The rise of great powers: starting from military industry

Submarines showed amazing combat power during World War II, which also attracted the attention of various countries.

However, during World War II, submarines also exposed a big problem, that is, the time submarines can continue to sail under the surface.

The time submarines can operate under the surface is severely limited by the battery storage capacity. Even if they sail at the lowest speed, they must surface to charge after a period of time. During the charging process, submarines are very vulnerable to attack.

Another limitation is the maximum speed and duration that the batteries on submarines can achieve, especially the maximum speed under the surface is much lower than the speed on the surface. If they want to follow high-speed ships, submarines must surface to output power with diesel engines to barely catch up with fast ships with slower sailing speeds.

But in this way, submarines lose the protection of seawater and their combat advantages.

Therefore, in order to expand the tactical value of submarines and greatly increase the continuous operation time under the sea, the development of alternative power sources has always been an important goal of submarine research.

So, there is the development of nuclear submarines!

The world's first nuclear submarine was developed and built by the US Navy, namely the "Nautilus" nuclear submarine.

Whether it is the United States or the Soviet Union, they have been vigorously developing nuclear submarines, and their nuclear submarine technology is far ahead of other countries.

For example, the United States has 10 types of nuclear submarines, including the "Nautilus", "Ray", "Bonito", "Thresher", "Sturgeon", "Los Angeles", "Washington", "Ethan Allen", "Lafayette", and "Ohio".

Among them, the "Ohio" class belongs to the fourth generation of strategic nuclear submarines, that is, ballistic missile nuclear submarines, while the "Los Angeles" class is the fifth generation of attack nuclear submarines.

For example, the Soviet Union, the development of the Soviet nuclear submarine force was later than that of the United States. In the 1950s, in order to counter the US Navy's nuclear-powered submarines, the Soviet Union began to design and build nuclear-powered submarines.

The first generation of Soviet attack nuclear submarines was the "N" class nuclear submarine. Since 1965, the Soviet Union has built the second generation of nuclear submarines "V" class, and there are three types of "V" class.

The third generation of nuclear submarines "A" class was built from 1970 to 1983.

After the third generation of nuclear submarines, the Soviet Union built the fourth generation of the ‘O’ class (Oscar) in 1978. Currently, two ships have been built and are in service.

It can be said that in terms of nuclear submarines, although the Soviet Union developed later than the United States, it was not inferior at all.

Whether it is the ‘O’ class nuclear submarine or the ‘Akula’ strategic nuclear submarine (NATO codename ‘Typhoon’ class), they are nuclear submarines comparable to the ‘Ohio’ class and ‘Los Angeles’ class, and are also the most advanced nuclear submarines in the world today.

The development of Chinese submarines was much later. It was not until 1957 that the first domestically imitated conventional-powered submarine Type 03 (Soviet Type 613) submarine was put into service. As the first domestically imitated submarine, the Type 03 submarine was not completely independently developed and built, but it achieved a breakthrough in conventional submarines, trained a group of submarine designers and shipyard technical workers, solved a large number of related technical problems in submarine manufacturing, and laid the foundation for domestically produced submarines later.

Then, in 1966, the first domestically imitated conventional-powered ballistic missile submarine, the Type 031 (Soviet Type 629), entered service.

Speaking of the Type 031 submarine, it was definitely a tragic fate. It could have been successfully built under the premise of Soviet experts and instruments and materials provided by the Soviet Union, but due to the breakdown of relations between the two sides, its construction work was seriously affected. Finally, it was successfully built with the efforts of Chinese scientific researchers.

Although there was only one Type 031 submarine, its successful construction enabled the Chinese Navy to have a submarine that could launch submarine-launched ballistic missiles for the first time.

The same experience also happened with the Type 033 submarine. China went through untold hardships. The breakdown of relations between the two sides led to the interruption of the supply of purchased equipment and the withdrawal of experts. Finally, the final construction enabled my country to master the construction technology of medium-sized conventional submarines.

It was not until 1974 that the Type 035 submarine, the first conventional-powered submarine designed and built by my country, entered service, marking that my country truly had the ability to independently develop conventional-powered submarines.

The Type 035 submarine is about 76 meters long, 7.6 meters wide, with an underwater displacement of about 2,113 tons, a standard maximum diving depth of about 300 meters, a maximum speed of 18 knots, and a full complement of about 57 people.

Although the overall performance of the Type 035 submarine is not outstanding, it is the first submarine developed by my country itself and the beginning of domestic submarines, which can be said to be a milestone.

The Type 035 submarine is already the most advanced conventional submarine in China.

As for nuclear submarines, China's development is much later. It was not until 1974 that the Type 091 attack nuclear submarine, the first attack nuclear submarine designed and built by my country, was put into service, allowing my country to have nuclear submarines.

It was independently designed and built without any external help, and all parts were domestically made. This can be regarded as a miracle in naval history.

It is precisely because of the deterrent power of nuclear submarines that my country's national defense strength and international prestige have been significantly improved.

The Type 091 nuclear submarine is about 108 meters long, 11 meters wide, with an underwater displacement of about 5,000 tons, a standard maximum diving depth of about 300 meters, a maximum speed of about 25 knots, and a full complement of about 75 people.

It was not until last year, in 1983, that the first domestically-made strategic nuclear submarine, the Type 092 strategic nuclear submarine, was put into service, marking my country's ability to independently develop ballistic missile nuclear submarines.

Although the Type 092 strategic nuclear submarine has not yet conducted submarine-launched missile experiments, it is definitely a strategic-level deterrent force.

Of course, nuclear submarines are excellent and are also regarded as the trend of the times, but it does not mean that conventional submarines will be eliminated.

In fact, both nuclear submarines and conventional submarines have their own advantages and disadvantages.

The advantages of nuclear submarines are obvious. Whether in terms of endurance or surface and underwater navigation speed, they have huge advantages over conventional submarines, and nuclear submarines do not need to be frequently ventilated. But at the same time, nuclear submarines also have disadvantages.

The disadvantages of nuclear submarines are mainly reflected in two points. First, the technical difficulty and high construction cost. The nuclear reactor alone can allow an ordinary country to study for decades. This is why there are so few countries with nuclear submarines. Only the five permanent members of the UN Security Council have nuclear submarines in the world. Second, nuclear power plants have their inherent dangers. The marine environment in which nuclear submarines are located is extremely complex, which seriously affects the safety of nuclear power plants themselves. Emergency handling is relatively complicated. In wartime, they also face the threat of enemy situations, so the crew members bear certain risks.

In addition, nuclear submarines are larger in size and noise than conventional submarines, with a long construction period and high cost.

Conventional submarines have disadvantages, but their advantages are also obvious, that is, low noise, low price, and short construction period.

The noise of a submarine will be "drowned" in the vast ocean background noise when it reaches about 90 decibels, and it cannot be detected by modern sonar.

And to reduce the noise of conventional submarines to below 90 decibels, Liu Tao can do it easily.

The next two chapters will be later