Lone South African Submarine "Defeats" NATO Fleet

The SAS Manthatisi is a Class 209 Type 1400 MOD diesel-electric submarine that was built in Germany. Diesel-electric submarines will always give navies a run for their money. They can run much more silent than any nuclear sub out there. They are typically smaller and far more manueverable as well.

Nice to see the little guys hand the big guys their collective a$$es on a platter!

Beat by a pigboat! That should leave some red faces LOL

I don't know anything about submarines... But how do you make a diesel engine strong enough to power a sub, but still keep it quiet?

is for the sub running on the surface, where noise issnt a problem because you can be seen. They have electric mode (batteries) for underwater running so there is no real machinery noise at all except for the props.

all sub's are in theory a hybrid type. problem is with nuke subs that reactor needs to be active along with all the other components to keep it in check. this results in a louder sub then compared to just electrical running. hopefully one day in the future there can be a better way to control nuclear power so that when they want to turn off the reactor and run on their electric batteries they can do so for a long while as the reactor is completely off.

beat the Empire!

Anyone remember "Down Pericope"? I love that movie and the same thing happened there. They are crafty little ships, I love em... DIVE DIVE DIVE!

Welcome Aboard!

Still the best in the world!

Guess that blonde bimbo was right when she said people have to learn about the problems with South Africa and Iraq, and whatnot. Like.

http://www.youtube.com/

I've earned my living for nearly 33 years working on nuclear submarines. (Groton, Connecticut).
Regarding nukes being noisier than diesel boats, that is correct but not the problem it used to be. The unavoidable noise source in nukes is the cooling system pumps for the reactor.
This system cannot be shut down without incurring serious overheating problems within the reactor. The reactor cannot be quickly shut down, nor can it be instantly restarted, like a car engine.
A scrammed reactor generally requires six to seven minutes to restart.
In a combat situation such a long delay can easily result in the death of the ship and crew.

Modern American subs have an electric motor that can be extended from the hull and used to move a sub that, for whatever reason, cannot use it's main propulsion system. It resembles a giant inboard/outboard motor. It can push the sub at about two knots maximum.

..also run quieter because they are smaller -- they displace less water as they move. They are indeed very effective for short-range, limited engagments.

But they are not meant for long-range or long submerssion uses. They can't. A disel sub's range is limited by the ammount of fuel it can carry and it's submerssion length is limited to how long the batteries remain charged. When the batteries run low it the sub has to resurface and run the disel engine to recharge the batteries which make it a sitting duck for all sorts of attack.

I wonder what sort of fire exersizes they were using that allowed a single sub to sink an entire battle group. Were they dry firing? Using a computer program to simulate firing? Actual live fire?

I ask because a sub actually firing torpedos or missiles becomes a noisy target in pretty short order. If it was just crusing around scoring hits via a computer program, it wasn't making the noise it would in a live-fire exersize. Similarily, use of real depth charges would crate pressure waves that could make the detection of the stealth sub easier -- but not if the computer program didn't account for it...

A naval exercise that I took part in had basically the same results, only difference was that it was a nuke boat that "sank" every surface ship in the group. When the sub had a firing solution, it launched a yellow flare. The destroyers never were able to corner and simulate "sinking" the sub.
Ti wasn't till after the exercise was completed that we found out how that sub skipper managed to avoid the destroyers.
After he launched a flare to simulate a torpedo shot, he would hide underneath the flagship of the group, a carrier. It masked his screw noise. Smart sub driver.
I don't know if a sub driver could get away with that today.

Im not sure about regulations, but depending on the depth and size of the sub, also he better know the ship hes hidding under... three screws on her and u are DEAD! LOL I love subs.

-Swordfish

Kelsey Grammer's Down Periscope. Great movie for a laugh :D