“it’s normal for subs to be faster than surface ships”
There is not a vessel in the world that can outrun a CVN at sea. Our Nimitz class can sustain 40+ knots for as long as the crew can stand it. I’ve personally witnessed the old USS Enterprise throwing a rooster tail aft at about 48 knots.
They simply haul ass. 100,000 tons at a time.
While there are a few modern subs that can approach 40 knots, there’s more DDGs that can achieve the same speeds. But on the surface, in anything smaller than a CVN, any speed over 30knots is BRUTAL and the crew cannot endure more than a few hours. Except for Subs.
Long transit speeds are 16-18 knots. Patrol speeds rarely exceed 20.
And most subs cruise at less than 15 to avoid detection, unless they have to keep up with the CVN.
So, no, it’s uncommon for a sub to be faster than surface ships.
Ask ETCM, he knows.
What makes those speeds so hard for the crews to endure?
all our nuclear subs are faster than all of our surface ships.
How fast are they? That’s classified