originally the Thresher (SSN-593) class until her demise during sea trials.

Wikipedia page for USS Jack (SSN-605)

NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive - Jack (SSN-605)

While the Jack was a Permit class submarine, she was a unique ship in certain key ways. The normal design for the Permit class subs had a high speed steam turbine for the main engine that fed into reduction gears. The output shaft from the reduction gears had a clutch mechanism, a DC powered Emergency Propulsion Motor, and finally ending at a single screw to propel the ship.

The Jack was an experiment seeking a quieter result by getting rid of the reduction gears and using two concentric counter rotating shafts (and screws) powered by a low speed steam turbine. The downside being that with no reduction gears (and therefor no clutch) the main engine steam turbine could not be disconnected from the screw... so there was no Emergency Propulsion Motor to act as an alternative method of turning the screw.

All of the submarines in class had a "Secondary Propulsion Motor" that was hydraulically extended out of the bottom of the hull when needed. It was mainly there for maneuvering to, and away from, the pier. For the Jack, the SPM was also our Emergency Propulsion in the event of a loss of the main engine. Due to this 'work around' for emergency propulsion, the Jack was given the larger SPM utilized on Fleet Ballistic Missile subs, as well as the larger Emergency Diesel Generator that FBM's used. We were also equipped with 3 Ship's Service Motor Generators instead of the usual 2.

----------------
Regarding the O.P. questions:

To address the dry dock / testing question... The dry dock can indeed be utilized to test for water leaks at surfaced conditions. However, the main purpose of a dry dock is to allow the ship to be up on blocks and dry for construction or maintenance, and then to be floated out afterwards. Testing at pressure for deep submergence can really only be done at depth... which requires the sub to be manned. A useful test can be done in dry dock by sealing up the boat and increasing internal pressure, and then monitoring that pressure to see if it holds. It's not as conclusive as actually diving to depth, but it can spot problems with hull integrity.

As for that testing at depth, a loss of the main engine, in and of itself, should not cause a catastrophe. A failure of hull/piping penetration integrity however can result in loss of the ship. It is believed that is what caused the loss of the U.S.S. Thresher.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Thresher_%28SSN-593%29



(Note: I have not yet reviewed either of those links.)

That loss resulted in a program called "SubSafe" that addressed a number of issues in sub design. The Jack was delayed from leaving the construction shipyard due to having much of the SubSafe improvements retrofitted... but it did not get all of them.

As NavyNuke99 so capably explained, the Virginia class subs were designed for a different type of warfare (much better littoral environment performance/capabilities), and are much more modernized. Some years ago, there was a reunion of guys that served on the Jack [we even had some guys who served on the WWII era Diesel boat (SS-259) of the same name] up in Groton. While we were there, we were given to opportunity to get on the Virginia's control room simulator. Glass cockpit controls similar to what you would see on modern commercial aircraft... very cool, and much different from what I had known in my era.

Regarding the final question in the O.P. "WHAT?" ... I don't know what you're asking for there.

Thank you, CyBerkut.

I meant WHAT? as in a Woman is in charge of building the most powerful weapon and military asset in the U.S. arsenal?

Why would that be a problem?

I'm sure she is very capable. Otherwise, she would not be in that position. When it comes to projects of that sort, there is no room for giving the job to someone who is not up to the task, in pursuit of some Equal Opportunity Employment points.

Women aren't as intelligent as men and should be limited to simpler roles in life such as mothers, wives and strippers (although I might have that in the wrong order). Something along those lines, right CG?

Apologies for being blunt but this thinly-veiled misogyny rather pisses me off. He deserves to be pulled up on it.

Yeah, I know. Since this is in Community Hall, I figured that I would just go with a more subtle approach. Let's not blow this up into something that has to go into PWEC (Not that I mind things being there, but some folks don't deal with that very well.).

The OP says that the max depth of that sub is 800 feet, I bet it could go way deeper than that, any ideas on the "real" max depth of these machines?

Mick.

Yes.

That would be classified information.

It's called the "Silent Service" for more than one reason.