|
CV32 -> RE: Are diesel subs actually a useful asset? (8/20/2008 3:48:57 PM)
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: Unzen
I've tended to ignore them for the most part on any scenario. Preferring to use them as a creeping set of underwater ears than anything more useful. Have I not come across the right type if diesel sub yet, to make an error in this judgement!? :) I've always assumed that they are too slow and too noisy to be of much use in Harpoon's waters?
Diesel subs are difficult to operate effectively in open ocean, 'bluewater' environments. They lack the speed and endurance to be able to be deployed far from home in a useful period of time (for most scenarios), and that same lack of speed and endurance makes it hard for them to 'catch' surface ships.
In the littoral, 'brown water' environment, however, or along coastlines or in maritime chokepoints such as straits (e.g. Gibraltar, Hormuz, Malacca, etc), the diesel sub is deadly. In these situations, naval traffic must pass through a narrow body of water. If a diesel sub can lurk quietly and patiently here, potential targets must come to the sub rather than the sub having to chase them. Because of this, the diesel sub is sometimes referred to as the "moving minefield".
I would not want to underestimate the threat posed by a modern, quiet diesel electric or AIP submarine in this kind of environment, nor would I dismiss such an asset if it were available to me. [;)]
|
|
|
|
