Future Weapons

Planterz said:
I tried watching that show, but failed. It'd be a lot more interesting without that guy overdramatizing everything.
Click to expand...

First time after watching the guy talk for a minute I just had to switch channel. You can tell by the tone of his voice that he's full of shit... Most of the stuff they show on the show I've seen a year ago by surfing military forums. It is however nice to see the videos in higher quality.. I can get by the show by putting it on mute.
 
There is a school of thought that the modern diesel-electric submarine, using very long-life batteries, can run super silent and super stealthy. Its problem is that, at some point, it must cme up to snorkle depth and use the diesel engines to recharge the batteries as well as the air system. Nuclear subs do not need to do this, but they tend, so I have read, to be a bit noisier. At least some of them are noisier, which is why the missile subs are called "Boomers".
 
FullerH said:
Nuclear subs do not need to do this, but they tend, so I have read, to be a bit noisier. At least some of them are noisier, which is why the missile subs are called "Boomers".
Click to expand...

Is that right? I thought the term "boomer" referred to the ordnance, specifically the ballistic missiles on an SSBN. Where are the Navy guys? Boats - are you there?
 
Irezumi - no it was a .308/7.62x51 round. He was showing the different ammo used by the U.S. Military going from smallest to largest. Showed the .223/5.56 NATO and said it was chambered in the M-16. Then he held up the .308/7.62x51 and said this round is chambered in the Machineguns and AK-47. Then went all dramatic showing how much larger the .50 cal was.

Watched a bit of an episode the other night. Part I saw was on a new German Howitzer that was pretty cool. Not a bad show, but I hope they watch out for the errors like that. Might not of bugged me as much if all the ads on it did not spout off about it being hosted by a "Former Navy Seal" etc.
 
FullerH said:
There is a school of thought that the modern diesel-electric submarine, using very long-life batteries, can run super silent and super stealthy. Its problem is that, at some point, it must cme up to snorkle depth and use the diesel engines to recharge the batteries as well as the air system. Nuclear subs do not need to do this, but they tend, so I have read, to be a bit noisier. At least some of them are noisier, which is why the missile subs are called "Boomers".
Click to expand...

Modern Nuclear Subs are not noisy. They are the pinnacle of underwater technology, and can operate undetected anywhere in the world. This is true for American subs, and probably the later Russian subs.

Fact is, nobody is going to let a bunch of assholes on an American missile sub with cameras. So the show decided to bend reality to fit their access.

The brits let them on a small and inferior boat, and that is all they had to work with- so they went all "Cold Steel" on the product and tried to say it was the best.

Surely they wouldn't want to admit that the technology they are showing isn't "future", or even "State of the art"- and that they don't have clearance to show the best stuff.

Missile subs are called "Boomers" for a reason, but it isn't because they are noisy.

Nukes go "Boom";)
 
Not according to the submariners of my acquaintance. The missile subs acquired that name back in the 1970s and 1980s and they were noisy as Hell in comparison to the hunter/killer subs, or so I was told. This is most likely not true of the Ohio Class Triton subs, however, as they are at least 1 1/2 generations newer than the newest of the Polaris subs.

As to the diesel-electric subs, I had read of a then West German navy sub that played Hell with the American nukes in NATO exercises in the 1980s because it was so quiet. But it was designed only as a short range sort of vessel for use in the Baltic and North Sea. It was most definitely not a deep ocean sub.
 
You are probably correct, the Ohio Class are the ones I consider "Modern"
the 70's and 80's are badly outdated now. The sub they showed on the futureweapons show might well have come from this era.
As I understand it, most of the noise in older Nuclear subs came from the pumps circulating reactor coolant. I could be wrong, as I have only hazy recollection from books on the subject.

I guess I could be wrong about the "Boomer" nickname, although that makes more sense to me- what else goes "Boom" on a sub?
 
If you read Tom Clancy's THe Hunt for Red October, you will find that he discusses the origin of the term "Boomer" and talks about how the USN hunter-killer subs of the time had it easy tracking either the Soviet or the American missile subs by their noise. That was what was supposed to be so threatening about the Red October and its "Caterpillar Drive". But Clancy is not the only place where that bit of history of the name "Boomer" appeared, I have read it elsewhere, I just can't place it at the moment.

I will stipulate that most of what I know of nuclear subs comes from the 1980s at the latest, as that was when most of the folks whom I knew who were involved retired.
 
I stand corrected. I have read most of Tom Clancy's books, but that one might have been skipped over. He gets details like that pretty accurately in his books, and perhaps he has even written some non-fiction on the subject, although I have not read any. SO if TC and your USN Buddies say it, that is good enough for me. I certainly have no reference to look up on the matter.

I think "Clunker" would make a better nickname for a noisy boat- worked good for most of my cars. :D
 
Boomer's are by no means noisy. In fact, the location of our missle subs is one of the most closely guarded secrets as they are extremely difficult to track. They wouldn't be effective otherwise. I'd say that Clancy took some real liberties in that book (his first) if you are recounting it correctly.

And yes, diesel electric boats have traditionally been quieter than nukes because they can shut down EVERYTHING. You try to shut down your RCPs (reactor coolant pumps) and you will have serious problems.

Mark
 
From what I read , Boomers are silent, fast attack, nuclear subs.

"A nickname for a ballistic missile submarine, based upon the fact that nuclear warheads detonate, or "boom," at their targets. Known in UK English as 'bombers'."
 
GFarrell3 said:
From what I read , Boomers are silent, fast attack, nuclear subs.

"A nickname for a ballistic missile submarine, based upon the fact that nuclear warheads detonate, or "boom," at their targets. Known in UK English as 'bombers'."
Click to expand...

Fast attack subs attack other subs and ships. They aren't boomers.

I still believe that boomers are subs that are designated SSBN, regardless of their class. If they carry ballistic missiles (SSBN designation) they are boomers.

My source for this information is hearsay - I got it from my brother-in-law a bunch of years ago when he was a Senior Chief on the SSBN Will Rogers. He said it carried ballistic missiles which accounted for the "B" in SSBN, was nuclear powered, hence the "N" and was called a "boomer" because of the missiles.

Who's right? I dunno - who cares? Funny thing about "nicknames" - they can mean different things to different people. As to the current status of those involved, my brother-in-law is now my former brother-in-law and is retired from the Navy, and the Will Rogers, the last of the 41 For Freedom boomers, is decommissioned and presumably in some scrap heap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top