Sandman

"Cold War Submarines;
The design and construction of US and Soviet Submarines"

By Norman Polmar and K J Moore.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/157...lance&n=283155

-Polmar has had some really intersting books in the past, including many years editions of "The Ships and Aircraft of the U S Fleet". He is clearly very knowlegable, and has composed many interesting books. After reading his book "Cold War Submarines" I was rather suprised at the conclusion that seems to be drawn from the book in that US subs were not as good as their Soviet counterparts toward the end of the cold war. Weapons in every catagory and some the west never had, non acoustic quieting, speed, dive depth, automation all seem to favor the Soviets. Maintenance, reliability, sonar, personnel tallent and experience were US strengths.
I was mistaken to think the US had such a lead, that is if I should take his conclusion. Any thoughts? Is this the general impression of the two sub fleets?

TopHatter

My only thought is that I have never been impressed by Norman Polmar in the least.

The "other" Norman (Dr Friedman) is different story entirely.

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TheGreenSmoke

I always thought that America had quieter and safer submarines compared to Soviet ones.

TopHatter

Safer? Unquestionably. Particularly in areas of radiation shielding.
Apparently the Soviets didn't mind if their submarine crews glowed in the dark.
Not unlike the clean-up workers at Chernobyl.

Quieter? Again, definitely. But thanks to the Walker-Whitworth spy ring, the Soviets were informed of how hideously vulnerable their noisey submarines were and they worked to close the gap. Soviet subs like Akula are a good example of lessons learned.

Horrido

I've heard from a number of sources that Soviet submarine designs were superior performers in the areas of speed, diving depth, and some weapons technologies. Unfortunately, those advantages meant very little when noise and sonar are the deciding factors in submersable warfare, and the west was WAY ahead in those arenas. It's also known that Soviet quality control was attrocious. I toured a Foxtrot diesel submarine commisioned in 1974 with a friend who's a welder. He couldn't wait to get off of it, the welds frightened him to the point he expected it to sink peerside.

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