Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
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Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
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Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#2Cue the “Hunt for Red October” soundtrack. Pure geeky engineering porn.
Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#3Cue the “Hunt for Red October” soundtrack. Pure geeky engineering porn.
BTW, the real "Red October" is a Typhoon class sub: http://www.hisutton.com/The%20REAL%20Red%20October%20-%20Typ...
Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#4Zolotaya Rybka was a name these got to be known by as it was an example of what went wrong in Soviet ship building. Basically the story as I understand it is that they ordered ships based on capability and not their cost which led to an exaggerated military budget versus GDP. Combined with Oscar and Typhoon ships they simply ran themselves out of money.
however they were the pride of a Soviet navy that knew they could not afford the carriers and support ships the US had but were convinced when push came to shove the submarines would be more than up to the task.
Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#5Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#6Cue the “Hunt for Red October” soundtrack. Pure geeky engineering porn.
BTW, the real "Red October" is a Typhoon class sub: http://www.hisutton.com/The%20REAL%20Red%20October%20-%20Typ...
I think the opponent Russian sub was an Alfa, though. That's the one that's sunk at the end of the movie.
Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#7These were among the only Lead-bismith cooled nuclear reactors ever operated. Sodium-potassium eutectic or pure sodium coolant is a better heat transfer fluid but in a water environment it's just a little crazy due to sodium-water chemistry. The US Navy tried sodium coolant in the USS Seawolf [1] and it was smaller, quieter, and more powerful, but they had problems with the steam generators. Not an unsolvable problem but definitely a challenge. The success of the water cooled competitor eventually led to the predominance of water cooled reactors in the commercial fleet.
Passively safe Lead-cooled commercial reactors are still thought about today. Challenges include high pumping power required due to high density, erosion issues at high coolant velocity, and corrosion issues without very stringent oxygen control.
Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#8Zolotaya Rybka was a name these got to be known by as it was an example of what went wrong in Soviet ship building. Basically the story as I understand it is that they ordered ships based on capability and not their cost which led to an exaggerated military budget versus GDP. Combined with Oscar and Typhoon ships they simply ran themselves out of money. however they were the pride of a Soviet navy that knew they coul…
> Zolotaya Rybka
Hadn't heard that phrase before. This appears to be a decent explanation:
https://russiapedia.rt.com/of-russian-origin/zolotaya-rybka/
"If you’re too greedy, you’ll lose everything."
Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#9This is tangentially related: I came across this Reddit post a while back that I found very insightful. In the area of submarine design, the Soviets/Russians are actually much more innovative than Americans. They seem much more willing to try new ideas whereas Americans stuck to a more conservative try and true design.
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/3bzekv/what_...
Re: Russian ALFA Class interceptor submarine
#10These were among the only Lead-bismith cooled nuclear reactors ever operated. Sodium-potassium eutectic or pure sodium coolant is a better heat transfer fluid but in a water environment it's just a little crazy due to sodium-water chemistry. The US Navy tried sodium coolant in the USS Seawolf [1] and it was smaller, quieter, and more powerful, but they had problems with the steam generators. Not an unsolvable problem…
> The success of the water cooled competitor eventually led to the predominance of water cooled reactors in the commercial fleet.
By commercial you mean operational (as in non-experimental Navy vessels.) There's precious few commercial nuclear vessels in history (four, each from a different country and I don't think they were ever operational all at the same time), so talking about the dominance of a particular nuclear technology being dominant in a “commercial fleet” seems misplaced.