Go Navy!

[ladajo]

Here is a nice video on what it takes to launch Mk48s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS28IAG3mQE

Notice how freakin' big they are.

[ladajo]

Here is another showing some of the energy required to push a tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmcGMyU5748

[Skipjack]

Hey ladajo! Very cool videos! These subs are using air pressure to push out the torpedo though, right?
Still looks very violent!

[ladajo]

It is like all subs.
Air pushes water pushes torp.
You use either flask air or a turbo pump to charge a water volume, and then typically there is a slide valve that essentially rapidily flushes the tube with the water volume.
You can not do a slow buildup as the weapon may get stuck. This would be bad.

[Skipjack]

It is like all subs.
Air pushes water pushes torp.
You use either flask air or a turbo pump to charge a water volume, and then typically there is a slide valve that essentially rapidily flushes the tube with the water volume.
You can not do a slow buildup as the weapon may get stuck. This would be bad.

Yes, you are right, of course. But some subs use(or used to use) just air pressure to press out torpedoes. The Dolphin class actually needed two extra tubes (compared to the 214) that use compressed air (and have a different caliber), so they could launch missiles from the tube.

[hanelyp]

Advanced tech idea: magnetically levitate a torpedo in the tube as it's pushed out. Or air hockey style push away from the walls. Presuming the torpedo is neutrally buoyant and well balanced it shouldn't need much force.

[ladajo]

used to use

To my knowledge, there are no longer any submarine based air only torpedo launch systems. I can be wrong.
Ships still use air to push torps over the side.
Submarines use air for smaller bore launchers that do not push torpedoes.
Air is noisy, thus avoided. It is also unreliable for Heavy Weight Torpedoes clearing the tube.

Warshot torps are negatively bouyant. Loss of propulsion and weapon goes to the bottom. Or at least pieces parts.
Interesting thoughts on reducing torp drag in the tube rails. They do however look overly complex for what a water flush does inherantly.

[GIThruster]

Wonder how close to the Virginia class this is:

http://gizmodo.com/nowhere-under-the-se ... socialflow

[GIThruster]

http://gizmodo.com/the-u-s-a-s-floating ... socialflow

[krenshala]

Here is a video on the F21 French torp. It is educational. Think about how much energy it takes to get the weapon to do what is displayed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbeQmfXE0ws

USAF background for me, so beyond knowing/working with some former Navy nukes about all I know of Navy vessels is they are grey (okay, it isn't quite that bad, but you get the point). With that disclaimer, I find it humorous that the target vessel in the vid above looked quite a bit like the DD (DDX? I'm horrible at names) that NNS was working on when I worked there as a network admin back in '99.

[GIThruster]

This is why America doesn't need a draft: because our armed forces are so full of awesome we don't need to convince people to join the winning team. All we really need are leaders who don't squander those wins.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/how-the-real- ... socialflow

[KitemanSA]

Here is a video on the F21 French torp. It is educational. Think about how much energy it takes to get the weapon to do what is displayed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbeQmfXE0ws

USAF background for me, so beyond knowing/working with some former Navy nukes about all I know of Navy vessels is they are grey (okay, it isn't quite that bad, but you get the point).

An acquaintance of mine once did a correlation study of all factors in submarine hull survivability experiments. It was determined that the best predictor of submarine hull model survival under weapons effects loading was ....

COLOR. If it was grey, it survived. 100% correlation.

[GIThruster]

The new USS Montgomery is up:

http://www.navy.mil/submit/display.asp?story_id=82610

I love these new ships, especially the Independence class. The Freedom class is larger and requires more crew, nit actually meeting the original specifications of the class. This Freedom class however did and does meet the specs so is about as cheap to sail as any serious combat ship can be. And at 47 knots, it's a helluva fast pirate punisher.

[MrE]

Navy here.
Torps are pushed out with air(from surface ship).

[ladajo]

We were talking primarily about submarine launched weapons (HWT and other).
Surface launched LWTs are essentially useless in a fight. So they are not really useful to discuss.
It is more useful to talk about returning HWT to surface ships.
And you need to remove the plug to get the saltwater activate to kick.