We could easily be building that type of boat for export and our fleet. Is there anyone left with a brain at Fort Fumble?
I'd want to be looking for a different name for that class of ship.
but can it transform into a giant robot?
The pic shows a rather conventional looking shape. The sub I saw had a very unique angular look to it, almost like the fact design of a F117. Very strange and different after watching our subs transit the same channel. It rode a lot higher on the surface as well.
Never looked into the design of it, just enjoyed the incongruity of watching the Japanese flag flying atop a submarine coming into Pearl Harbor.
If Obama was CIC during WWII, the people West of the Mississippi would be speaking Japanese and the people East of the Mississippi would be speaking German, or is it Austrian?
I would think for nations interested primarily in coastal defense and defending their territorial waters, a conventional boat would be a better choice than a nuclear-powered one in many cases. A lot cheaper to build, probably a lot easier and less expensive to maintain. With the advent of high endurance AIP and other fuel cell technology replacing batteries as the submerged boat’s power source of choice, I also suspect that these boats could lurk very silently for very long periods of time.
I’m just an Armchair Admiral, of course. I could be wrong on all fronts here.
I hope they installed a top-of-the-line karaoke machine in the galley since the ladies will now be on board.
Some details from Wikipedia on the Soryu class:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S%C5%8Dry%C5%AB-class_submarine
Note the potential weapons load of 30 torpedoes or Harpoons.