Yuan Class AIP & Kilo Submarine Thread

Hendrik_2000

Lieutenant General
It remains to be seen if they could get those up to 3,000kW per pod (nobody has done it yet AFAIK), which would be quite incredible in its own right.

Because in such a case all they'd need is a conventional twin propeller/pod layout similar to the Deltas/Typhoons, which is as much as one could ask for with this particular tech, since I'm not sure how feasible it would be to make a shaft-less propeller pod that's rated at 6,000kW+.
Nothing is impossible! All you need is patience and persistence, money 3 qualities that Chinese have in ample supply. I have no doubt they are working on it and maybe even 2 or 3 research org working on the same subject. It take them a decade to reverse engineer Mk46 torpedoes. Recently in ASW thread I post and article how they develop Dolphin ASW glider I take them a decade too and not yet production model
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Helius

Senior Member
Registered Member
I think these pods would be more for UUVs rather than straight substitutes for conventional submarine propulsion.

The biggest advantage these pods offer is radically improved agility as these pods would allow a submarine to move like a quodcoptor drone could on land.

That kind of agility would be too much for manned platforms, but would not present any issues for unmanned, which is where the true potential lies.
Azipods such as these (shaft-less or no) have nothing to do with manned or unmanned. Plenty of civilian and naval vessels employ azipods e.g. the Mistrals.

Manoeuvrability, yes, but you don't need a shaft-less propeller to achieve that when a shaft-driven azimuth thruster already does the same job.

Rim-driven propulsion is about managing uneven inflow/pressure fluctuation and vorticity distribution so as to reduce noise and vibration, resulting in improved stability, acoustics and thrust. Not to mention a greater degree of agility... not in the way you would think of quadcopters, but more like vectored thrusters a la pump-jet propulsors on the Virginias but with greater turn angles.

To be sure, the same advantages of a shaft-less propeller can certainly benefit UUVs as much as they already benefit conventional manned subs.

Assuming China's ultimate aim with this type of propulsion is to deploy it on SSs and SSNs, which is pretty apparent with their 1,000kW variant, presumably with an eye for more powerful ones since you don't need a megawatt motor to propel a UUV, they can certainly scale these propellers to fit various form factors, again as evidenced by the already-developed 5.5 kW, 9.5 kW, 20 kW, 75 kW and 200 kW models.
 

by78

General
Loading torpedoes.

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lcloo

Captain
Those seem to be tube-launched AShMs or LACMs.
Yes, they are cruise missiles. Torpedoes do not have casing aka capsule.

Narrative from Chinamil. "Sailors load missiles onto the submarines on March 22, 2022. Submarines attached to a navy flotilla under the PLA Northern Theatre Command had their ammunitions refreshed on March 22. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Wu Haodong)"
 

by78

General
Those seem to be tube-launched AShMs or LACMs.
Yes, they are cruise missiles. Torpedoes do not have casing aka capsule.

Narrative from Chinamil. "Sailors load missiles onto the submarines on March 22, 2022. Submarines attached to a navy flotilla under the PLA Northern Theatre Command had their ammunitions refreshed on March 22. (eng.chinamil.com.cn/Photo by Wu Haodong)"

My bad. They are missiles.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
From the East Pendulum. The source claims it is a 039B but I think it is a 039C. The root of the sail is streamlined. The 039C is also called improved 039B in some resources.
View attachment 89199


Some lump the curved sail boats as part of the 039B, or variants of such. 039C is referred to as the new board with the A26 style sail. IMO, most if not all the older sail 039B has been refitted into the new sail configuration and may also have internal and machinery improvements. Remember at some point they stopped making the 039B or slowed down production to one boat a year before releasing the new angled sail variant. I believe during this 'pause', the shipyards were still busy, not making new boats, but busy refitting older squared sailed ones to the new curved sail standard. You hardly or don't see the older squared sail 039B anymore, and it's because I believe that have all been refitted to the new standard. They also get new coatings and stuff like that, and come out indistinguishable from the brand new boats.

Also I suspect at some point they may have been converted to Lithium Ion or at least a few boats were for test reasons first, then moving on to general deployment.
 
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