An armored manta-ray-shaped small submarine for commercial and military applications
A private company, Highland Systems, that was founded in the Ukraine but now is based both in the UK and the UAE, appears to be building an armored manta-ray-shaped small submarine for both commercial and military applications.
It’s designed for a mix of commercial, military and allegedly rescue operations – and from the looks of the stark, largely windowless interior, it certainly doesn’t seem interested in tourism or luxury. A little over 9 m (29.6 ft) long, Kronos will weigh somewhere around 10,000 kg (22,000 lb). Its fat wings will fold upward, allowing you to tow it on a trailer if you wish to cause a series of gawking-related accidents among oncoming traffic.
Plonk it in the water, and it’ll seat 10 passengers plus a driver. The hybrid powertrain marries a diesel generator to a 1,200-horsepower, 2,400-Nm (1,770-lb-ft) electric motor driving a waterjet propulsion system. It can dive to a working depth of 100 m (328 ft), or a max critical depth of 250 m (820 ft), which is pretty decent in the scheme of things. The air supply is good for around 36 hours.
The performance figures are nuts. Highland says it’ll do 80 km/h (50 mph) on top of the water, or 50 km/h (31 mph) underwater; that’s seriously fast through water, just ask Michael Phelps. It carries enough battery on board for a 36-hour all-electric mission, or you can fire up the diesel generator to add a further 18, taking total range up to a very impressive 54 hours of autonomy. There’s adaptive lighting, an automated life support system and air-con – and the schematics show spots for torpedoes as well.
Nor is this entirely a fantasy of the company. It has already built the submarine’s main shell.
As the quote notes, though the company claims this submarine will have civilian uses, the submarine being built now seems entirely military in nature, especially because there is no information at all about the customer paying for its construction. Also, note the torpedoes shown in the schematic above, as well as the packed passengers. Since the company has its roots in the Ukraine, I can just imagine it being used by the Ukraine to transport soldiers to the Crimea on an undercover sabotage mission to destroy Russian assets.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
A private company, Highland Systems, that was founded in the Ukraine but now is based both in the UK and the UAE, appears to be building an armored manta-ray-shaped small submarine for both commercial and military applications.
It’s designed for a mix of commercial, military and allegedly rescue operations – and from the looks of the stark, largely windowless interior, it certainly doesn’t seem interested in tourism or luxury. A little over 9 m (29.6 ft) long, Kronos will weigh somewhere around 10,000 kg (22,000 lb). Its fat wings will fold upward, allowing you to tow it on a trailer if you wish to cause a series of gawking-related accidents among oncoming traffic.
Plonk it in the water, and it’ll seat 10 passengers plus a driver. The hybrid powertrain marries a diesel generator to a 1,200-horsepower, 2,400-Nm (1,770-lb-ft) electric motor driving a waterjet propulsion system. It can dive to a working depth of 100 m (328 ft), or a max critical depth of 250 m (820 ft), which is pretty decent in the scheme of things. The air supply is good for around 36 hours.
The performance figures are nuts. Highland says it’ll do 80 km/h (50 mph) on top of the water, or 50 km/h (31 mph) underwater; that’s seriously fast through water, just ask Michael Phelps. It carries enough battery on board for a 36-hour all-electric mission, or you can fire up the diesel generator to add a further 18, taking total range up to a very impressive 54 hours of autonomy. There’s adaptive lighting, an automated life support system and air-con – and the schematics show spots for torpedoes as well.
Nor is this entirely a fantasy of the company. It has already built the submarine’s main shell.
As the quote notes, though the company claims this submarine will have civilian uses, the submarine being built now seems entirely military in nature, especially because there is no information at all about the customer paying for its construction. Also, note the torpedoes shown in the schematic above, as well as the packed passengers. Since the company has its roots in the Ukraine, I can just imagine it being used by the Ukraine to transport soldiers to the Crimea on an undercover sabotage mission to destroy Russian assets.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Flying mini sub.
About the only possible use I can see for it is to infiltrate/exfiltrate special operations forces (Army Special Forces or Navy SEALs). Since it has a 36 hour endurance, you’re not doing any war patrols hunting enemy shipping. The torpedos are probably meant to be the 12.75 inch, 508 pound Mk 46 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_46_torpedo Midget subs had a checkered record in WW2. Japanese vessels were pretty much a failure except at Madagascar, where one put a fish into a British battleship, damaging her. They also had the Kaiten manned torpedo – an underwater kamikaze – which sank a US oiler at Ulithi Atol.l. The Italians rode a manned torpedo they called :”Miale” or “Pig”. The 2 man crew would lay a demolition charge under the keel of their target. The had a super success when they crippled the battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant. The crews were captured held in the brig of the former. It was in the bowels of the ship, directly above the demo charge!. When about five minutes remained on the fuzes, they began yelling to be released, promising they would tell the British what was going on, Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough time to raise steam and slip their moorings. But at the opposite end of the Med, the Italians converted a merchant ship in the Spanish port of Algeciras (having an underwater opening in the hull to allow their craft to slip in and out undetected) and the British never figured out why some ships moored in Gibraltar; commercial harbor were suddenly blowing up. The British had several designs, but the on that worked was the “X Craft” which also laid a demo charge beneath their target. Their most famous exploit was severely damaging the battleship Tirpitz. They also served as navigational beacons for the Normandy invasion. The Germans had a large number of midget subs, which suffered horrendous losses for minimum results/ The US Navy steered clear, having doubts about the concept and figuring the British could supply some of the X-Craft if the opportunity arose to use them. The various navies of the world played with concept after the war. The US built one experimental boat, the X-1. Her fatal flaw was that she was powered by high test peroxide (HTP) – a material that reacts violently if it encounters even a small amount of an organic substance like grease or oil. The British built a full size boat powered by HTP named HMS Explorer, but she was known to the fleet as the “Exploder”. They also tried a HTP fueled torpedo and one blew up and sank one of their subs, fortunately moored to a dock. The USS X-1 ended its career when a HTP explosion blew its bow off. Everybody except the Russians gave up on HTP as a bad deal. Today the USN uses the Swimmer Delivery Vehicle (Also known as the SEAL Delivery Vehicle) and other navies presumably have their equivalents https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SEAL_Delivery_Vehicle HTP was used as the oxidant on the rocket powered SR-53 prototype https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders-Roe_SR.53and proposed SR-177 interceptor. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saunders-Roe_SR.177 The HTP was first run through platinum mesh, which caused it to decompose into hydrogen, oxygen and steam, at which point jet fuel was injected and ignited. It also powered the Black Arrow space launch vehicle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Arrow I’ll finally shut up now
Serving on a submarine is no easy task. Sub school is intense and when my father went through it you had to learn every position on the boat so you could fill in anywhere. He was a torpedoman on a “pig boat” or diesel sub during the Korean conflict. My brother was in the nuclear Navy, also a submariner. I remember as a young man going to Electric Boat and General Dynamics with Commander George Emery to see the USS Ohio being constructed and later launched. That made quite the impression on my young eyes. Most of the people that looked after me when my parents weren’t around were from the Navy base near Groton Connecticut. I remember eating a few dinners on those subs as a kid. Good times.
This isn’t the best pic but it’s my father in the torpedo room of his boat: https://i.postimg.cc/CMXKXbnJ/dadsub.jpg
Col Beausabre, the mark 46 is 2.59m long, as depicted the torpedoes on the mini sub would be less than 1.5 meters long. Intended I assume mainly for in harbor attacks.
The initial design is obviously military in nature, but I’m sure there is a big money thrill seeker market for it with some modifications. Lose the torpedoes, widen the cockpit to fit a co-pilot, drop half the seats in the back to enable more comfortable arrangements, and add some side windows. The weight savings from the torpedo removal would probably be enough to reinforce the new window areas without impacting performance too much.
That it would have a certain James Bond Villain aura while sitting on the back of your mega-yacht couldn’t hurt sales amongst the target customers I’d think.
Sonar signature?
Col B good stuff
T-dub – ‘not the best’ — the picture has quality none the less
@Chris . . . thank you.
And here is its Seaview
http://www.hisutton.com/Lockheed-Stealth-Submarine-Design.html
Richard Basehart action figure not included.