Submarines

the mirrors of a periscope have gotten bigger and are easier to see out of.

A Good question from a land lubber. First of all let us consider the older and still functional Diesel-electric and first-generation Nuclear subs. There were three control positions in the Control room. The officer of the deck- a position that rotates, had the (Conn) and controlled the situation with all maneuvering commands. There is a conventional- except it is rigged for blind steering by gyro-compass, etc steering wheel dead center in the control room- the mid-center axis is standard for ships. off to one side,usually starboard are two so-called Ballast or Trim wheels controlling the up and down angle and various instruments such as depth gauges and inclinometers ( which measure the angle on the planes, and the actual up and down angle) On or near this panel are controls for the ballast tanks to let in or take out water, blow the tanks, etc. leave this alone for a while. in the horizontal plane, a submarine is steered like any other ship- Come right to course- 042- Aye sye sir- coming right to course 042. The depth angles are uniquely (Sub) and there are usually two depth wheels- also called Depth rudders by the Germans and incorrectly Ballast Wheels by laymen-One controls the forward or Bow diaplanes, and the other the aft diaplanes- or dive planes, both terms are correct. some early subs only had aft dive planes like fins on bombs and these were called Elevons from the aircraft term the Holland submarine had Elevons only on the stern, did not have bow diaplanes. so a minimum of three men are required on the older type of sub to control progress in the horizontal or lateral plane- steering, and the up and down progression and trim, related to ballast. on the more modern Nuclear subs there are aircraft-like De Haviland yokes that permit one man to control both later and up and down- there are two sets , akin to aircraft dual controls. The older system was/is one steering wheel two up and down wheels- quite serviceable up to about 25 knots when hydrodynamic problems arise that are handled quite well with the yoke type controls. there you have it.

They're not - they are pressurized upon submergence to maintain a positive pressure in the boat to detect any hull breaches. Any seal leak or breach, no matter how small, will immediately register on the boat's pressure board.

Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) in WWII used many of the same tools for detection that are still used today - active and passive sonar, aerial reconnaissance, surface radar for detecting periscopes, and plain old-fashioned eyeballing from lookouts with binoculars and incentive.

Surface search radar was used against German U-boats pretty effectively until they mounted detection devices to alert them to radar signals long before they reached their effective range. This was the forerunner of today's modern Electronic Warfare systems. Though active sonar can help detect a submarine, it wasn't really used unless the Destroyer running down a submarine had already attacked, as active sonar is also great at broadcasting your location to any submarine within a very wide radius. Sound travels faster in water than in air, and further as well. While passive sonar is okay, even on today's modern surface ships finding a submarine while traveling at any speed over 10 knots makes too much noise to be very effective, and it was much worse in those days.

Aerial recon is what really changed the tide against the U-boats in the Atlantic. Long range bombers from England and convoy ships outfitted with up to 4 launchable planes for recon could spot a submarine at 200 feet or more depending on water conditions, and either attack with bombs or direct surface warships to the target. This hasn't changed, only improved. Today's ASW aircraft comprise both Helo's and long range fixed wing aircraft (e.g., P-3 Orion) that can drop sonobuoys that have both active and passive sonar to find a submerged target. They are also outfitted with, and can launch torpedoes when they find one.

However, much has changed in submarine technology today since WWII. Back then, submarines were extremely limited in their ability to remain submerged for very long. With the advent of Nuclear Power and improved battery technology for Diesel Boats today, the ASW advantage is in the submarine's ballpark. The inherent quietness of modern boats, combined with the ability to use the ocean's many environmental hiding places, makes it difficult at best for ships, planes and helo's to find a submarine. In fact, the best detection device for finding a submarine is another submarine.

free trade

U boats- for Unterseabooten (under sea boats)

Submarines cannot reach the deepest parts of water because of the pressure or water and deepest surface is not a smooth, its full of rocks and sea plants.

Help end the British blockade

The torpedo was the main weapon of the submarine. Some ships had a deck gun of varying sizes to use against surface targets when it was safe to do so. They sometimes find machine guns for use against aircraft.

Water is denser than air. As the water is pumped out, air replaces the space that was occupied by the water. Therefore, the total density of the sub decreases. The above answer is correct. Here is a little more detail.

As you may be aware density is a function of mass and of volume. It's mass per unit of volume. If you had a pan full of water and a similar pan which was empty, the water filled pan would weigh more, though the overall volume would be the same. Hence the density would be greater.

When the submarine 'pumps out' the water it is replaced by air. Because air is less dense than water, it reduces the overall density of the vessel. Consider that the submarine is a vessel, as in a ship, and also a vessel, as in something that holds something else, like a cooking vessel. The submarine is a closed vessel; it has a fixed volume set by the hull. But by pumping water into or out of its internal tanks, it can change its total mass. If it pumps water in, it is increasing its total mass, and this will increase its density (as the volume stays the same). Pumping water out decreases the submarine's total mass, and its density will go down.

Periscopes were used to watch and observe and spy on the enemy lines during the war and are still used in submarines

1. Buy a plastic model kit. 2. Buy a set of plans (paper plans). 3. Scratch build one by photographing the sub yourself/drawing the sub yourself, then building from YOUR own plans. The ONLY question is: is the craft to be R/C (radio controlled) or not? This question needs to be asked before construction occurs.

Modern submarines carry a wide variety of weapons. An example of a U.S. Navy Fast-Attack Submarine weapons capability includes:

Homing Torpedoes (Active and Passive Sonar)

Tomahawk Land-Attack Missile (Conventional and Nuclear)

Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile

Harpoon Anti-Ship Missile

Mines

Ballistic Missile submarines can carry those weapons as well, but their primary mission is Nuclear Deterrence, and as such their main weapons are Submarine Launched Ballistic Missiles (SLBM's).

There are two basic types of submarine screws. (Screw is the proper term here as propeller is applied to small craft.) One of the screws is built for silence, and the other is built for speed.

Screws built for speed typically have fewer blades and the blades are wider to grab more water as the screw spins in the water. Screws made for silence typically have narrower, longer blades, and have more of them. This allows them to get more speed with less noise, though not as much speed as a speed screw does.

No more dangerous than being a Navy enlisted service member. Any member of any military force must incur some risk, especially if war should break out.

That's part of the deal. To serve your country is not always guaranteed to be easy or risk free.

Abyssal Fans, also known as deep-sea fans, underwater deltas, and submarine fans, are underwater structures that look like deltas formed at the end of many large rivers, such as the Nile or Mississippi Rivers. Abyssal fans are also thought of as an underwater version of alluvial fans.

Although the alloy composition has of course changed over the years to provide for more flexibility, submarines of WWI were pretty much made of the same stuff that modern boats are today; good old steel.

Today's submarine hulls (most nations) are made of a flexible steel that contracts and expands with sea pressure, making for a much longer hull life. Some countries, such as China, use GRP (Glass Reinforced Plastic (fiberglass) for their hulls, and others like Russia, use titanium for their pressure hulls. There are advantages and disadvantages to each material.

Yes.

Both boats were the first submarines to navigate under the Arctic ice pack. However, the Skate actually surfaced through the ice, whereas the Nautilus did not.

Under Ice navigation, even with modern Sonar, is not easy because of the constant movement of the Arctic ice pack. Though shipping noise is a lot less because of the location, the constant ice movement produces many cracks, pops, hisses, and other noises that make it difficult to detect a stationary submarine that may be surfaced and running with minimal machinery. Detection ranges are also severely limited.

If you wish to see some pictures of Submarine under-ice surfacings, check my Supervisor bio page - I've added some pics from our historic 1986 mission to the North Pole, taken from a C-130 aircraft flown there to document the event. There were 3 boats in all - my own, the RAY, the Archerfish, and the Hawkbill. We all surfaced within a couple of hundred yards, though the Hawkbill surfaced about 30 yards from RAY.

I was actually promoted to First Class on the ice at the North Pole along with a few others as well, and it says so on my promotion certificate. It was a tough trip - we lost our refrigerant capability about 2 weeks after leaving port, being unable to stop all Freon leaks. Freon when heated changes to deadly Phosgene gas, which is a real problem when you're under the ice and can't surface immediately to snorkel and get rid of toxic air. We lost our freezers and the food in them as well. We put fresh, refrigerated stuff in an empty Torpedo tube, as the water in the Arctic is a constant 28 degrees F. We ate a lot of canned stuff, and I've never been able to eat Ham and Cheese together since it was pretty much all we had. We even chopped ice to keep fresh supplies we got from one of the Ice camps, but it didn't last long. I lost over 60 lbs on that trip, others even more.

For decades US destroyer men were saying that they sank a Japanese Mini-Sub outside the mouth of Pearl Harbor before the air attack began on 07 Dec 1941. And for decades, no one believed them. Then, sometime in this 21st century, a civilian diving sub went down to where the destroyermen said they sank a IJN sub. They brought one of the destroyer's crewman with them...they found the IJN sub! They always said they hit it with their 5 inch mount from their destroyer, the USS Ward. Sure enough, there was a 5 inch hole in the sub's conning tower; it went all the way through and outside the other end, without exploding (this was televised, possibly National Geographic). J-u-s-t like they said!

Bigger, Faster, Deeper, Comfortable, Deadlier.

Propulsion-wise, there are 2 types - Nuclear Powered and Diesel-Electric. Class-wise, there are several:

Fast-Attack

Ballistic Missile

Guided Missile (e.g., Tomahawk)

To change the buoyancy of the boat and allow it to rise and sink in the water.

For tactical use, no. The frequencies are too high to be used for anything tactical. They are often used as part of machines for cleaning mechanical parts aboard ship though. Submarines use sonar (sound navigation and ranging), in much the same way that airplanes use radar (radio detection and ranging).