U.S. Submarines: Run Silent, Run Deep...On Diesel Engines?

The National Interest ^ | September 18, 2014 | James Holmes

[sukhoi-30mki]

Image: Wikimedia Commons/Hunini/CC by-sa 3.0

[GraceG]

A sub powered by a closed loop Thorium Salt reactor with the ability to on site process it’s nuclear fule could theoretically stay submerged for DECADES!

Especially if you loaded it up with enough thorium fuel...

[PGR88]

Wartime prime minister General Hideki Tōjō catalogued submarine warfare among three critical determinants of Japan's defeat—high praise from someone in a position to know.

The entire US Pacific submarine service in WWII had less than 16,000 total members. Talk about punching above one's weight and over-sized contribution!

[colorado tanker]

The fleet really threw a punch once the Navy got torpedoes that actually blew stuff up. The early torpedoes were terrible.

[RayChuang88]

Correct. US submarine forces during World War II effectively choked off Japan's supply of raw materials like minerals and oil, and that so degraded the Japanese military that if we had carried out Operation Downfall, the defense of the Japanese home islands would have not have lasted long other than a massive casualty toll among the Japanese defenders.

[ArmstedFragg]

With the munitions problems we had at the outset of WWII, mostly what we missed was the opportunity to discomfit Japanese troop transports with the loud clanging sounds we made bouncing torpedoes off them, and the unnecessary evasive maneuvers they had to make avoiding torpedoes that were going to pass underneath them.

[Quality_Not_Quantity]

The early torpedoes were terrible.

And, like today, they weren't allowed to talk about it for the longest time.

[Steely Tom]

A sub powered by a closed loop Thorium Salt reactor with the ability to on site process it’s nuclear fule could theoretically stay submerged for DECADES!

Especially if you loaded it up with enough thorium fuel...

Yeah, but the crew would eventually get tired of thorium salad sandwiches.

[SatinDoll]

Oh! “...stay submerged for decades...”!! Poor guys would go nuts.

[ArmstedFragg]

Subsurface webcam girl feeds, no problemo.

[thackney]

could theoretically stay submerged for DECADES

With a crew? Or do you imagine only remote control?

[GraceG]

[ A sub powered by a closed loop Thorium Salt reactor with the ability to on site process it’s nuclear fule could theoretically stay submerged for DECADES!
Especially if you loaded it up with enough thorium fuel...

Yeah, but the crew would eventually get tired of thorium salad sandwiches. ]

You would have to have some sort of “greenhouse” to grow food, freshwater would be abundant as it is easily distilled from the sea water...

[GraceG]

"Yeah, but the crew would eventually get tired of thorium salad sandwiches."

Mmmmmmm... Thorium....

[thackney]

You would have to have some sort of “greenhouse” to grow food

A military crew of only vegans?

[ImJustAnotherOkie]

The Radar equipped B24’s helped a little bit.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Just, wow!

[GraceG]

[ You would have to have some sort of “greenhouse” to grow food

A military crew of only vegans? ]

Build a couple of crab traps into the hull, LOL

[xrmusn]

Funny...
Today I was thinking of how the ‘geniuses’ were pounding their chests about the ‘electric’ car that had a diesel engine.
They were so proud of themselves that they had ‘invented’ something.

Of course, I was wondering how often you would have to ‘go on a mountain’ unless of course you had a snorkel. But would still have to stop and recharge the batteries.

[Pelham]

Aren’t diesel subs much more dependent on tenders than nuke boats?