BLACK ANTI-FOUL?

[kerry addington]

I have seen various references to a change from "red" to black anti-fouling paint going forward on SSN's. Can anyone verify or elaborate?
Thanks,
Kerry

[tom dougherty]

The new Virginia class appear

The new Virginia class appear to have been painted in all-black, as was the last Seawolf, Jimmy Carter (SSN-23). I don't believe the red antifoul was consistently applied over the years (late 50's trhough late 90s) that it was used, and some subs ended up all black at overhauls. Some subs at launch had red to the freeboard waterline, but usually got the half & half treatment in service.

BTW, (and I don't know if this is absolutely true), I had heard one reason for the red antifoul on the hull from halfway down. When you think about it, red halfway down is totally invisible on the surface, so what's the point? One of our IT guys is Naval Reserve, and is a Navy diver in Groton. He said the red halfway down is to help divers with hull visibility in dark & murky water, as they inspect seawater intakes, ballast openings, etc.

[pirate]

I saw something a whole

I saw something a whole back on an EB site for the Virginia or Texas stating that all boats forward would be all black.

Someone was talking about this on SubPirates too. They made an excellent point that it may cut costa because they only need the one color now. Same amount of paint though, so I don't think that's what it is. Unless they only painted the red over top of the annacoic coating, then they'd save on all the paint and just coat.

Pete

[tmsmalley]

Not sure if it applies

Not sure if it applies to the conversation, but as a scuba diver, I can tell you that red looks pretty gray at much deeper than 10 feet or so.

[kerry addington]

BLACK ANTI-FOUL?

Thanks to all for the info.
This new site is killer!
-Kerry

[pirate]

Nice 3D icon Tim. When

Nice 3D icon Tim. When did you find time to make that?

Pete

[tmsmalley]

New toy! A program called

New toy! A program called Xara3D.

[Guest]

Not sure if it applies

Not sure if it applies to the conversation, but as a scuba diver, I can tell you that red looks pretty gray at much deeper than 10 feet or so.

By 30 feet even bright red looks quite black

[tmsmalley]

Yup

Yup