Type 214 submarine in drydock
Posted on 04/16/2010 8:11:49 PM PDT by ErnstStavroBlofeld
Turkey was examining the prospect of acquiring naval submarines rejected by neighboring Greece. Turkish sources said Ankara could acquire up to six Type 214 submarines from Germany. They said the Turkish Navy could receive the underwater vessels for one-third less than their original price.
"This has become a major issue in Turkish relations with Germany," a source said.
In 2009, Germany's ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, citing a 524 million euro debt by Athens, canceled a multi-billion-euro submarine project with the Hellenic Navy. The navy had refused to pay for the first Type 214 submarine, complaining that the platform was defective.
The cancellation endangered the future of Hellenic Shipyards, owned by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems, and contracted to assemble four of the submarines. In March 2010, the Greek government agreed to acquire four of the submarines in an attempt to rescue Hellenic Shipyards. Athens has already sought to unload the first submarine, named Papanikolis, for about 350 million euro.
Under the deal, Hellenic Shipyards would build two of the submarines for the Greek navy under Project Archimedes. The sources said this would facilitate the sale of the shipyards to the Mar Group of the United Arab Emirates.
The sources said German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Turkey to consider purchasing the Type 214 submarines meant for Athens. They said Ms. Merkel briefed Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and other officials on the submarine during her visit to Ankara in late March.
Turkish analyst Suleyman Yasar warned that the Type 214 vessels were not suitable for the Turkish Navy. Yasar, in a report in the Turkish daily Tafar on April 6, asserted that the Type 214 was noisy and likely to tip over.
(Excerpt) Read more at geostrategy-direct.com ...
From what I understand, these are conventional subs, non nuke powerplants?
Man, I hate that in a submarine.
Huh? What a ridiculous thing to say about a German built submarine.
They are diesel/electric just like the WW2 uboats. However they are very quiet and pose problems for American Nukes.
They are diesel-electric submarines
Thanks for the reply. I just can’t imagine a diesel sub posing problems for a nuke. Will investigate further.
Thanks, see #8
They can be very quiet running on batteries, I would expect. Diesel...not so much!
They can only run on batteries for so long. If there is a nuke sub in the vicinity that even suspects another sub in the area ... they can wait for months for the apposing sub to “jump”. Just having fun with ideas ... ex destroyer sailor speaking.
Absolutely...there are two sides to that. I would take a nuclear sub ANY day of the week.
Thanks for your service...:) What did you serve on?
A diesel/electric can turn off every single thing that makes noise so that the loudest thing on the boat is the crew breathing.
Now imagine them lying in wait with their torpedoes in the tubes. It's over before the nuke knows the other guy is even there.
Even when the D/E is running under batteries they are like Elmer Fudd quiet. The ChiComs have already caused us plenty of embarrassment using D/Es and sneaking into our carrier groups.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Chinese submarine stalked a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier battle group in the Pacific last month and was undetected until it surfaced within firing range, The Washington Times reported on Monday.
The Chinese Song-class diesel-powered attack submarine was seen within five miles of the carrier Kitty Hawk and its accompanying warships on October 26, the newspaper said, citing defense officials.
The surfaced submarine was spotted by a routine surveillance flight by one of the U.S. carrier group's planes, the report said.....
What do they know about submarines anyways? ...
Sell them to Guam!
Greece wanted the yellow kind(for free) which DeutchLande didn’t have.That way they could get away from it all.
Take a cruise,let other people worry about stuff like solving their country’s problems.
Funny how some names don't seem to ever go away...
>>> I just can’t imagine a diesel sub posing problems for a nuke. Will investigate further.
Electric boats are quieter then nuclear boats. And advancements in air filtering let them stay submerged for a couple of weeks.
A couple of years ago the USN leased a Swedish diesel electric submarine and crew to test ASW techniques. The Swedes usually “sank” the US targets.
An online story sez the S. Koreans are also buying the Kockums Type 214, having passed (interestingly) on a couple of competing offers of three low-mileage secondhand Kilo II's and newbuild French Scorpene types.
Maybe we ought to buy the Greek 214 and the Kilos for evaluation. They'd be the first pigboats in the U.S. OOB since the Albacore was retired, if memory serves.
Sometimes you don't need a Seawolf fast-attack on station; sometimes you just need a submarine.
The Song class is a quickie fill-in production run of a modestly-updated Romeo-class design that the Chinese were building under license back in the 50's and 60's. The Songs were run out after a more-modern design was deepsixed for budgetary considerations but the PLA-N needed to retire their Romeos.
And for the not-quite-up-to-speed, the Romeo design was a twin-engine version of the Whiskey class, which in turn was an ever-so-slightly Russified, quickly-built version of the captured German Type XXI design. The Zulu followed the Romeo, and was a three-engine, slightly enlarged version. Some Zulus were later modified into SSB's to carry two SS-N-4 medium-range SLBM's in an enlarged sail. Other variants followed.
I post all this to emphasize that the Song, unlike the Kilo class, was never built to pose a threat to Western assets, but as a fleet utility submarine of nearly-antique design, a definite bench player. It is in no way comparable to the Kockums and Kilo designs being produced nowadays.
If that Song didn't have a U.S. fast-attack on his skinny butt the whole time, I'll eat my hat.
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