Submarines

Not every harbor or port has pier facilities that can handle submarines, or for modern boats, nuclear powered vessels, which require specific shore-power and other pier services. There are also cases where a port of call might not have any pier facilities, or they may have been damaged.

In such instances, a submarine can anchor offshore and use small boats from the host country to transfer crew and supplies as needed.

The British lost 76 submarines during WWII.

A submarine sunk the liner 'Lusitania'. Many Americans died. USA was horrified, declared war on Germany.

Straight to the bottom of the ocean.

The buoyant force keeps a submarine afloat.

In general, yes, a submarine is larger than a submersible. A submersible is usually considered to be a small craft operated from a support vessel.

During WWII, US subs were named after fish.

Until 1959, the Triton, one of the first-generation Nuclear subs was the longest, and the first US submarine to have two independent reactors. She measured 447 ft 6 in (136.40 m) overall.

Then, the longest current class of submarine, the Ohio-class, at 560 ft (170 m), was built, and is now the longest submarine in the US Navy.

The primary underway lights are the Port/Starboard running lights, the rudder light, and a flashing yellow dome light.

On older boats the Port/Starboard lights were housed in the sail, and had to be deployed manually by an Electrician's Mate once surfaced and the bridge manned. Today they're likely deployed automatically. The Port light is Red, Starboard is Green.

The rudder light is on top of the rudder, and is an electrically powered white light.

The yellow flashing light is deployed via a raisable mast; it is a navigational indicator to all ships in the area that there is a surfaced submarine underway. The light is used because submarines are very low in the water, and are difficult to see in good conditions with standard running lights. Without the yellow light, it's easy to mistake it for a regular sailing or fishing vessel.

In the early days of submarines, they were frowned on by traditional Navies as being like snipers - sneaky, low, and completely without honor.

That vision went away rapidly though when the Germans showed just how much of a strategic weapon submarines could be. In fact, in the Treaty of Versailles which ended WWI, the Allies stipulated that Germany relinquish all of her submarines - in large part so that Allied scientists and engineers could study their technology and designs.

Submarines use both Sonar and Radar for navigation. Though a submarine can use Radar while submerged (at periscope depth, with the Radar mast above the water) it normally isn't used since Radar emissions can be picked up and give a boat's presence and position away.

Radar is primarily used for navigation while entering or exiting a port. Submarines are extremely low in the water, and are therefore more difficult for normal merchant ships to see. In this regard, it's essential for a submarine to detect and avoid all surface vessels as early as possible while transiting on the surface.

In the US Navy alone, there have been 25 classes of nuclear submarines, resulting in some 211 hulls. Each class of submarine has different specifications, and different ranges of speeds, each being used for different missions. Submarines within each class can differ in specifications that can affect their top speeds. By and large, the actual specifications such as speed for any nuclear equipment is classified, but the unclassified top speed ranges vary surface and submerged from around 15 knots of the Skipjack class (surfaced) to 35 knots of the Seawolf class (submerged).

It is just not possible to give a more specific answer as there are literally so many different nuclear submarines in the world with so many different capabilities. Generally, the US has stood at the forefront of submersible technology, and while the nuclear boats of other nations may for a time exceed the capabilities of current US vessels, it is typically a short lived place for them.

Before the advent of nuclear power capability and changes in hull design to accommodate the increased speed potential, few changes in WWII era submarines were made. Weapons systems were upgraded, and some boats were converted for Radar Picket service during the Korean War. But essentially they were the same boats - surface ships with limited submergence capability.

Nuclear Power changed everything - with the massive increase in power generating capacity (a single submarine reactor can power a city), and proof of concept of the engineering designs with the Nautilus, submarines were able to go faster, dive deeper, carry more crew, perform more complex missions, carry more weapons, and cruise submerged without having to surface or snorkel to recharge batteries for submerged propulsion. The only limitation on a nuclear submarine is her crew (food, supplies, etc.).

Since then, boats have gotten bigger, weapons and systems more sophisticated, reactors more powerful and efficient, but the overall basic design and engineering stems from the Nautilus. The only significant change from the Nautilus design was her hull, as it was designed along the lines of WWII Fleet boats. The teardrop and cigar hull shapes were found to give greater speed capability during design testing, and were incorporated into all following submarines.

yes

The Typhoon class submarine is a type of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine deployed by the Soviet Navy in the 1980s. With a maximum displacement of about 26,000 tonnes surfaced (about 48,000 submerged), Typhoons are the largest class of submarine ever built. Compare that to the small, manned submarines used for ocean exploration. Some of these submersibles weigh under a ton. There's a fairly wide range of sizes and weights between the smallest and largest boats.

Subs tend to be very long, but they come in all different shapes and sizes. There is no standard length of a sub.

Sorry.

Main weapons of German subs were torpedoes and a cannon on the foredeck. If the target was entirely unarmed and the conditions good the sub would have surfaced and then used the gun. Poorer conditions, or an armed target forcing the sub to remain hidden would have caused the torpedoes to be used instead.

submarine warfare

World War 1.

The formation of several ships intended to provide protection against submarine attack was called a wolf-pack.

2.6 billion U.S. dollars

It depends on the country and type of submarine (Fast-Attack or Boomer) but for U.S. Nuclear Submarines the typical age is between 38 and 42, and they must be a Navy Commander. Boomer C.O.'s are typically either senior Commanders or Captains, depending on the class of boat, and they must have served previously as Engineer Officer aboard a previous nuclear submarine, and served as an Executive Officer on another boat as well. The typical average command time for U.S. boats is about 3 years. The system is similar for the Russian Fleet. Submarine commanders are a truly elite group, given the exacting standards they must meet, and the career hurdles/approvals they must overcome.

Other countries with smaller submarine fleets will use Lieutenants or Lieutenant Commanders, commanding Diesel-Electric boats, and their command times are much shorter, given the lower ratio of boats to prospective commanding officers. DE boat commanders also do not have the rigorous training requirements for nuclear engineering.

Traditionally, by using a periscope to view optically above the surface. As periscopes are a weak point in a submarine - modern nuclear submarines use external cameras instead of periscopes.

Periscopes are optical devices that allow you to look at objects that are not in the straight line of vision. It usually consists of a metal tube with mirrors within it usually tilted 45 degrees as shown below. Thus the object around a corner can be viewed. Used mostly in submarines. It allows sailors submerged under water to see and monitor what is happening above water. See any World War II movie with submarines or Walt Disney’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea” and you can see a periscope in action.