Indeed, but if the nations that operate in the gulf were aware of a threat from midget subs in Hormuz i’d rather not put my money on the the midget subs.

They may pose a minor threat for a short amount of time, but one Cheonan type incident against Iran’s major naval rivals in Hormuz and suddenly the 2-4 torpedoes carried won’t seem like enough.

Minisubs are not meant for sustained ops anyway so I don’t get your point. Besides, doesn’t Iran also operate russian Kilo class SSKs?

You can say that alot of the equip inside are placed on same spot as on Akula. Just
compare the pictures.

For the Akula sections used the presssure hull arrangement will be the same.

Might also be because those are optimal placements for that equipment.

Not half as crusty as I get on a bad morning ….:rolleyes:
But in general, I would agree with Jonesy, they don’t appear to be in half-bad shape.

Hasn’t the south already obtained a brochure that details the design of the torpedo involved? And conclusion is the explosion occurred near the engine room which was emitting the noise? If logic works here, all point to an acoustic homing torpedo known to the ROK Intel.

Wake homing Heavy torpedo? Consider the speedy current then and shallow water, I never know the north suddenly possesses such top torpedo technology available to mankind.

Heck, I didn’t even know they produced their own torpedoes …. but if they do, it’s probably (a development from) a licence produced version. And if that’s the case, then it may wel be capable of wake homing.

Interesting development: Russians to study warship sinking probe

SEOUL, South Korea – Russian experts arrived in Seoul on Monday to review findings of an investigation that blamed North Korea for the deadly sinking of a South Korean warship, as the South sought to build support for U.N. punishment of the North.
If Russia endorses the multinational probe’s conclusions, the move could convince China and other major powers to support possible U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang for the sinking two months ago of the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors.
…[snip]…
The South Koreans shared the investigation’s findings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao last weekend before a summit, but Beijing has yet to blame North Korea or support any potential U.N. action against its longtime ally.
…[snip]…
The Russian team — including torpedo and submarine experts — arrived Monday and were to stay in South Korea for several days as they review the investigation results and examine the ship’s wreckage, said a Defense Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity citing department policy.

The Danes are building sections of their new destroyers in Estonia & Lithuania & shipping them to Denmark (Odense – where ancestors of mine used to work in the shipyards) for assembly & fitting out.

Photos of Danish destroyers building

Saves money and helps your friends. 😉

I wonder how much of that increased cost projection is built on the turnover of the baby boomer generation with the baby boomer bounce? There is a huge shift in the age of the average worker in the shipbuilding business across the U.S. and the labor costs are killing us. The younger engineers want to get paid like their baby boomer counterparts, which is unsustainable. And the baby boomers want to come back to work as contractors for more than they worked in the unions. The older generation doesn’t want to give up the keys to the house so to speak. (The bank collapse and subsequent stock market spiral really did these older worker’s pension in.) And nobody on either side of the fence will say ‘no’. That causes a real problem with affordability of projects, scaling labor costs beyond the normal 20% mark and skews schedules. Its not a problem just in the shipbuilding industry, its across industry.

They should opt for arrangement such as the Dutch have used for LPD Johan de With and will use for their new JSS toi reduce building cost (base hull construction in Rumania, finishing and fitting out in Dutch yard). I’m convinced this would be feasible for many support and auxiliary ships that I’m sure aare included in the 276 ships to be built. And it can work as a form of development aid at the same time for other countries.

According to SK MoD:

“As for conclusive evidence that can corroborate the use of a torpedo, we have collected propulsion parts, including propulsion motor with propellers and a steering section from the site of the sinking.

The evidence matched in size and shape with the specifications on the drawing presented in introductory materials provided to foreign countries by North Korea for export purposes. The marking in Hangul, which reads “1번” (or No. 1 in English), found inside the end of the propulsion section, is consistent with the marking of a previously obtained North Korean torpedo. The above evidence allowed the JIG to confirm that the recovered parts were made in North Korea.”

Yes, I read the report, thank you. I just find it curious that the conclusion is so different from the earlier reports of a torpedo of German design/build (based on chemical residue and the alloy of which discovered torpedo parts were made). The suggestion being that NK used a german fish to distract/confuse any research after the fact.

http://www.krqe.com/dpp/military/holloman-f-22s-will-deploy-to-japan

Let’s see how Baby Kim’s youngest son handles this escalation. :diablo:

Might be more a signal to the PRC rather than to DPRK