Sub breaking through the ice, on You tube

**bob the builder** · 12-11-2007, 01:00 PM

Very cool! Also be sure

Very cool! Also be sure to check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hb_LCPGt ... re=related

That is one LONG sub!

**steveuk** · 12-11-2007, 01:36 PM

Thanks Bob, hadn't seen that

Thanks Bob, hadn't seen that one either.

**subicman** · 12-11-2007, 11:07 PM

That is some cool video

That is some cool video of the Brit's coming up through, haven't seen that till now. I trained to break through the ice, but haven't got to do it yet.

Tim

**steveuk** · 12-12-2007, 07:27 AM

I trained to break through

I trained to break through the ice, but haven't got to do it yet.

Tim

Wow! COOL! Tim, what part do you play when this happens

Oh, I'm curious.. I know that Polynya is the Russian word for the gap in the ice, do you use a different word

**subicman** · 12-12-2007, 10:47 AM

I trained to be the

I trained to be the Chief of the Watch for a artic surfacing through the ice.
I would be the one manipulating the ballast and air systems to get the boat moving upward. After contact with the ice, if we didn't break through immediatly, I would blow the main ballast to get us through. It isn't as easy as it sounds though, you have to maintain a specific rate of ascent in order to avoid damage to the sail. Pretty fun stuff, ran through it 8 or 9 times in the trainer and twice out in the pond, but I never got to really do it.

We use the same word for the surfaceable feature.

Tim

**steveuk** · 12-12-2007, 02:38 PM

Chief of the watch, http://www.subcommittee.com/forum/icon_eek.gif

Chief of the watch, aye aye sir!
..maybe someday you will get to do it for real.

I noticed in the vid that when the sub first beaks the surface it appears to hang there only 'half' surfaced not even decks awash, then it suddenly shoots up to fully surfaced. Discussing this with a friend we are guessing that the first part of the surfacing is due to the ballst tanks being partially blown from the compressed air cylinders onboard, then the next part of the surfacing could be high volume air pumps blowing the rest of the tanks clear using air from the atmosphere via an air indiction vent somewhere in the sail.

Are we near the mark

**subicman** · 12-12-2007, 09:58 PM

Which vid are you talking

Which vid are you talking about? The Brit Boat, or the Alex?

You are pretty close with that analysis.

The way we yanks do it is using what is called depth control tanks. They are located midships and can be flooded and blown at a high rate. They are normally part of the regular variable ballast system, but are designed to take on and remove ballast fairly rapidly. Not as much or as fast as a missle compensation tank on a boomer, but up to 140,000 lbs between the 2 tanks in the system.

We start out by blowing these, and then flooding or blowing off to get the right ascent rate. When we hit the ice, we partially blow the main ballast using high pressure air. When we get all the way through, and the sail top is clear of ice, we blow the rest of the main ballast using a low pressure blower motor. The pause would be the the hull straining against the ice and breaking through, once the ice is fractured, then the boat leaps up.

The Brit boat looks like it surfaced through fairly thin ice, so I beleive that their procedures are quite different than ours. I am not familiar with how it's done in Her Majesty's Submarine Force.

I hope this answers your questions.

Tim

**JWLaRue** · 12-12-2007, 11:09 PM

I noticed that the Trafalgar-class

I noticed that the Trafalgar-class boat came up with some forward way on, which really surprised me. I guess I'm used to seeing US Navy subs surfacing from a dead stop......

Anyone have any insights as to why the difference?

-tnx,

Jeff

Sub breaking through the ice, on You tube

Sub breaking through the ice, on You tube

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