Submarines Soviet

The U.S. titanium market distribution is shown in Table 18. Before 1970, more than 90% of the titanium produced was used for aerospace, which feU to ca 70—80% by 1982. Mihtary use has continually decreased from nearly 100% in the early 1950s to 20% in the 1990s. In contrast to the United States, aerospace uses in Western Europe and Japan account for only 40—50% of the demand (58). The CIS s consumption of titanium metal prior to the breakup was about one-half of the world consumption. In the 1980s, considerable amounts were used for submarine constmction. Since the breakup of the former Soviet Union, the internal consumption of titanium in the CIS is beheved to be a modest fraction of its former capacity, thus leaving a large capacity available for export. The world production faciUties for titanium metal and extraction are given in Table 19. 

Further away in time are possibilities of using fast reactors, though, at least for some decades, not as breeders. The Soviet navy has been using such reactors, using a lead/bismuth eutectic mixture as coolant, for some decades in some of their high performance submarines and it is understood that work is now going on to see whether this design could be made suitable for small commercial power production... 

The space exploration efforts were paralleled in the United States and the Soviet Union by the development of rocket-powered missiles for strategic military use. Such U.S. systems as the Air Force Minuteman, Peacekeeper, and Small ICBM and the Navy submarine-launched Polaris and Trident are widely deployed. 

Sea disposal could be carried out in the following way, similar to the approach used during the Soviet period as discussed in section 2. The reactor vessels and the primary circuits are drained for water and filled with a material like furfurol or a low melting point metallic alloy to fix the damaged fuel and the control rod and to decrease the release of activity to the environment. If need be, additional material, e.g. concrete may be added to the reactor compartment to reduce the radiation level around the submarine. At the same time the floatability of the submarine must be ensured. After these preparations the submarine is transported out to the sea to a proper place, where the submarine is disposed of by sinking. Depending on the state of the submarine, it may by towed to the disposal area or it may have to be transported in a floating dock or by some other means. 

The Soviet Union is truly a formidable military power. In addition to 175 ready divisions in Russia today, the Soviets have under their control almost 400 divisions, when the Satellite and Red Chinese forces are included. Nor are they neglecting their air and naval strength. An example is the recent activity of Soviet submarines in western waters. At the same time that the Soviets are creating massive conventional forces, they are building up a vast nuclear striking power. It is evident that they are prepared to fight any type of war—all-out nuclear, limited atomic, or conventional. 

In addition, the high quality of the submarine components required by SUBSAFE, along with intensified structural inspections, had reduced the availability of critical parts such as seawater piping [8], A year later, in May 1968, Scorpion was lost at sea. Although some have attributed its loss to a Soviet attack, a later investigation of the debris field revealed the most likely cause of the loss was one of its own torpedoes exploding inside the torpedo room [8]. After the Scorpion loss, the need for SUBSAFE was reaffirmed and accepted. 

Each of the four Soviet fleets has its own chemical service which advises the fleet commander on CBR matters, trains chemical officers and sailors, maintains CBR material and depots, and supervises naval CBR units. Each warship, submarine and naval squadron has a chemical officer assigned to it, and most if not all surface ships, from small patrol boats to the largest surface ships, contain some degree of CBR protection. Naval collective protection systems include citadels... 

In the 1970 s, a Soviet test of a new Alfa class nuclear submarine generated enough noise that an American sonar array in the Bahamas, 5,000 miles away, detected the sound. 

Throughout the Cold War, the Soviet Union generally tried at least to match US developments in the nuclear arms race - missiles, warheads and nuclear submarines. However, the Soviet record of nuclear submarine safety was not impressive [6] ... 

For information on Soviet submarine accidents, see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Category Soviet submarine accidents. 

Soviet Oscar-class submarine - http //commons.wikimedia.org/ wiki/File Oscar class submarine 2.JPG... 

Polmar, N. and Moore, K. J. (2003) Cold War Submarines The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945-2001. Dulles, Virginia Potomac Books Inc. 

Starting in the late 1950s, LBE-cooled reactors were designed and built in the Soviet Union for the purpose of submarine propulsion. Eight such submarines were... 

Although LBE-cooled reactors were initially designed and operated for the propulsion of a limited number of Soviet/Russian submarines, this design experience cannot be... 

The development of heavy liquid metal reactors (HLMRs) in Russia stems from its experience with Pb—Bi eutectic coolants in Soviet Alpha-class submarines. Altogether, USSR had eight nuclear submarines and two on-the-ground Pb—Bi-cooled reactor prototypes. Details of the submarine experience are extensively presented... 

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