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Can they out run a torpedo? The Skvall goes 200kts.
But it cannot turn to follow a moving target. The sub has to get very close.

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I don’t know who told you that torpedoes can’t turn but they were wrong. Even the super cavaitating torpedoes the Russians have can modify their course just not nearly so well as other fish, but then again at 200 knots with a nuclear warhead they only have to get close. Modern non-supercavitating torpedoes not only can turn and be guided by a trailing wire from miles away, but if the wire is severed or the range gets too far the torpedo can go into search mode on its own to find and re-engage the target. These torpedoes in slow mode are quiet and have a very long range.

With small thermonuclear warheads they don’t have to get as close as they used to. The tidal wave from one weapon can take out the whole task force.

Submarines have their own problems, once found they can be destroyed. The Russians used to try to follow us out of port and stay with us to know where we were so that in the event of hostilities they could destroy us quickly. Once we got lost in the deep water with a variety of different temperature layers it was much harder for them to keep track of us.

The speed of submarines is great for transiting, but you seldom use speed tactically, speed means noise. The submarine service is called the “silent service” for good reason. On patrol we seldom exceeded 5 knots and usually ran at about 3 knots. The screw turned slow enough that there was no cavitation at all, all the noise generated was generated by systems connected to the hull.

In those days we were considered quiet, very quiet but we didn’t compare to the new electric boats. They have sound dampeners on the shaft so that even the bearing noise of the electric motors is not transmitted into the water. While we had a water dampening system in the old days it was not nearly good at keeping the turbine noise out of the water as the new electric boats keep shaft noise out of the water. The skin of the new boats are covered in rubber, the decks are mounted on thick sound absorbers. Now even the shapes of boats from design on has only one thing in mind, don’t make or reflect sound.

USS Patrick Henry SSBN 599(N)