A Table to Describe Soryu to Future Australian Submarine Build

Launch of the first of class Soryu ("Blue (or Green) Dragon") (Japanese そうりゅう ) at MHI's shipyard in Kobe, Japan, December 2007. Australia's future submarines are likely to be launched from slips in Kobe at MHI and/or KHI. With necessarily gradual timings Australia's first in class submarine may be "laid down" in 2023, launched 2026 and commissioned by 2029 (hopefully with major technical problems fixed...)(Photo courtesy Japan Times).

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I think it is useful, when considering how the Soryu will (or may) evolve into Australia's future submarine, to illustrate the possibilities in tabular form.

S has been very helpful in the construction of the Table. The "16SS" through to "29SS" sequence appears to be Japanese Ministry of Defence's (JMD/MoD's) terminology for planning and funding submarine authorizations year after year.

16SS can be called the beginning of the sequence of "Soryu Mark 1s" which have diesel engines and Lead Acid Batteries (LABs) as their primary propulsion and Stirling Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) as secondary propulsion. 

For the future Soryus 27SS and 28SS LABs will be replaced by Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). For them and Japanese submarines onwards Stirling AIP will be removed. These changes could justify future  27SS or 28SS being described as the first of the "Soryu Mark 2s". Possibly they will be given another Japanese name instead of Soryu and possibly they may have a fuel cell AIP emergency backup. 

29SS with greater certainty will be a new submarine class (no longer called Soryu). It is likely that Australia's future submarine will be a derivative of 29SS - perhaps 500 tons to 1,000 tons heavier than 29SS to fulfil Australia's submarine content requirements (eg. much more diesel fuel capacity and one or more vertical multi-purpose locks (VMPL))

The first of class Australian submarine should be launched and fully commissioned BEFORE the next Australian submarines are launched. This will allow any problems (like diesel  propulsion noise, cavitation, LIB current and battery efficiency/reliability, fuel tanks, combat system) in the first of class to be identified and rectified. 

This is so the lessons can be fixed on first of class and applied to second in class onwards. 

This first of class problem rectification process did not occur efficiently with the Collins class - a series of mistakes the Collins submarines and RAN are still suffering from.

When Australia's first new submarine is laid down in Kobe, Japan (perhaps in 2023) major changes to Japan's submarine production/build pattern will occur. KHI/MHI will cease their overall one submarine per year alternating build pattern and will build an average of one Japanese submarine and one (or half of one) Australian submarine per year.

Anywhere from 6 to 12 Australian submarines will be built. US and Australian technicians will be present in Japan installing and testing the mainly US developed combat system of sensors-database-weapons (perhaps 30% of a submarine build effort and cost).

SORYU TABLE

In the Soryu Table below:

- LAB means Lead Acid Battery.
- LIB is Lithium-ion Battery,
- AIP is Air Independent Propulsion (Swedish-Kockums designed Stirling)

When I translate Soryu (in Japanese そうりゅう ) into English it usually comes out as "Ssangyong". Obviously a more complex translation process than German or French.

SS No.	Building No.	Pennant No.	Name/Namesake	LAB or LIB & AIP *	Laid Down	Laun -ched	Commi-ssioned	Built By
16SS	8116	SS-501	Sōryū (そうりゅう) / Blue Dragon	LAB + AIP	March 2005	Dec 2007	March 2009	MHI
17SS	8117	SS-502	Unryū (うんりゅう) / Cloud Dragon	LAB + AIP	March 2006	Oct 2008	March 2010	KHI
18SS	8118	SS-503	Hakuryū (はくりゅう) / White Dragon	LAB + AIP	Feb 2007	Oct 2009	March 2011	MHI
19SS	8119	SS-504	Kenryū (けんりゅう) / Sword Dragon	LAB + AIP	March 2008	Nov 2010	March 2012	KHI
20SS	8120	SS-505	Zuiryu (けんりゅう) / Sword Dragon	LAB + AIP	March 2009	Oct 2011	March 2013	MHI
22SS	8122	SS-506	Kokuryū (こくりゅう) / Black Dragon	LAB + AIP	January 2011	Oct 2013	March 2014	KHI
23SS	8123	SS-507	Jinryū (じんりゅう)/ Benevolent Dragon	LAB + AIP	Feb 2012	Nov 2014	March 2016?	MHI
24SS	8124	SS-508	Sekiryu / Holy Dragon	LAB + AIP	2013	2 Nov 2015	2017	KHI
25SS	8125	SS-509	?	LAB + AIP	2014	2016?	2018	MHI
26SS	8126	SS-510	?	LAB? + AIP	2015	2017?	2019	KHI
27SS	8127	SS-511	Soryu Mark 2	LIB only	2016?	2018?	2020?	MHI
28SS	8128	SS-512	?	LIB only	2017?	2019?	2021?	KHI
29SS	8129	SS-513	Next- Generation Japanese Submarine	LIB only	2018?	2020?	2022?	MHI
1AU?			1st Australian class?		2023?	2026?	2029?

The Japanese Ministry of Defence seems to be steadily generating more website material - part of public transparency - which I will explore in future articles.

Pete