SA submarine outwits Nato force

[bemildred]

A lone South African submarine has left some North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) commanders with red faces as it "sank" all the ships of the Nato Maritime Group engaged in exercises with the SA Navy off the Cape Coast.

The S101 - or the SAS Manthatisi - not only evaded detection by a joint Nato and SA Navy search party, consisting of several ships combing the search area with radar and sonar; it also sank all the ships taking part in the fleet.

At several times during the exercise a red square lit up the screens where the surface ships thought the submarine was. but it remained elusive.

This gave Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota something to brag about when he landed on the SAS Amatola to speak to the media.

http://www.suntimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=556388

[fedupfisherman]

1. Is that a diesel or nuke powered sub?

[Ian David]

2. With Commander Cuckoobannanas in charge, it could have been...

[virginia mountainman]

4. Most likely...

The older Diesel subs can be far quieter than the new nuke powered ones....The nuke ones, will have lots of reactor noises, that cannot be silenced (pumps and such to keep the core cool, churning of the cooling water, banging of metal as the super hot cooling system components cools)

I THINK, and I could be very wrong on this, but the NEWEST American nuke subs, can actually shut their cooling pumps down for silent running, at very low reactor settings, the system uses the difference between the hot and the cool water for circulation.

But the reactor must be at its lowest setting for the system to be able to function, anything above that and the pumps and coolers must be used to keep everything "copacetic"

[Ian David]

5. I got an idea for a new sub technology while playing in the pool with my daughter.

Apparently, from what I've read in various Tom Clancy novels, a sub can somewhat drift along on a current with its engines off.

Why not develop inflatable, underwater "sails" that take advantage of that?

My idea is to deploy two crescent-shaped, inflatable "sails" on both sides of the submarine.

To steer, you could use a servo-motor to trim one sail or the other inward. Or, you could partially inflate or deflate one sail at a time to steer.

I think a sub could theoretically drift along silently on the current that way for quite a while.

Since inflating or deflating the sails would certainly create noise, perhaps instead metal panels (or some kind of plastic), that lie flush with the walls of the sub when not in use, would be better.

Perhaps even a kind of instant, chemical aerogel could be used.

Disadvantages:

1) Inflating and deflating sails would almost certainly create noise. So, probably, would the act of extending metal sail panels.
2) Any kind of sail would make the sub a bigger target to active sonar.
3) There may be hull sounds produced by the strain of the sails at the points where they are affixed to the sub.
4) If the enemy knows you are using underwater sails, they can be pretty sure what your course and speed is, since they probably have very good data on the underwater currents in the area.

[virginia mountainman]

8. The problem with you idea is...

And granted it is a good one....

Is the simple fact that the subs NUCLEAR REACTOR cannot be shut down like that...That is what I was hitting at in my other post, even at a complete standstill, the reactor will still be churning and bubbling, along with the cooling pumps whirring....

The new subs are virtually silent, except for their nuke power plants, that must be cooled, even when they are NOT "under load"

Diesel subs, don't have reactor noise, and when running slow, on batteries, their will be virtually NO NOISE....NONE....

The nuke sub cannot be totally silent like that.

[Ian David]

9. But don't the propellers still make noise?

[Captain Hilts]

7. Non-nuke. I think it might be a small diesel, but not an AIP. nt

[Ian David]

3. Manthatisi, Warrior of the Seas

Manthatisi, Warrior of the Seas

After months of uncertainty, our new submarine has finally been given a name, just minutes after arriving in Simonstown. Previously known only by its pennant number of S101, the sub has now been officially named the SAS Manthatisi.

It is certainly an interesting name, one which reaches quite far back into the history of our country. Manthatisi, in short, was the warrior chieftainess of the Batlokwa tribe, leading a force of twenty-five thousand warriors in battle during the Difaqane. She was finally defeated in 1824 by the Griqua, after which she retired to a farm near Ficksburg.

The other two submarines are also due to be named after heroines in the same manner, but I’m not entirely yet certain whether they’ll be “warrior heroines” or just women of power in history. If the latter is the case, we might see the SAS Mkabayi, SAS Modjadji or something similar in future. Just so long as we never see the SAS Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, I’m happy.

Incidentally, naming the subs after famous women is notable in another way, in that it’s the original way in which our three Daphne-class submarines were named. They were the SAS Maria van Riebeeck, SAS Johanna van der Merwe and the SAS Emily Hobhouse before being renamed in the late 1990s.

Anyway, all credit to the crew of the SAS Manthatisi. They completed a mammoth 49-day and 12 000km journey without a single hitch. A fair achievement for a crew on a new boat.

For those looking for more analysis, Jonathan Katzenellenbogen has written a comprehensive and well-thought out article about the submarine’s capability and what it means for SA. Well worth reading.

More:
http://commentary.co.za/archives/2006/04/08/manthatisi-warrior-of-the-seas/

[Captain Hilts]

6. One exercise that took place in less than a day.

This sub can't even stray far from shore.

The USN, RN, etc. need practice against small, littoral submarines, but this is a lot of nothing about nothing.

[Ian David]

10. Iran has subs. n/t