The new submarine U 32 (U212A class) of the German Navy set up a world record. As the first conventional boat it was two weeks long under water without interruption. The boat of the type U212A with 27 men crew on board drove the full distance from the Eckernfoerder bay to the Spanish naval base Rota under water.
The submerged operation of the 11. to 25. April was the longest of a non-nuclear propelled boat in submarine history.
The boat proved the efficiency of the modern gas cell drive independent of outside air with the submerged operation “impressively”, it meant at the navy. After the stopover in the south Spanish port Rota the sub is used in the Mediterranean in the “war against terror”.
Source: german newspapers
By: Arabella-Cox - 12th May 2006 at 05:24
If you have electricity then you can generate oxygen… first you desalinate sea water, and then distill it. (Fuel cells need distilled water or you break them). Once it is distilled the process of electrolysis seperates the Hydrogen from the Oxygen. Scrubbers are needed to remove the carbon dioxide from the air as it doesn’t matter how much oxygen is in the air when you get above something like 15-25% carbon dioxide it becomes toxic.
As for the ISS, they have something completely different and revolutionary, I don’t know what it is but it’s deeply classified in the US military files, I must conclude that they have something new that is on the new Seawolf boats, as most of the other systems are declassified
Was my understanding that the CO2 scrubbers and air system on board the ISS was designed by the US and the Russians. The US modules had US scrubbers and the Russian modules had Russian systems… for quite some time in 2002 the US systems had failed and the Russian scrubbers were used to keep the station habitable.
ie
Mission Control also followed up on repair work on the Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly by Korzun and Whitson. The pair had replaced one of two absorbent beds for the system last week. On Tuesday, flight controllers attempted to activate the replacement bed, which contains Zeolite crystals to absorb the excess carbon dioxide breathed out by the crew. But the replacement bed showed signs of leakage similar to that seen from the original bed, but at a lower rate. Life support systems engineers on the ground suspect there may be another leak elsewhere in the CDRA that was not corrected by the bed replacement, but are still studying the data and considering further options. They verified that the system can still function properly with just one bed in operation. In the meantime, scrubbers in the station’s Russian segment continue to provide all of the carbon dioxide removal required by the Expedition 5 crew and visiting taxi crews.
By: djnik - 28th April 2006 at 13:21
Yes I remember seeing that and the skipper of one of the boats I was previlidged enough to have a trip on had standing orders to shoot anyone caught stealing any machinery. But since he was a well liked Skipper no one ever did anything bad, I remember hearing that he personally supplied all the vodka on board from his own pockets.
I was thinking anything but wine is forbiden on Russian subs?:)
I take it you haven’t seen this system in use. No problem I’ll see if I can find a pic for you, hang on (runs away looking in odd places). Well I didn’ty find any decent pics but heres a website that tells you how Snokeling works.
I have seen the photos of Snorkel in use,i guess i just mixed it up with something else.As i have a great knowledge in German World War 2 technology,i know that the late war German submarines did indeed use Snorkeling devices but these unfortenutely came too late and were too few.
Well that certainly would help with the air situation. I also hear that none of their boats are sea worthy anymore either, can you confirm this.
Sadly,none of the boats are seaworthy.Economic sanctions and the lack of money during that time have prevented any spare parts being bought/manufactured. Also,after the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the sea area to be patroled by the subs has reduced enormously,as they only operate from Montenegro now.They are simply not needed anymore as they have no task to fullfill. As of next month,the union of Serbia and Montenegro will seize to exist most probably and i guess those submarines will be scrapped.I would have liked if they save at least one as a museum.
I will try and locate a tunnel in the mountain where some of the ships and subs were stored. Some are also in the port of Kotor,tied to the piers.
If you would like,i can email you all the photos of our submarines.Just send me a private message with your address.
By: Ja Worsley - 28th April 2006 at 12:06
I read some time ago that the Russian nuke boats use some gold and other precious metals in their air filters and that these components were being stolen which as you can conculde is not a very good thing to do. As i recall it was on BBC.
Yes I remember seeing that and the skipper of one of the boats I was previlidged enough to have a trip on had standing orders to shoot anyone caught stealing any machinery. But since he was a well liked Skipper no one ever did anything bad, I remember hearing that he personally supplied all the vodka on board from his own pockets.
I know that these filters are quite big but my argument above was that also during longer space flights,for example the Apollo missions,some kind of air filter was used and as you know what the size of these spacecraft was,why would it be hard to manufacture something today that could fit into an SSK?
I don’t doubt that smaller units could be manufactured, the only problem is maintaining them. Smaller units need to run at a higher RPM to push the air through the sub, as opposed to those larger units. The equation is something like a 1/2m diameter fan needs only to turn at 150 RPM to provide enough air throughout a 30m boat, by decreasing the size of the fan, you decrease the size of it’s effective area, thus you need to make it turn faster to push the air to the extremities of the boat and working in the engine room where it gets quite hot does require a little more air!
When submarine snorts,does it use some type of a snorkel like device to get fresh air or it surfaces completely?
I take it you haven’t seen this system in use. No problem I’ll see if I can find a pic for you, hang on (runs away looking in odd places). Well I didn’ty find any decent pics but heres a website that tells you how Snokeling works.
Our submarines in the Navy of Serbia and Montenegro cannot even dive anymore,so we have no problems with fresh air
Well that certainly would help with the air situation. I also hear that none of their boats are sea worthy anymore either, can you confirm this?
Are you still serving on subs or?
No sadly, but I do miss it. As a result of my time in, I came out of the navy with Agrophobia, that is fear of crowds. These days I tend to get a bit angry if there are too many people around me.
I am jelous
You have every right to be, you are after all, only human. For god made man and he was happy, but then the war with Satan started and he needed a sneaky son of a gun to really do damage and he created the Submariner, mwhahahahaha! “SRD”
Just kidding mate, I had fun when I was in, but I am having more fun now that I am out!
By: djnik - 28th April 2006 at 10:20
DJnik: mate your chemistry equasion is bang on, yes nuke boat do have some heavy scrubbers for the air filtration units but they are ver big and cumbersome, the reason that SSk’s don’t have them is because of their size. Reguardless, they do still have to Snort every five days just to change the air in the tub.
When I was on HMAS Onslow, we snorted every two days and had oxygen candels in between. One HMAS Collins, we had a five day air supply but snorted every three anyway.
As for the ISS, they have something completely different and revolutionary, I don’t know what it is but it’s deeply classified in the US military files, I must conclude that they have something new that is on the new Seawolf boats, as most of the other systems are declassified
I read some time ago that the Russian nuke boats use some gold and other precious metals in their air filters and that these components were being stolen which as you can conculde is not a very good thing to do. As i recall it was on BBC.
I know that these filters are quite big but my argument above was that also during longer space flights,for example the Apollo missions,some kind of air filter was used and as you know what the size of these spacecraft was,why would it be hard to manufacture something today that could fit into an SSK?
When submarine snorts,does it use some type of a snorkel like device to get fresh air or it surfaces completely?
Our submarines in the Navy of Serbia and Montenegro cannot even dive anymore,so we have no problems with fresh air 😀
P.S: Are you still serving on subs or? I am jelous:)
By: pred - 28th April 2006 at 09:50
Didn’t mean to imply that the fuel-cell would produce oxygen, rather that substantial supply of oxygen is available for the fuel, though on second thoughts the idea that some of this may be “diverted” for life sustaining measures in the boat seems a little too ambitious.
By: Ja Worsley - 28th April 2006 at 08:41
DJnik: mate your chemistry equasion is bang on, yes nuke boat do have some heavy scrubbers for the air filtration units but they are ver big and cumbersome, the reason that SSk’s don’t have them is because of their size. Reguardless, they do still have to Snort every five days just to change the air in the tub.
When I was on HMAS Onslow, we snorted every two days and had oxygen candels in between. One HMAS Collins, we had a five day air supply but snorted every three anyway.
As for the ISS, they have something completely different and revolutionary, I don’t know what it is but it’s deeply classified in the US military files, I must conclude that they have something new that is on the new Seawolf boats, as most of the other systems are declassified
By: djnik - 27th April 2006 at 22:46
Fuel cell reaction uses oxygen,it doesnt not produce it.
Anode Reaction: 2H2 => 4H+ + 4e-
Cathode Reaction: O2 + 4H+ + 4e- => 2H2O
Overall Cell Reaction: 2H2 + O2 => 2H2O
Nuclear submarines especially have air filters built in an i do not see what is the problem with normal diesel submarines having the same. Think also of the ISS (International Space Station),those guys must have air filters as there is no other source.
By: pred - 27th April 2006 at 11:49
According to the statement put out by the German Navy they operated without access to fresh air for those two weeks. No way to check if they “broke the rules” by snorkeling but I am inclined to think that with air-recycling and on-board oxygen tanks for the fuel-cell system something can be worked out, though quality may be suffering. Nuclear subs use air-recycling no?
http://www.marine.de/01DB070000000001/CurrentBaseLink/W26P8EDN307INFODE
By: Ja Worsley - 27th April 2006 at 07:51
Surely they snorkled, on a trip that long they would have done it at least three times, if only to change the air in the boat!
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April 26, 2006 at 11:10 am