"As I remember, someone in this thread was worried about China's "new" Kilo submarines. Those 1980's era boats are slow underwater and noisy when they're using their diesels to charge their batteries. So, no problemo..."
The new versions of the Kilo-class that the Chinese are building now are far superior to what they aquired from the Russians. Their reliability has been excellent and are able to use advanced torpedoes & anti-ship/land-attack missiles. They are about as quiet on batteries, and can run on them about as long, as the latest of European diesel-electrics. But those are only a stop-gap. If current free trade policies continue on for the next 10-20 years you'll see them building Virginia/Seawolf equivalent SSN's & Ohio-equivalent SSBN's.
As for replying to post 471 it looks like Paul Ross has said it all and more.