ALTERNATIVESUBMARINES-

MINITRUDERSAND
GREENNUKES
bv Richard Compton-Hall

At a time when Canadais considering becomereally efficient; and it has often the sinking of the unJortunate cruiser
how to renew and perhaps expand hei taken almost as long for a new weapon General Belgtanq the Argentinian fleet
submarine force it might be helpful to system to work properly. declined to put to seain face of the Royal
recall some oddities about submarine On the other hand, even submarines of Naw's nuclear-powered attack subma-
procurement and design. questionable effectiveness in a given sit- dne; (SSNS).Deterence is a word that
uation can be a considerablenuisanceto has come to be associateduniquely, in
The Need for Submarines a powerful surfacefleet: thev hinder the most minds, with nudear ballistic-missile
There are more than 1,000submarines lattels offensive operations and, paradox- monsters (SSBNS)and the value of brdi
amongst 41 navies today; and several icall, they weaken air and surface nar:y' submarines in the deterrent rcle is
more naviesare showins underwater in- defencesby the need to devote resources not cited as it should be. Nor is the fact
clinations.Yetremarkablyfew countries, to anti-submarine warfare (ASW), The that a submarine can undertake tasks,in-
outside the maior powers, have ever stat- dilficulties confronting the British Thsk cluding intelligence-gatherin& in plotect-
ed categorically why they want subma- Force Commander in the South Atlantic ed areaswhere surface and air units can-
rines in the first place or why they have in 1982were evidence of that. not operate without blatant provocation
selecteda paiticular type. Moreover, the mere suspectedpresence in peaceor undue danger in war. And, of
Thosequestionsare, self-evidently,im- of submarines is a oowerful detenent. course, a suDmanne ln sucn areas can
portant but the aim is by no means alwal's That, toq was plah-in 1982when, after convert from peace to war instantly if
clear; and the lack of darity should not be
due to seqecy alone becausea 'fleet in be-
ing' (which is what many submanne
servicescompdse) must parade its wares.
It rnight alsobe askedwhether those na-
vies which are updating thef underwater
warfare capabilitt or about to make a
start, really appreciate the inescapable
facts of underwater life.
Submarines are notoriously high-
priced; and the hidden costs of shore-
support, communications, manpower,
training and salety vastly outweigh the
capital cost of the submarines themselves
- although the huge through-life ex-
pense is not, as a rule, explained by per-
suasive salesmen. Canadat rejection of a
nuclear fleet, alter a good deal of nuga-
tory effort erqloring possibilitiet suggests
that the ultimate outlay was not recog-
nised early. Indeed, for one reasonand
anothel, it was probably concealed.Then
there is the matter of effectiveness:it
takes, from experience, about ten or
twelv€ years foi a new submarine arm to

Colmdder Richard Cohpton-H.tl, RN rst'd, ir Dtrc.tor

oi The Royal Navy Subnaine Museun in Codord,
Endand He b the authot of numeb$ afti.les and books
Tl-e Marha||a'3cslg'awairingtflals n 1988.

December1989Page17
 requhed.
In short, submarines are valuable assets
for most navies,but the questionremains
whether all nayies undirstand and ex-
ploit the value fully or acquire the t,?e or
tvpes best suited to their individual
needs. It is trorses for cowses in the sub-
'sea
world: what suits one naly may well
not suit or be affordable bv another, and
it is demonstrably expensive to keep up
with the Jones'sfor the sake of prestige
alone. We could wonder, for example,
how Brazil can be contemplating SSNSin
the present state of her economy. By con-
trast, doubb might equaly be voiced
about Australia's forthcoming improved,
but still somewhat pedestrian, diesel
boats(55Ks) which can hardly be €).pect-
ed to deploy rapidly enough to meet an
imminent threat over such a vast exDanse
of ocean. Australia could easily justify
SSNs, but politics forbid at present.
Supposing that submarines are duly
Typcal L4aritalia
mini-SSK design
selectedwith logic and by objective plan-
ning, there is still a pitfall that could be
avoided bv a navv which is not tied inex-
tricablv to tradition in the Drocurement
process.It has been a strarigebut con-
mon practice in the past to give prece-
dence to vehicles over aimament. Near-
ly always (with the exception of strategic
s].stems like Polaris) the ffust considera-
tion has been speed linked with endur-
ance, and propulsion has been devised
for that. N€rd, the hull has been designed
to accommodatemachineryand fuel in a
shape more or less suited to the speed
and diving depth, with space for the
crew. And finally, almost as an aJter-
thought sometimes, weapons have been
cho-sento fit the farf accompfi at the sharp
enq.
Naval architects and planning staffs
would probably say that the customary
approach has been unavoidable. But,
nevertheless, the back-to-front
philosophy has imposed swere physical
Page18 Canadian
Delence
Quarterly
conshaintson the weaponrywhich is, af-
ter all, the pu{pose in war of a subma-
dne's existence.It would have made bet-
ter senseto decide at the outset what the
tasks and targetswere likely to be at some
quite distant futue time; what weapon
systemswere best to deal with them; and
only then determine the most suitable
platform to carry the systems. This is
where a break ftom tradition would be
advantageous. Of course, from a subma-
dne protagonist's point of view the snag
in that line of thinkine is that the best
Dlatform mav not be a;ubmarine at all.
but when somuch money is at stakeit is
well to be non-partisan.
Canadds Submarine Requirements
It is not for an outsidet albeit a staunch
supporter and admirer of the Canadian
Armed Forces, to enquire why Canada
wants to uDdate her submarine service.
It is enough to know that it needs updat-
ing to continue in businest and it must
be assumed that its objective is crystal
dear although that is not immediately ap-
Darent from a distance. The word
sovereigntycrops up time and again in ar-
ticles and speeches by distinguished
patriott but strategy seldom features in
public protestations.
However, it looks as though Canada's
two basic concerns are accepted.They
were quoted bv Rear-Mmiral Drvis in his
compiehensive article "Le Mieux est
l'Enaemi du Bien" in ihe Autum 1988is-
sue of Canadian Defence Quarterly.
. plotection of Canada's sovereignty and
seculity, currently with a special empha-
sis on the Arctic: and,
. contributing (of necessity) to the
defence of our North American
neighbours.
It appears, therefore, that ASW is the
aim - maybe with other taskson the side
- becauseotherwise not so much em-
phasis would be laid on the Arctic where
onlv submarines can operate. It follows
thai Canada needs an-effective under-
water suweillance system in peace, and
an ASW attack caDabilitu in war.
m tnat u8nt, notrngtnat suDmannesalre
potentiallygood anti-submarineunjts (al-
beit without meaningful wartime ex-
Derience of hunter and hunted both sub-
herged); observing that submarines are
uniquely capable of manoeuwing freely
beneath the ice-bound Arctic (given that
they are air-independent)i and seeing
that Canada has to euard two other
oceans where submarines should be
equally effective, a pretty good case can
be made for modernisation and
exPemsron.
Suweillance rright be related not only
to Dotential enemv submarines but to
frieirdly SSNs asw6U, partly to rcmark on
any infiirgement of national waters and
partly to persuade a powerful neighbour
to share in the intelligence hopefully
gaired during under-ice operations,
It mav be cheaper to morutor a seaarea
continuously with static devices - some
form of SOSUS - than it is with subma-
rines: that is an option which deservesto
be looked at very carefully, not least be-
cause it is dilficult for submarines on
Startingto assemblea toroidalhull.
pahol under the ice to communicate
quickly with a shore headquait€rs. For-
tunately, though, messagescan be sent
from shore to a submerged submarine,
whether under the ice or not, with a high
enough probability of speedy reception
nowadays: so submarines can be, to some
extent, vectored ftom shore on the basrs
of SOSUS-twe information.
Like as noi, a combination of fixed and
mobile (i.e. submarine) surveillarce-cum-
guard posts will be most appropriate to
the requirements.
Submarine Weapon Requirements
Now to attack. It is uneconomical to
carry a mix of weapons, and missiles can
not be fired through ice. So, for Canada,
it would seem that smart dual-purpose
torDedoes, which can be fired at subma-
rin6s or againstsurfaceta€ets in the open
ocean, are preferable to partial-flight
weapons like the US Navy's Sea lance.
Given that tomedoes cou.ldbe marked-
ly more effective and explode with a big-
ger bang iI their size and shape were not
inhibited by tladitional vehicle-design
and launching tubes, it is not stretching
the imagination too far to suggest that a
single kind of new and wholly under-
water weapon could deal with all proba-
ble, if not all possible, future targets.?
How manv such torpedoesshould be
carried in iny one iubmarine? Two,
perhaps four, might well be enough. Sur-
face tartets will not be numerous (and
there are, anyway, other non-submanne
ways of attacking them), while
submarine-versus submarine engage-
Cockpit of'3GST9'just beforecompletiontthe kansparentnose cone is not yet fifted.
ments will predictablv
-bring be rare: it is hard
enough to about interactions rn
peacetime exercises where, admittedly,
relatively few players are involved - but
the numbers game wil be discussed later.
Good classification equipment should
help to obviate the possibility of firing
weapons at false 'non-suU targets; and
beneath the ice a solid contact can be
nothing but a submarine anyway.
Arguably, then, Canada's future
hunter-killer submarines need not be
large for the sake of weaponry alone.
A Flock of Liftle Submarines?
Putting all this together, it appears that
Canada might consider a single under-
water weaDon svstem which is not con-
strainedby torpedo-tubelimitations (i.e.
hull design), a generous number o1 ar-
independent small submarines for sur-
veillance and attack in three oceans,along
with a static surveillance system in select-
eq ,ueas.
If these assumptionsand conclusions
are not agreed they may at least lead to
debate; and some vigorous debating
never does any harm. There is a respec-
table school of thought, initiated by Ben-
jamin Franklin two centuries agq which
believesthat argument and disagreement
is a good deal more productive than go-
ing along with a dutiful line for the sake
of peaceand quiet.
But we have to start somewhere:so let
us say - for the sake of argument - that
these proposals are not urreasonable for
Canada'ssubmergeddefences.
There is, in fact, much to be said for
making submadnes smaller and having
plentv of th€m. With submarines becom-
ing v6ry quiet on all sides, passive sonar
- low-frequency listening equipment -
can no longer expect to enioy the long
rangesformerlygainedon older and nois-
ier enemy boats. The implications are sig-
nificant. Active sonar will increasingly be
necessitated for search and location, at
which point the enemy will probably
respond in kind. Thereby not only will
stealth - which submadners have been
at much pains to acquire - be sacrificed,
but big will no longer be beautiful (if it
ever was) becausedetectabilitv is related
to size. Nevertheless, as a rule, active de-
tection and counter-detection ranges will
be comparativelyshort; and, therefore,
whether active or passive sonar is em-
ployed, more hunter-killers will be re-
ouired to cover the area of concern.
Until recently a submarine has had to
be big in order to go fast and far But iI the
principle of substituting a flock of little
submarines for a few large ones is accept-
ed, together with a reduction of individu-
al weapon loads, the picture chantes in
light of new technology.
Admiral Davis, with the disDassionate
logic which might be expected from a
former Commandant of the National
Defence College, spelled out the alterna-
tives to nudear power with particular em-
phasis on air-independent propulsion
(AIP).
He listed (for AIP) fuel ce[s, the 9thlint
engine and the very interesting Autono-
mous Marine Power Source (AMPS) in-
volving a small safe reactor in a system
designed by the ECS Croup in Ottawa. A
re-rcad of his article wil remind readers
of thesethree concepts,all of which im-
ply hybrid propulsion depending upon
improred but probably conventional elec-
tric batteriesfor burst tacticalsDeed
History strongly su8gests thit, unless
one system has very marked advantages
over another, it is wise to put the simplest
at the toD of the list. On balance,it would
appeai that AMPS, with its low-
temperature, low-pressure and inherendy
safe nuclear reactor, has been so simpli-
fied that it could legitimately qua.lify-for
priority considerationamongst the AIP
s),'stemsso far mentioned. AMPS is, of
course, a Canadian proiect and that is one
good reason for Canada pursuing what
the ECS Group call an SSn. And the con-
cept is apphcable to both military and
commercial work - although environ-
mentalists may not be too happy about
the nudear corurotation despite the small
'n'. AMPS can be plugged in to an
exist-
ine but extended diesel-electric subma-
rine (9SK), and can provide power up to
December1989
Page19
1700kwe net for SSKsof about 2000tont
or 125 kwe net for smaller boats of 1000
tons or less. If a customer ordered the
smaller version (AMPS 100)now it would
be instaled by 199t while the larger plant
(AMPS 1000)would be at sea in 199. A
custom-built SSK, designed around
AMP$ would presumably not take much
longer to produce.
Another Air-Independent Contender
Howevet there is another strong and
promising contender from Italy in the AIP
field which has not yet attracted much at-
tention. This is Maritalia's revolutionaiy
GST principle. CST standsfor Gaseou!
oxygen Stored in a foroidal hull made up
oI a concentric series of circular pipes
reniniscent of a Michelin man lying on
his side.
To sta at the beghnin& in the eady
190s, the Italian engineer Giunio Santi
(now Deputy Chairman of Maitalia) pro-
posed an integrated hull and propulsion
svstem that bids fair - with certain Drovi-
sbs - to overcome Canada'i AIP
problems and a good many others as
well.
Santi reckon€d that a toroidal subma-
fine hull, built of hollow pipes insteadof
steel plates, could hold oxygen pres-
surised to 350 bar as the prime energy
sourcefor a closed-circuitdiesel engine.
If the exhaust gaseswere also stored, af-
ter launderint', there would be no reveal-
ing wake for ASW units to detect and fol-
low. Diesel oil storaqe would not be a
problem because thtfuel could be kept
in tanls of any shape wherever
convement.
More than one bonus was to come #-
ter extensive tlials. A test toroidal hull
proved five times stronger, when pres-
surised to destruction, than plated steel
of equivalent weight. And builaing the
ideal 'Albacord shape, by successively
reducing the diameter of the hoops from
the fattest point and then welding them
together, was quicker and easier than
bending thick steel plate in two planes.
An exceptional amount of space was
made availableby storing prime energy m
the hull itself; airbome noise was rcduced
by 80 per cent by virtue of storing exhaust
gasesinstead of ejectin8 them to sea; and
the toroids themselves were exDectedto
muffle engine noise radiated oi.rtwards.
A firm believer in midget submarines,
Santi set out to build three expedmental
craft. These were successful and he then
produced a fully operational fi$t-of-dass
'minitrudel: this was
on displav at the
ltalian Naval Exhibition at Geioa in May
1989 when it became apparent that the
United States Navy, with Hone'.well
Page20 Canadian
Defence
Quarterly
AMPSBeactorVessel assembled
insldea sub-
maflnetestsection.
as the American contractor, was sedous-
ly contemplating the purchase of four or
six copiesof what is known, rather unin-
spiringly,as '3CST9'.American useageis
believed to be for SEAL units in the fust
lnstance.
The Maritalia '3GST9'
It is worth looking at the tiny 29-ton
cralt before going on to the prospect of
scaled-upGST designs.The designation
3GSTY means that the outside diameter
of each pipe or toroid is 3 inches (pipes
still being measured in imperial units),
and its leneth is in the nine mehe brack-
et - 9.65 ;etres to be exact. Ground or
limpet mines are the primary weapons for
a mini-sub that is intended, like wartirne
British X-craft and so-called ltalian and
British human torDedoes, to strike the
enemy at source. Ground mines are lo-
wered through a kind of moonpool amid-
ships and, by using a vibrating device,
they are buried if the seabed is soft
enough. Limpet mines are carried by
frogmen and attached to a ta€et hull by
suction pads and explosive-hammered
nails: the fixing is scarcely audible.
Alternativelv, '3GST9' can catrv two
lightweight torpedoes o<temally (in'tubes
along either side of the keel) or 48 122mrn
rockets (with a 25 kilometre reach) for
diversionary attacks on harbour installa-
tions while sister craft are engaged in ac-
tual harbour penetration. In the purely
defensive role, guarding against similar
assaults by the enem, six miniatute
torpedoes would be fitted, togeth€r with
high definition sonar, for neutralising
swimmels and swimmer delivery vehi-
cles (SDVs).
The minitruder's range, fully sub-
merged with no snorkel, is currently 200
nautical miles at 6 knots, or 100nautical
miles at 8 knots; but the endurance goes
out to 600 nautical miles at 6 knots if th€
diameter of toroids is increased to 8
inches. Norrnally, '3GST9' would be
deployed piggyback on a standard sub-
marine to the generalareaof operations;
but it would be quite feasibleto equip an
inrocentlooking merchant ship with un-
derwater ?aiage doo6' for coved opera-
tions in times of fragile peace- a method
of hansport which the Russians(with 200
midgets) may have adopted.
Two Dilots are easilv able to control and
fight the craft with'full automation. A
doppler nav8ation set emitting at 55G650
kl{z (virtually undetectableeven by tuned
apparatus) combines with a gyro, which
is self-compensating for precession, to
permit blind navigation accurateto within
one mile in a hundred.
3GST9 will be e<tremelyhard to detect
simply becauseit is so small. The exteri-
or is covered with two layers of anechoic
strakes (rather than tiles which are prone
to dropping olf), and a small baftery is
availabl€for ultraquiet manowring when
in close vicinity of the enemy. Radiated
noise chaiacberisticsfrom the eneine have
not been stated: thev have vet to"bemeas-
ured on a noise-r;nge. How the GST
propulsion system compares with AMPS
in this resoect is not known.
The Canidian Naw mav well ask - so
what? It would be dropping from the sub-
lime to the Goftlimey to substitute midg-
ets for the SSNs originally planned. Yet
a midget is a powerful integrated weapon
s)5tem; and President Woodrow Wilson's
complaint, rcfering to U-boats in 1917,is
lelevant today: 'I despair oI hunting hor-
nets all over the farm when I know where
their nest is'.
Larger GST Submarines
If something rather more up-market is
wanted, GST submarines can be built to
ary size and hence to any requLed capa-
biliry The indications are that Canada is
looking for a range of six or even eight
thousand miles, with totallv arr-
independent propulsion for rapid deploy-
ment and hith tactical speed.
Maritalia is confident that these athib-
utes are attainablein a GST 'Albacord hull
displacing quite a lot less than a cuEent
Oberon-class SSK. Something around
1,750 tonnes dived should meet the re-
quirement with ample to spate; and it
would be surprising if preliminary studies
arc not proceeding now bn speC
Santi emDhasisesthat his estimates for
moderate-sized boats are approximate -
and there is a least one firm which quar-
rels with his predicted figures - but they
are indicative fo! all that.
For example a 1,400-tons GST SSK,
with a p ce tag around $168 million,

should, give or take, be capable of:
. 30 knots - burst sDeed
. 28 knots - 1,700n.miles
. 9 knots - 18,000n. miles
. 5 knots - ,10,000n.miles
Doubling the size to 2,800 tons offe$ a
theoretical:
. 30 knots plus - 3000 n.rniles
. 25 knots - 3,900n.miles
. 23 knots - 4,600n.miles
. 9 knots - ?,000 n.miles
. 5 knots - 50,000n.miles
Besidesthere beins no need for a snor-
kel in a GST submaiine, the batterv can
be modest - only being needed for ultra-
quiet operations or 'just in case'. The
propulsion system is simplej training
presents no problems; and there is no
special infrastructure rcquircd other than
an oxygen-producingplant and
compressoL
The 'Green Nukes' instanced above
have not yet left the computer, but fair
proof of feasibility is instanced by the
midget'3GSTy.In b€tweenthesedesigns
at the top and bottom of the scale are
miniature GST SSKsin the 130to 150-ton
bracket, primarily but not exclusively for
inshore work. A couple of these may be
under construction for the Italian Naw,
but they are kept urder tight wraps.
These very small boats, varying in
length from 23 to 27 metres, pack a
punch, and the hull can be built around
any desired weapon system.
The 150-tonversion costsabout $24mil-
lion, plus $4.2million for PlessevFIYDRA
Sonar and a further sum for weaponry. It
will have a burst sDeedof 25 knols, a sus-
tained speed of i6 knots and a deploy-
ment range, fully submerged, of 2,000
n.miles at 8 knots. Thut with a tactical
performance not so verv far removed
hom nuclear power, a doien or more lit-
tle CST SSKscan be afforded for the price
of one SSN.3There is excellentaci<.rm-
modation for a crew of eight (which com-
pares with 97 in a Trdalgar-class SSN or
two altemating crews of 66 in a French
Rubis<lass SSN) and four combat swim-
mers. Mission endurance is reckoned at
Page22 CanadranDefenceOuarterly
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NOTES Contact:Anlonio TerolGarcia
1. Rear-Admiral S.M. Davis, "[€ mieux est
Iel (1) 4102454
l'ennemi du bien': the Nuclear Powered
Telecopier:(1)4102998
Submarine Prograrnme, Canadian Delence
Tui."y
Quaderr, Autumn 1988,pp A-56
|ONCHTURKEY
l\redia
Ltd.
2. The Soviet Nary inlcuded some 25.6inch
(650mm) tubes frcm the late 190t and the Ahmet L4ithatEfendiSok. No: 20/0
USN is incorporating 30.5-inch(762 mm) 06550 Cankaya AnkaraTurkey
tubes in the SSN 21 'Seawolf' class sSNs. Contact:HakkiAr,s
3. Taling into accountthe cost of nuclear in- Teli(41)39 1937
frastructue the comparati!€ Telecopier:(41)395724
- fisure
- could be
more like 20 or 25.