Submarine

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A Russian Navy Typhoon-class submarine underway

 

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term most commonly refers to a large, crewed, autonomous vessel. It is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, as well as medium-sized or smaller vessels, such as the midget submarine and the wet sub.
Used as an adjective in phrases such as submarine cable, "submarine" means "under the sea". The noun submarine evolved as a shortened form of submarine boat (and is often further shortened to sub).^[1] For reasons of naval tradition, submarines are usually referred to as "boats" rather than as "ships", regardless of their size.
Although experimental submarines had been built before, submarine design took off during the 19th century, and they were adopted by several navies. Submarines were first widely used during World War I (1914–1918), and now figure in many large navies. Military usage includes attacking enemy surface ships or submarines, aircraft carrier protection, blockade running, ballistic missile submarines as part of a nuclear strike force, reconnaissance, conventional land attack (for example using a cruise missile), and covert insertion of special forces. Civilian uses for submarines include marine science, salvage, exploration and facility inspection/maintenance. Submarines can also be modified to perform more specialized functions such as search-and-rescue missions or undersea cable repair. Submarines are also used in tourism, and for undersea archaeology.
Most large submarines consist of a cylindrical body with hemispherical (and/or conical) ends and a vertical structure, usually located amidships, which houses communications and sensing devices as well as periscopes. In modern submarines, this structure is the "sail" in American usage, and "fin" in European usage. A "conning tower" was a feature of earlier designs: a separate pressure hull above the main body of the boat that allowed the use of shorter periscopes. There is a propeller (or pump jet) at the rear, and various hydrodynamic control fins as well as ballast tanks. Smaller, deep diving and specialty submarines may deviate significantly from this traditional layout.
Submarines have one of the widest ranges of types and capabilities of any vessel. They range from small autonomous examples and one or two-person vessels that operate for a few hours, to vessels that can remain submerged for six months—such as the Russian Typhoon class, the biggest submarines ever built. Submarines can work at greater depths than are survivable or practical for human divers.^[2] Modern deep-diving submarines derive from the bathyscaphe, which in turn evolved from the diving bell.

Contents

• 1 History
  • 1.1 First submersibles
  • 1.2 First military models
    • 1.2.1 In the American Civil War
  • 1.3 Mechanically powered, late 19th century
  • 1.4 End of the 19th century to the Russo-Japanese War
  • 1.5 In the Russo-Japanese War
  • 1.6 In World War I
  • 1.7 Interwar developments
  • 1.8 In World War II
    • 1.8.1 Germany
    • 1.8.2 Japan
    • 1.8.3 United States
    • 1.8.4 United Kingdom
    • 1.8.5 Snorkel
  • 1.9 Modern military models
  • 1.10 Polar operations
• 2 Usage
  • 2.1 Military
  • 2.2 Civil
• 3 Technology
  • 3.1 Submersion and trimming
  • 3.2 Hull
    • 3.2.1 Overview
    • 3.2.2 Single and double hulls
    • 3.2.3 Pressure hull
  • 3.3 Propulsion
    • 3.3.1 Electric transmission
      • 3.3.1.1 Diesel-electric
    • 3.3.2 Air-independent propulsion
    • 3.3.3 Nuclear power
    • 3.3.4 Alternative propulsion
  • 3.4 Armament
  • 3.5 Sensors
  • 3.6 Navigation
  • 3.7 Communication
• 4 Crew
  • 4.1 Women
• 5 Life support systems
• 6 Abandoning the vessel
• 7 See also
  • 7.1 See also
  • 7.2 By country
• 8 References
• 9 Bibliography
• 10 External links

History

Main article: History of submarines

First submersibles

The Drebbel, the first navigable submarine

 

The first submersible of whose construction we have reliable information was built in 1620 by Cornelius Drebbel, a Dutchman in the service of James I of England. It was created to the standards of the design outlined by English mathematician William Bourne. It was propelled by means of oars. The precise nature of the submarine type is a matter of some controversy; some claim that it was merely a bell towed by a boat. Two improved types were tested in the Thames between 1620 and 1624. In 2002, a two-person version of Bourne's design was built for the BBC TV program Building the Impossible by Mark Edwards, and successfully rowed under water at Dorney Lake, Eton, Berkshire.
Though the first submersible vehicles were tools for exploring under water, it did not take long for inventors to recognize their military potential. The strategic advantages of submarines were set out by Bishop John Wilkins of Chester, England, in Mathematical Magick in 1648:

1. Tis private: a man may thus go to any coast in the world invisibly, without discovery or prevented in his journey.
2. Tis safe, from the uncertainty of Tides, and the violence of Tempests, which do never move the sea above five or six paces deep. From Pirates and Robbers which do so infest other voyages; from ice and great frost, which do so much endanger the passages towards the Poles.
3. It may be of great advantages against a Navy of enemies, who by this may be undermined in the water and blown up.
4. It may be of special use for the relief of any place besieged by water, to convey unto them invisible supplies; and so likewise for the surprisal of any place that is accessible by water.
5. It may be of unspeakable benefit for submarine experiments.