Beckles
Posts: 128
Joined: 4/9/2002 From: Kansas City, MO, USA Status: offline
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quote:
ORIGINAL: FlyingBear The reference I mention above (published in 2004) states as the reason for the titanium hull (page 141): quote:
Compared to steel, titanium provided a number of advantages in Project 705: - 30 percent lower mass - 25 percent lower displacement - 10 percent increase in speed - reduction of magnetic field - significantly lower operating costs as a result of the corrosive resistance of titanium alloy The titanium hull, advanced fittings and ballast system, and other features would give the submarine a test depth of 1,300 feet (400 m), comparable to U.S. second-generation SSNs of the Thresher and later classes. Interesting, but at least one of those numbers is wrong. For a surface ship mass and displacement are directly proportional, so a 25 reduction in mass would result in a 25% reduction in displacement. For a submarine mass does not dictate displacement, displacement is dictated by the volume of the airtight hull (and to submerge the mass needs to exceed displacement, so the submarine needs to add enough weight, i.e. ballast, to make its mass exceed its displacement.) Ultimately the material a hull is made of does not impact the displacement of a submarine, a submarine of the exact same dimensions as the Alfa would displace the same whether made of Titanium alloy, steel, aluminum, plastic, concrete, etc. Of course the strengths of each of those would differ.
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