Kotterdam
27-09-2003, 09:46
Silverfish Supercavitating Self-Guided Torpedo
(SCSG Torpedo)
Specifications
Primary Function Heavyweight torpedo for submarines
Secondary Function Defensive ("Revenge") Snapshot Weapon
Contractor Viking Military Technologies
Power Plant Solid Rocket
Length 5.79 meters
Weight 1,766.74 kilograms
Diameter 53.34 centimeters
Range 12 kilometers
Speed 360 kilometers per hour
Depth 1,000 meters
Guidance System Passive/Active Acoustic Homing
Warhead 362.87 kg (800 lbs) high explosive
Unit Cost $5 million
Notes
The Silverfish is the final product of an extensive design project jointly run by DOKNRD and Viking Military Technologies, parent company of Viking Firearms. The purpose of this project was to improve the capabilities of the DKN's submarine force by providing them with a new high-speed torpedo.
Self-Guided and supremely lethal, the Silverfish is what is known as a supercavitating weapon. It operates using a solid rocket motor to propel it at speeds of three hundred and sixty kilometers an hour. Based off of concepts used in the construction of the Russian Shkval-series of torpedoes, the Silverfish was developed to give Kotterite submarines similar capabilites.
The Silverfish utilizes the principle of supercavitation in its operation. Fast moving objects in water, generally ones with sharp edges, such as propellers can, through their passage, lower the pressure of the water around them until it reaches a point so low that the water becomes vapour, forming little bubbles, much like when you boil water. Unlike heat-formed bubbles, however, these ones are unstable, and when they encounter more normal water pressures, they implode violently. This is called cavitation.
Supercavitating projectiles utilize this effect to create a renewable bubble of vapour around themselves through which they travel, greatly reducing the friction acting upon the device in question. Generally, the size and length of this bubble is dictated by speed. The Silverfish, however, like the Shkval before it uses a process called ventilated supercavitation by which a portion of the torpedo's exhaust gasses are released through outlets near the nose of the torpedo, providing it with a bubble large enough for the weapon.
This allows the Silverfish to travel faster and deeper than the weapons that have come before, resulting in damage from kinetic energy exchange on impact as well as simply from the detonation of the warhead, as with previous torpedoes. Although the speed, guidance system, impact, and increased warhead size almost guarantees a kill, the MK48 ADCAP torpedo remains in service with the DKN as well as the Silverfish simply because one can buy two ADCAPs for every Silverfish.
(SCSG Torpedo)
Specifications
Primary Function Heavyweight torpedo for submarines
Secondary Function Defensive ("Revenge") Snapshot Weapon
Contractor Viking Military Technologies
Power Plant Solid Rocket
Length 5.79 meters
Weight 1,766.74 kilograms
Diameter 53.34 centimeters
Range 12 kilometers
Speed 360 kilometers per hour
Depth 1,000 meters
Guidance System Passive/Active Acoustic Homing
Warhead 362.87 kg (800 lbs) high explosive
Unit Cost $5 million
Notes
The Silverfish is the final product of an extensive design project jointly run by DOKNRD and Viking Military Technologies, parent company of Viking Firearms. The purpose of this project was to improve the capabilities of the DKN's submarine force by providing them with a new high-speed torpedo.
Self-Guided and supremely lethal, the Silverfish is what is known as a supercavitating weapon. It operates using a solid rocket motor to propel it at speeds of three hundred and sixty kilometers an hour. Based off of concepts used in the construction of the Russian Shkval-series of torpedoes, the Silverfish was developed to give Kotterite submarines similar capabilites.
The Silverfish utilizes the principle of supercavitation in its operation. Fast moving objects in water, generally ones with sharp edges, such as propellers can, through their passage, lower the pressure of the water around them until it reaches a point so low that the water becomes vapour, forming little bubbles, much like when you boil water. Unlike heat-formed bubbles, however, these ones are unstable, and when they encounter more normal water pressures, they implode violently. This is called cavitation.
Supercavitating projectiles utilize this effect to create a renewable bubble of vapour around themselves through which they travel, greatly reducing the friction acting upon the device in question. Generally, the size and length of this bubble is dictated by speed. The Silverfish, however, like the Shkval before it uses a process called ventilated supercavitation by which a portion of the torpedo's exhaust gasses are released through outlets near the nose of the torpedo, providing it with a bubble large enough for the weapon.
This allows the Silverfish to travel faster and deeper than the weapons that have come before, resulting in damage from kinetic energy exchange on impact as well as simply from the detonation of the warhead, as with previous torpedoes. Although the speed, guidance system, impact, and increased warhead size almost guarantees a kill, the MK48 ADCAP torpedo remains in service with the DKN as well as the Silverfish simply because one can buy two ADCAPs for every Silverfish.