Revised Table A (ver 4) of Diesels for Japanese Submarines - includes Snorting Output

Anonymous has kindly provided a review, Table A (ver 4), of the earlier Table A (ver 3) (provided February 5, 2018 at Submarine Matters)). 

At Table A (ver 4) (below) Anonymous introduces the primary sources of information on modern Japanese submarines [6]. Anonymous has revised the mechanical and electrical output figures, based on [6]. The importance of electrical ouput when snorting/snorkeling is briefly discussed and rough estimates are added using foregin data.

[Pete Comment: The whole Table and Footnotes appear to constitute a uniquely comprehensive source of information, unavailable elsewhere on the English language Internet. Below there is a small amount of further translation into English by Pete.]

The Revised Figures are expressed in blue color.

Table A (ver 4)

Class	First completion year	No. of subs	Model [1] or [2]	No. of diesels	No. of cylinders	Bore mm	Stroke mm	Mechanical ouput  surfaced kW	Electrical outpout  surfaced    kW [3]	Electrical output  snorting kW  [10]	Speed rpm
Oyashio .I	1960	1	V8V22/30mAL  [1]	2	16	220	300	993 [6]	794	-	850
Oshio	1964	5	V8V24/30mMAL [1]	2	16	240	300	1066 [6]	853	-	850
Uzushio	1970	7	V8V24/30AMT [1]	2	16	240	300	1287 [6]	1030	-	850
Yushio	1970	10	V8V24/30AMT [1]	2	16	240	300	1545 [6]	1236	-	850
Harushio	1990	7	12V25/25S [2]	2	12	250	250	2280 [6,8,9] (2500)	1824 (2000)	-	1200
Oyashio .II	1998	11	12V25/25S [2]	2	12	250	250	2500 [6,9]	2000	>=1800	1200
Soryu MK I & II [7]	2009	11	12V25/25SB [2]	2	12	250	250	2500	2000 [11]	>=1800	1200
29SS	-	-	12V25/31S [2] [4]	2	12	250	310	3100	2500 [11]	>=2250	1200

[1] KAWASAKI (under the license of MAN): V8V22/30mAL, V8V24/30mMAL, V8V24/30AMT

[2] KAWASAKI: 12V25/25S, 12V25/25SB, 12V25/31S

[3] Electical output = mechanical output x 0.8

[4] Estimated values:

[5] “Historical Development of Four Stroke Diesel Engine” by Kazuya Sato, Center of the History of Japanese Industrial Technology, National Museum of Nature and Science. This is comprehensive review. Representative diesel manufacturers in Japan (KHI, MHI, MAN-Japan, JFE, Mitsui, etc) reviewed that article.

[6] “History of Japan Maritime Defense Force Submarine” by Dr Yoichi Hirama.

Past positions of Dr Hirama are Rear Admiral (Maritime Self-Defense Force:Navy/Retired 1988), Professor & Director of Library of National Defense Academy (Retired 1998), Lecturer of Tsukuba University (International Relations/Retired 2002), Lecturerof Tokiwa University (Japanese History/Retired 2003). This article is the primary source of information on modern Japanese submarine (except Soryus and Post Soryus), and search procedure is as follows:

To access [6] Click on http://hiramayoihi.com/yh_e_top.html.

(1) Click "Papers"

(2) Search “English History”

(3) scroll down, then Click”Japao n l'auto defense”, Marines & Navales:Hors Serie Sous-Marins:Special sous-Marins Diesels(Paris:2004) (English version), which provides "History of the Japanese Submarine(After WWII) 

or

(4) for original Japanese language version Click "History of Japan Maritime Defense Force Submarine “

[7] Based on those of 12V25/25S for Oyashio [6].

[8] Unfortunatedly, output of 12V25/25S for Harushio-class shows contradiction in English version of [6] (English version 3100PS=2280kW & 3400PS (2500kW), Japanese version 3100PS=2280kW),and considering that Dr Hirama is Japanese, 3100PS =2280kW of mechanical output is used for Revised Table A (ver4).

[9] Since diesel engines are greatly dependent on the back pressure of the exhaust system in terms of their efficiency, decision on electrical output when snorkeling need information on the snorkel system. If the snorkel system of Oyashio.II -class is more effective than that of Harushio-class, mechanical output of 12V25/25S in Oyashio.II-class would show a higher output than the same 12V25/25S in Harushio-class.

[10] The charge of the battery must take place at the highest generator output to reduce the time of the submarine in snorting/snorkeling mode, or, the time in which submarine can be detecteded (indiscrete) would  increase. That’s why information on electrical output in snorting/snorkeling mode is quite important. But there is no information in [6].

In http://www.bmtdsl.co.uk/media/5045649/BMTDSL-Sub-Power-and-Propulsion-Confpaper-Pacific-Jan12.pdf page 2, “As an example the MTU 12V 396TE54 is rated at 1200kWe (electrical output) for the surface ship TE54 designation but when employed in the submarine version it is derated to 1000kW on the surface and 900kW when snorting”. This data (10% output reduction by snorkeling) was used to roughly estimate electrical output in snorting/snorkeling mode as reference. Since 12V25/25S and 12V25/25SB as well as 12V25/31S are younger diesels, designed after the MTU 12V396, they may show better efficiency than that MTU (less than 10% output reduction in snorting/snorkeling mode).

[11] The related standard specifies electric output of diesel being ---1800kW, 2000kW, 2500kW ---. I think that 2500kW of electrical output as target performance was decided at modification of 12V25/25SB to 12V25/31S at first, and at next, 310mm of stroke was decided to achieve this performance.

Anonymous 

Another Near Catastrophic Russian Nuclear Submarine Fire, occurred in 2011

The Russian Navy suffers a high number of major nuclear submarine fires compared to other nuclear navies. See the April 2015 fire of Oscar class SSGN Orel. Fire was also a part of the August 2000 Oscar class submarine Kursk disaster.

Kyle Mizokami for Popular Mechanics on February 28, 2018 reported an earlier even more dangerous, December 2011, fire that involved Russian Delta class SSBN "Ekaterinburg" still carrying highly flammable torpedoes (with propellant), SLBM rocket fuel, nuclear warheads and of course its two VM4-SG nuclear reactors. 

Following is a portion of Kyle's article https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/navy-ships/a18757426/in-2011-a-russian-submarine-fire-nearly-cause-a-nuclear-disaster/

"Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitri Rogozin has admitted that a December 2011 incident involving a nuclear missile submarine almost became one of the worst nuclear weapons disasters ever recorded.

The Ekaterinburg, a ballistic missile submarine, caught fire in drydock, threatening its load of liquid-fueled nuclear missiles. If the missiles had caught fire, then the resulting explosions would have spewed radioactivity over a wide area, threatening a nearby town of 300,000 people.

The nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine K-84, also known as Ekaterinburg, had made a quick stop in drydock before heading out on a missile patrol. The ship was surrounded by wooden scaffolding for a welding job on the bow when a fire broke out. The fire quickly spread to the submarine’s rubber anechoic coating, which is designed to lower the sub’s acoustic signature underwater. The fire burned for nearly a day as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze..."

See WHOLE POPULAR MECHANICS ARTICLE

Also see. Ekaterinburg, commissioned in 1985, is still in active service.

Pete

China's Many Problems - Expand South?

China's problems are evident from comments made in late February 2018 to Submarine Matters here and here. I'm attempting a summary with the following points:

China is struggling to achieve economic growth from domestic consumption. Instead China's growth  is being fueled by unsustainable lending. Such lending is based on infrastructure investments (even though the average return on those investments ise nil). All this, and the following, will delay the time that China’s GDP will surpass the US GDP.

China produces far less oil and gas than its main competitors the US and Russia. China therefore has to import oil and gas more expensively and inefficiently than the US and Russia. Nuclear power stations are an expensive option that China is pursuing. China's coal, the alternative power station fuel, is highly polluting.

China has many current and future labour problems: The price of Chinese labour is no longer cheap since 1990. There is a coming demographic inversion with too many people by 2030 over 60yo, causing a huge spike in health care costs. Old parents and their health care is supported by too few working age offspring under 60.

China's overly large population (one dot represents 100,000 people). (Source Thorium)

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China has:
-  insufficient clean water (especially in northern China)
-  too little arable/farm land
-  too high a concentration of cities (which also displace farmland)
-  (too many people)
-  too many factories and power stations. 

All this is leading to dangerously unhealthy air, water and food pollution for the population. 

Solutions? Spreading population?:

North? China has difficulty expanding north over the border to Russia due to Russia’s military superiority. Some of Russia's conventional or nuclear armed 9K720 Iskander short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs) are aimed at China. Also China is disinclined to spread its population north because:
-  Russia allows some legal Chinese immigration north
-  China has cooperative trade with Russia in oil and gas, and
-   many weapons sectors (including conventional submarines and high performance jet fighters).

East? Expansion East into South Korea and Japan is complicated by the South Korea and Japanese military and US nuclear and conventional forces. Spreading east into North Korea is not an option due to North Korea's nuclear deterrent.

West? into Kazakhstan (protected by Russia). India and Pakistan have preventative nuclear deterrents.

South? Bangladesh is already overcrowded and serves as a source of cheap labour.

There are possibilities of expanding south into poorly defended and in some areas sparsely populated, Southeast Asia including:

-  Thailand (noting many Chinese in frontier cities),

-  Cambodia (to build that mega deep water port).
-  Myanmar
-  Laos
-  Philippines
-  Indonesia

South into Australia? Australia:
-  generally sparsely populated
-  but has very limited water.
-  has an economy already highly interdependent with the China's economy (in terms of high levels
   of mineral, energy (including some oil and Uranium and much gas and coal) and agricultural
   exports to China)
-  is a long way to control from China.
-  a Chinese company has already leased the strategic Port of Darwin for 99 years.
-  After India China is the largest source of immigrants to Australia.

Does China have any viable solutions to its problems?

Pete

Chinese Navy Innocent of Maldives Meddling - Ask India

It seems China and India are jockeying for economic and political position in the strategically important Maldives islands. The Maldives is a Muslim nation of around 430,000 people sitting in the Arabian Sea but just to the south of regional power India (map above). The Maldives is suffering a leadership and judicial crisis which began this month. Some in the Maldives are seeking Indian military peace-keeping while others are mindful that the Maldives is heavily financial indebted to China. Also China is the largest source of blameless tourist traffic to the Maldives.

Over the last week many of the Western press believe or disbelieve that China despatched a mixed fleet of around 10 ships (including destroyers, frigates, supply and a landing ship) to put some gunboat diplomacy pressure on the Maldives and India. 

A Western website reported that  Chinese News outlets appeared to concoct the story "Last week, the state-aligned paper Global Times warned that “If India one-sidedly sends troops to the Maldives, China will take action to stop New Delhi." Sina.com.cn reported [on February 17, 2018] that there are presently 11 PLA(N) surface warships in the Indian Ocean".

The Indian Press has covered the Maldives Crisis more closely, soberly, with miniscule sabre-rattling.

On February 22, 2018, Prabhash K Dutta reported from New Delhi along the lines:

In January 2018 before the Maldives crisis started the Chinese Navy began an exercise in the South China Sea..."The Chinese naval fleet proceeded towards South Pacific Ocean and touched Australian waters before turning back. Reports suggest that on their backward journey, the Chinese naval fleet had to pass through the Indian Ocean for some distance....no Chinese warship were deployed close to the Maldives....A Chinese destroyer and a frigate had crossed into the Eastern Indian Ocean through the Sunda Strait and exited the Indian Ocean through the Lombok Strait 

[the straits are on each side of the most important Indonesian island of Java with Jakarta the capital. See map below]

 while heading towards the South China Sea. The two sea passages are located on the margins of Indian Ocean near Indonesia, and some 2,500 nautical miles or over 4,600 kilometres from Maldives."

COMMENT

So the sailors of China are, as always, chock full of innocence and international goodwill despite what Chinese news-sites concoct. Confused?

It is but a slur that "The cost of Chinese [financial assistance to the Maldives] may prove to be steep. Like Sri Lanka and Pakistan, the Maldives is deeply indebted to China, and it may eventually come under pressure from Beijing to give up large assets - like land or port facilities - in return for debt forgiveness." 

The Chinese destroyer and a frigate following the dotted line crossing into the Eastern Indian Ocean through the Sunda Strait then east exiting the Indian Ocean through the Lombok Strait. These straits are on each side of the most important Indonesian island of Java with Jakarta the capital. The Chinese were safely some 2,500 nautical miles or over 4,600 kms from the Maldives. 

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Any Chinese submarine movements near the Maldives remain unknown!

Pete

Rising China "US$42 trillion economy by 2030"

https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/china-and-military-balance

versus "US$24 trillion" for the US in 2030

Disappearances of Two (High Security) Russian Shipbuilding Engineers

The following draws on a French language article of January 24, 2018 titled "Mysterious disappearances of two Russian engineers" on  "Khan's" mainly Russian website, The portal of the naval forces of the Russian Federation. 

Engineer A

Over the last 4 weeks, two Russian shipbuilding engineers have been reported missing. Life working in trusted positions of the Russian military-industrial complex can be grim. 

Engineer A, aged 38, formally employed by the Yantar shipyard at Kaliningrad (see map below) was officially reported missing on January 11, 2018. Kaliningrad is a high security Russian Baltic Fleet Base area. There the Yantar shipyard builds, amongst other things, Project 11356M frigates, which are equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles.

The Russian Federal Security Bureau (FSB) had become suspicious of Engineer A's activities in nearby Vilnius, Lithuania (a NATO country) in July 2017. Engineer A had then, in agreement with Yantar, stopped working for Yantar in August 2017. On January 11, 2018 the FSB issued a "search" warrant for Engineer A.  It is unclear whether the FSB eventually arrested Engineer A.

Engineer B

Engineer A's disappearance raised suspicions of a pattern occuring with the later disappearance of Engineer B. Engineer B was a "first class" engineer [1] of the Malakhit Design Bureau [2] (St. Petersburg) on January 24, 2018. Engineer B lived alone in the suburbs of St. Petersburg.

Tragically, on January 25, 2018, it was reported (Russian article) that Engineer B was found hanging in his St. Petersburg apartment.

[1]  By implication Engineer B held a senior position with access to nuclear submarine Top Secrets.
       This may have included nuclear submarine design information collected by espionage from all
       other nuclear submarine building nations (as well as the German 212's smoothly faired 
       demagnetised hull).

[2]  The Malakhit Bureau along with Rubin Design Bureau are the two leading Russian engineering
       firms that specialize in the development of nuclear submarines. The Malakhit Bureau designed
       Russia's latest SSGN, the Project 885 Yasen> The Yasen is probably of high interest to Western
       countries and certainly its stealth and SSGN VLS features are of interest to China.

COMMENT

Not all is known about the reasons for Engineer B's suspected suicide. If it was work related, high security work can be highly isolating and alienating. In Russia security pressures are not improved by the low pay Russian engineers recieve for highly sensitive defense work. Russia's dark, very cold,  northern Winter also doesn't help. 

Engineer A was based at the highly militarized Kaliningrad, "exclave" in orange on the Baltic, problematically surrounded by NATO countries, separating it from the main Russian landmass. Kaliningrad functions as the headquarters of  Russia's Baltic Fleet, ringed by Chernyakhovsk (air base), Donskoye (air base) and Kaliningrad Chkalovsk (naval air base). Engineer B lived and worked in St. Petersburg, also marked on map. (Map courtesy of Geography in the News via National Geographic)

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Pete