Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship

five- to thirty-year service life. According to the Royal Navy submarine fleet's current plan, by the time refueling is needed, the first Astute will hopefully be resting her keel on the front porch of a submarine retirement community!

Last but certainly not least, Astute's propulsion systems would not be complete without the two turbines with a single shaft connected to the now standard (and very quiet) pumpjet propulsor. Of course, quieting is the most important characteristic for submarine survival in a hostile environment these days, and Astute's improved reactor will be significantly quieter than Trafalgar's. As a whole, Astute will be capable of operating not just in littoral and blue-water regions, but also in such varied climates as those that are found under the arctic ice or in the warm waters of the tropics.

In the control room of submarines everywhere, processing and computer power has also been increasing at an astounding rate for decades now. Thus any new class of boats, even improved models such as Astute, will have its share of both updated legacy systems along with new gadgets and sensors. Radar and sonar systems for the Astutes will be essentially the same units as were found in the Trafalgars, albeit with some improvements. It now appears that the Astutes will be fitted with the same Type 2076 sonar system, which has already been successfully integrated into the most recent Trafalgar-class boats. It is also all but certain that the Astute will be fitted with towed array sonar, as have her predecessors, although the specific variant and configuration have yet to be announced. Finally, current plans call for the Astute class to contain her own non-hull-penetrating 'optronics' masts with all-electronic displays, minus the lenses, mirrors, and prisms of traditional periscopes. These are similar to those that will be carried on Virginia and will likely provide some brand-new capabilities and challenges for the Perisher-trained skippers of the RN.

What is a submarine without its weapons? RN attack submarines have now been fitted with Block III Tomahawk cruise missiles, and as the world learned during NATO's Operation Allied Force in 1999, Royal Navy submarines can shoot a lot of them, too! HMS Splendid launched more than two dozen against heavily defended Serbian targets, a sizable portion of the limited supply purchased from the U.S. When Astute enters service in June 2005, she will be equipped with a sizable complement of TLAMs, and the Royal Navy is also looking at development of a tube-launched version of the TACTOM missile currently under development for the U.S. Navy. Land attack missiles aside, Astute also has the requirement to engage surface ships and other submarines. For this mission, Astute's six torpedo tubes will be compatible with both the RN version of the sea-skimming UGM-84 Block 1C Harpoon missile (for attacks against surface vessels) and the fast, albeit expensive, wire-guided Spearfish torpedo (for use against both submarines and surface ships). Mines can also be carried and may have a particular use in the littoral regions.

Habitability and sustainability are always key issues on a nuclear submarine. When judging a submarine with the capability of spending extended periods of time away from port and beneath the surface, habitability must always be taken into consideration. Current plans call for a crew of twelve officers and ninety-seven enlisted sailors aboard Astute. While increased size has led to the improvement of some accommodations compared with the Trafalgars, some Astute sailors will still probably have to hot bunk with their shipmates. This practice will be required for only the most junior of her sailors, since current estimates call for the sharing of around eighteen of the crew bunks.

All of the improvements and modernizations built into the Astutes will become a reality when the first of the class is commissioned into service in 2006, followed by Ambush in 2007 and Artful in 2008. As mentioned earlier, it now appears that at least two additional A-class boats will be built, and possibly even more, though these have yet to be named or officially ordered.

What comes next for the Royal Navy's submarine force? Work has already begun on a submarine to replace the initial seven Trafalgar boats. The boats are so far unnamed, but what is known is that they will be nuclear powered and have a submerged displacement of between 5,000 and 8,000 tons. They will also be fitted with a 'life of the boat' nuclear reactor, similar to those found in the Astutes and Virginias. In addition, VLS tubes may be fitted to this next class to allow for an increased load-out of Tomahawk Block III or TACTOM land attack missiles. As with the Virginias, any new attack submarine the Royal Navy builds will likely have provisions for UUVs. There is even talk that the Astutes will be the last manned submarine to enter service with the Royal Navy, something that requires more than a minor leap of faith and vision in the future of technology. In the end, though, the real strength of the RN SSN force will be what it always has been-superbly trained crews and Perisher-qualified skippers, able to outguess and outgun their enemies.

Conclusions: Toward the Unknown

Yes, a decade really does make a difference. Ten years ago we asked what the next decade of submarine development would be like. Well, after reading this last chapter, you can see that question has clearly been answered. Fortunately, the world has also learned some lessons about the nature of naval warfare along the way. Most importantly, we've learned that if there's one thing we can't predict, it's the future! No one could have accurately predicted the end of the Cold War, and likewise no one will ever be able to accurately predict exactly what the next generation of submarine operations and missions will be like.

We do know that the past ten years of submarine operations have consisted of the unexpected. From Operation Desert Storm to our Navy's involvement in the recent NATO actions in the Balkans, the one theme that has remained the same throughout the 1990s has been doing more with less. The submarine communities of the U.S. and Royal navies, along with those of our other allies, have had their budgets cut, their submarines retired from service, and their crews downsized, all while being asked to conduct more activities and operations than at any time in recent memory. All this has been happening while highly capable submarines such as the Project 877/Kilo-class boats have been entering the navies of 'rogue' nations at a far greater pace than new classes such as Seawolf, Virginia, and Astute will be entering ours.

What's the solution to this problem? In today's high-threat environment, where we don't have the benefit of looking in a specific direction to watch for flying bullets, we must be prepared for every contingency. And we are. A quick look at America's modern submarine force shows that. They're out there on patrol for the nation, in the backyards of our enemies and competitors-literally on their doorstep day in and day out-already prepared for any contingency. Whether it's a TLAM strike against a future enemy nation or a special operations rescue mission launched from the depths of a submarine dry-dock shelter, the sailors of today's submarine fleet are doing their best to stay prepared for any emergency. And for that we owe them our respect.

Getting back to our first question, what exactly does the future hold for the submarine force? The truth is, we don't know. Maybe the Virginias and the Astutes will be the last manned submarines the U.S. and Britain will ever build, eventually to be replaced by advanced unmanned submersibles. Or perhaps our fleets will become more and more sub-surface-centric as the surface ship becomes increasingly vulnerable to antiship missiles and other weapons. We just don't know yet what the future holds. However, whatever it may be, our nation's submariners (hopefully along with those of our allies) will be on patrol, ready to defend our national interest in times of trouble and threat. Can we ask for anything more?

Other People's Submarines

It is something of an oddity that in a world where the numbers and sizes of military forces are decreasing, submarines continue to be built. In fact, while it is not quite a growth industry, production of diesel-electric submarines is continuing in a number of countries and yards worldwide. In addition, those countries that have the capability to build nuclear submarines are fighting desperately to maintain the industrial base to do so. While the nations of the world have been downsizing their own submarine forces, they have also been trying to market the products of their building yards to developing countries that desire an entry into the world of submarine