Yuan Class AIP & Kilo Submarine Thread
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
Chinese wiki puts at 19, with the 19th having sea trials, the 19th likely to be the one with the A26 style sail.
There should be a 20th since its confirmed photographically, that a 039A was launched in Jiangnan just recently.
Chinese wiki doesn't use sources for that number of theirs, 19 Yuan subs. Only a few of the 19 entries have some sources cited, and most of those sources are, as far as I can tell, not terribly clear about the fact a new submarine joined the force. They're more mentions of such and such serial number of a new submarine used.
Of course, this paper linked a few posts above doesn't provide sources either. Both the paper and Chinese wiki offer years of new boats put into service up to the year 2013 or so. After that, years are not existent. So it must be that there's no way of tracking when a new boat was launched. The Chinese Wiki list may be correct, but it also may either underestimate or overestimate the sub count. There's no way of telling.
The paper's list seems like it could be the very bottom projection of numbers, since it bases it's 4 subs after the year 2013 on the number of different observed modifications of various yuan subs. But who's to say that since 2013, there haven't been far more than just 1 sub per each modification put into service?
Indeed, if there were on average of 2 yuan subs launched from the year 2009 to 2013, would it not be plausible that a similar tempo was kept up until now? If so, that'd mean not just 4 additional subs as per the paper, or not just 6 additional subs as per chinese wiki, but potentially as many as 15+ additional subs up until today.
Of course, it may also be that the procurement rate slowed down. Or perhaps that there was was a period, similar to one during the transition from Song to Yuan, where 2 years passed without a single submarine launched.
At any rate, I don't think the chinese wiki or this paper really enables us to make a precise educated guess about the actual number.
It could be just 4-5 additional subs from 2013 onward. Or it could be 15 or more. Or any other number in between.
Of course, this paper linked a few posts above doesn't provide sources either. Both the paper and Chinese wiki offer years of new boats put into service up to the year 2013 or so. After that, years are not existent. So it must be that there's no way of tracking when a new boat was launched. The Chinese Wiki list may be correct, but it also may either underestimate or overestimate the sub count. There's no way of telling.
The paper's list seems like it could be the very bottom projection of numbers, since it bases it's 4 subs after the year 2013 on the number of different observed modifications of various yuan subs. But who's to say that since 2013, there haven't been far more than just 1 sub per each modification put into service?
Indeed, if there were on average of 2 yuan subs launched from the year 2009 to 2013, would it not be plausible that a similar tempo was kept up until now? If so, that'd mean not just 4 additional subs as per the paper, or not just 6 additional subs as per chinese wiki, but potentially as many as 15+ additional subs up until today.
Of course, it may also be that the procurement rate slowed down. Or perhaps that there was was a period, similar to one during the transition from Song to Yuan, where 2 years passed without a single submarine launched.
At any rate, I don't think the chinese wiki or this paper really enables us to make a precise educated guess about the actual number.
It could be just 4-5 additional subs from 2013 onward. Or it could be 15 or more. Or any other number in between.
Lethe
Captain
The paper doesn't even try to count the number of units in service, that's what the extra spaces are for: "at least one but we have no idea how many more."
Most public US DoD or USN figures list China as operating 46 or 47 SSKs as of 2020 which can serve as a reasonable lower bound. With five 035Bs and a dozen Kilos, that leaves 30 039 Song/Yuan boats.
Quickie
Colonel
Sodium chloride is basically sodium and chlorine ions and you eat them every day without them reacting explosively.
In4ser
Junior Member
Thanks! I was hoping the stuff I was spouting was nonsense but I wanted to ask someone who with knowhow.Sodium chloride is basically sodium and chlorine ions and you eat them every day without them reacting explosively.
Quickie
Colonel
Btw, I don't mean to be teasing if it somehow comes across like that. As to the question of how the sodium ions function in the workings of the battery, I'll leave it to someone more knowledgeable about it.