“The question of whether a machine can think is no more interesting than the question of whether a submarine can swim.”
Charles Stross
Submarines have always captivated people bringing out the childlike curiosity in us. The large object mysteriously sneaking underwater capturing the underwater life and yet always battle ready. But what exactly is it?
WHAT IS A SUBMARINE?
Submarines or subs are vessels, submerged and navigated underwater usually built for warfare and armed with torpedoes. It is a crewed watercraft offering a proposition as a stealthy platform possessing a robust capability to meet both the conventional demands of open water warfare and new demand of navies. It is usually referred to as a ‘boat’ rather than a ship, by naval tradition. It is also referred to as robots or remotely operated vehicles. It travels smoothly underwater and can be propelled by a nuclear reactor. It differs from a submersible, which has a limited underwater capability.
HOW DEEP CAN A SUBMARINE DIVE?
A submarine does more than just ‘submerge’ into the water as the name might suggest. The strength of their hulls decides up to what depth they can propel into the ocean. The various depth ratings measure their ability to operate underwater. The design depth gives an idea about thickness of the hull and boat’s displacement. The test depth is the maximum depth allowed for the submarine under peaceful conditions. The maximum operating depth is the maximum depth at which the submarine can operate under any circumstance and must not exceed. The crush depth is the catastrophic limit for the submarine in case the ship’s hull is expected to collapse due to pressure.
These calculations vary from submarine to submarine. For example, the US submarines have their test depth as two-thirds of the design depth, while the Royal Navy sets test depth slightly deeper than half of the design depth.
A nuclear submarine can go to a depth of about 300metres, with the average depth of oceans being 3790 metres. The submarines for research purposes can dive deeper than the navy submarines for battle purposes.
HOW DO SUBMARINES SEE UNDERWATER?
Submarines navigate using global positioning system (GPS) while on the surface. Internal guidance systems keep track of the ship’s motion from a standardized starting point with the help of gyroscopes, which are accurate up to 150 hours a time. Passive SONAR is used to locate targets. Sound waves, emitted through water, get reflected off the target and return. The knowledge of both, the speed of sound in water and time taken for sound wave to return helps to calculate the distance to the target.
HOW DOES THE CREW INSIDE SUBMARINES BREATHE?
An oxygen canister, or oxygen generator generates oxygen through the process of electrolysis of water. Oxygen is released by a sensitive computerized system that either senses the percentage of oxygen in the air or releases oxygen periodically in process.
Hoping the mysterious submarines have been demystified a bit. But to know more, stay tuned with Maritime News.