NationStates Jolt Archive

New from VanDoos Shipyards in the Dominion of Kotterdam and General Electromagnetics in the United City-States of New Empire, the Poseidon-class SSRN, or Railgun Attack Submarine - Nuclear Powered is a direct response to the naval arms race now gripping our world, and the proliferation of Super-Dreadnoughts. Incorporating a number of new advancements from both the Dominion and the UCSNE, as well as a powerplant of a design tracing its lineage back to technology purchased from Treznor, the Poseidon-class is only the second class of SSRN known to the Dominion Intelligence Services at this time. This design is being closely held by the two involved nations, and while it is being revealed to the world, sales shall be extremely limited, if they are approved at all.

Poseidon-Class Railgun Attack Submarine

Primary Contractors
VanDoos Shipyards - Electric Boat Division (Dominion)
General Electromagnetics (UCSNE)
Power Plant
1x Landyne LF-441 Cold Fusion Pile Reactor
2x HydroDynamix Corp. Ducted Superconducting Electromagnetic Propulsion (DSEMP (http://www.cs.arizona.edu/japan/www/atip/public/atip.reports.91/ship.html)) Drives
Length 400 ft 8 in (121.0 m)
Draft 40 ft 0 in (15.41 meters)
Beam 46 ft 7 in (11.44 meters)
Speed 36 knots dived
Operating Depth 3,000 feet
Armament
1x EMRAMS Advanced Ordiance Delivery System
2x 660mm Heavy Torpedo Tubes
6x 533mm Medium Torpedo Tubes
12x Submarine VLS Cells
Ordinance
4x AGM-84 Harpoon Anti-Shipping Missiles (VLS Single Packs)
4x BGM-214 Strike Surge Multi-Role Cruise Missiles (VLS Single Packs)
10x LRAMM Cruise Torpedoes (Torp)
10x BGM-201 Railspike Multi-Role Cruise Missiles (Railgun)
16x RIM-112A Super Spearhawk Missiles (VLS Quad Packs)
20x Supercavitating Railgun Shells (Railgun)
40x Mark 48 ADCAP Torpedoes (Torp)
Crew 9 Officers; 90 Enlisted
Cost $ 4,500,000,000

Notes
A joint venture between the United City-States of New Empire and the Dominion of Kotterdam, the Poseidon-Class Railgun Attack Submarine is the single most advanced naval vessel in the Dominion Navy. Designated an SSRN, the Poseidon-class is built around the EMRAMS Advanced Ordinance Delivery System, as well as a cold fusion power system developed from the unit employed on the earlier Salem-class SSN. As with that earlier vessel, the Poseidon's powerplant does not operate on the same principles as the conventional fission plants on most nuclear submarines, and has none of the plant noises that are the Achilles heel of normal SSNs. As well, the powerful DSEMP drive used in her design has no moving parts and thus eliminates cavitation noises altogether, allowing the Poseidon to sprint at maximum speed without radiating enough noise to classify herself as a target on passive sonar. She is quieter than most diesel submarines running on battery power, and with a disciplined crew, it is absolutely silent. In fact, what noise it does radiate is so unlike that of a conventional submarine that even if a sonar operator could hear it, he wouldn't understand what he was listening to.

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. The Poseidon does have a weakness - Magnetic Anomaly Detectors. MAD gear. A standard part of any modern navy's airborne ASW arsenal, MAD gear generally detects a submerged target by looking for the deviation in the Earth's magnetic field caused by the metal in its hull. The DSEMP drive is nothing more than a series of powerful electromagnets, and thus any ship using them shows up like a beacon on MAD gear. The designers of the Poseidon recognized that, however, and have attempted to compensate by minimizing the usage of metal in the vessel's construction, instead opting to use high strength synthetic fibre composites, ceramics, and plastics wherever possible, and using non-magnetic metals where these alternatives were not practical. The result: A Poseidon-class submarine sitting still, or drifting has a smaller MAD signature than a submarine of the Seawolf or Trafalgar classes.

It is when the DSEMP drives are engaged that detection using MAD gear becomes a real threat. When maneuvering at full speed, a vessel operating a DSEMP propulsion system has very little chance of escaping detection by Magnetic Anomaly Detectors. At speeds of twenty knots and below, however, the Poseidon-class vessel's vulnerability to MAD detection is on a par with that of conventional submarines - It is a serious danger, but not a crippling liability. The ocean is a very large place, and unless an enemy knows relatively where a submarine is operating to begin with, the odds of being caught by a MAD unit are low. To take advantage of this impressive stealth capability, the Poseidon has an integral dry-deck shelter attached to the aft edge of the sail to simplify the insertion of naval special forces.

Tactical Systems:
When engineers refer to the Poseidon's powerplant in the singular, they are technically incorrect. Rather than one, the Poseidon-class actually maintains no fewer than two full-scale cold fusion plants. Whereas this would leave almost no room for anything else on a conventional submarine, the compact nature of cold fusion plants makes the use of dual powerplants practical. A cold fusion plant does not use dangerous fissionables, will not meltdown, and does not require the same safety measures. Since it uses nothing more dangerous than hydrogen, it does not require bulky radiation shielding, and employs no cooling system, or oversized turbines. This means that the cold fusion plant takes up far less space than a conventional fission plant, or even a diesel engine. As a result, the Poseidon-class carries two - One for general power generation, and the other to operate the EMRAMS Advanced Ordinance Delivery System.

The EMRAMS, or ElectroMagnetic RAilgun - Multirole, Supercavitating serves as the Poseidon-class's primary weapon system. Mounted along the dorsal surface of the hull in such a way that while surfaced, the weapon is clear of the water, granting it a whole new capability. While submerged, the railgun fires sixteen-inch supercavitating shells at high speeds to engage hard targets from long range. As a standard load, it fires a sixteen-inch round with a four-inch high-density osmium penetrator designed to punch holes in the armoured hulls of the superdreadnoughts and battlecruisers that seem to have become popular of late. Additionally, against softer targets, the EMRAMS can fire a wide range of more conventional payloads including a high-powered thermium nitrate warhead capable of breaking the spines of all but the sturdiest warships.

Additionally, the Poseidon makes use of a pair of 660mm heavy torpedo tubes to handle the new LRAMM (Pronounced El-Ram) Long Range Advanced Multirole Munition, the so-called "cruise torpedo". Essentially a suicide drone, the LRAM is produced in three seperate varieties, all with submerged ranges of up to 160 nautical miles at speeds greater than forty knots. The first and most commonly used variety employs a heavy warhead to create a subsurface shockwave. Originally, this was intended as a kind of long-range sub-launched depth charge for engaging concentrations of submarines, and it does extremely well in that role, the shock of the impact causing leaks and structural damage. During tests, however, a malfunction in the fuze of one of the prototype weapons revealed an unplanned capability - When detonated in close proximity to surface ships, the shockwave is sufficiently powerful to actually physically destroy the fragile pickups of both active and passive sonar systems, essentially deafening the ship carrying them until the components are replaced - A repair that can only be performed in drydock.

Officially, the effective range as a depth charge is less than a half-mile, and as a sonar denial weapon it is only supposed to be able to deafen ships out to two miles, but during that failed test, the DNS Antwerp, a Tripoli-class destroyer on naval reserve duty had her sonar knocked out from almost two and a half miles away. Designers have attributed that to the age of the equipment in use, and warn that actual effective range may actually be less than even the two-mile limit. The powerful warhead required to create this shockwave has been squeezed into the weapon only at the expense of its terminal guidance systems, and as a result, the LRAMM-D, or LRAMM Denial is only equipped with a basic inertial guidance module, unlike other versions of this weapon. This means that only against stationary targets could the LRAMM-D be used as a direct-attack munition, and even then it has almost no armour penetration capabilities to speak of.

To compensate for this, the LRAMM-S, or LRAMM Standoff was manufactured. Carrying a warhead almost twice the weight and nearly fifteen times as powerful as the Mk48 thanks to its use fo thermium nitrate explosive, the LRAMM-S model is a long-range weapon intended to engage and destroy priority targets such as carriers from beyond the range of their anti-submarine defenses, the LRAMM-S employs inertial guidance for most of its trip, then, once it has entered the target area, it acquires the enemy using its Active Terminal Guidance system. The LRAMM-S is relatively unique amongst active torpedoes in that it does not use sonar for ATG. Rather, it uses a short-range blue-green LIDAR to engage the enemy vessel without the target vessel being aware of its presence. The final version of the LRAAM is the LRAAM-N, essentially an LRAAM-D with a 200kt nuclear warhead attached in place of the sonar-denial weapon. This is intended, primarily, to destroy entire fleets while in port.

The LRAMM's exceptional speed, endurance, and small size, not to mention nearly silent operation is accomplished by using a small-scale version of the same cold fusion power core and Ducted Superconducting Electromagnetic Propulsion system as the Poseidon herself. This, combined with the weapon's advanced electronics and warheads means that each individual LRAMM costs $ 1.3 Million US Dollars. Considering, however, that they are designed to help destroy vessels pricing in the multi-billion dollar range, however, this is generally viewed as an acceptable expense. Once you consider that no other weapon systems operate in quite the same manner, or offer the same capabilities, there aren't much in terms of countermeasures available for such a system - Largely because, as mentioned before, it hasn't been done before, not with this degree of sophistication. Unlike conventional torpedoes, the enemy is unlikely to be aware of the LRAMM's presence until it is far too late.

Dorsally, the Poseidon mounts no fewer than twelve VLS cells, six to either side of the spinally-mounted railgun. In Dominion and UCSNE examples of this vessel, the first four cells are generally loaded with four Super Spearhawk Surface-to-Air Missiles a piece. Possessed of a truly rare ability for a SAM, naval or otherwise, these compact missiles are more than capable of being launched while submerged, allowing the Poseidon to swat enemy aircraft out of the air. As a result, the Poseidon poses a serious threat to enemy ASW aircraft, and a squadron of submarines equipped with these missiles and positioned along an aerial strike force's line of attack could prove a lethal surprise for the pilots. Using its mast-mounted multi-function LIDAR system, it can track and engage aerial targets up to a maximum range of fifty miles without warning its targets of the danger, while the missile itself can pursue targets even further.

Additionally, along with its hemispherical active sonar in the bow array, and its lateral passive sonar systems, not to mention the towed array, the Poseidon includes a new active sensor to allow it to track targets without alerting them to its presence. An all-aspect blue-green LIDAR System is included in a first for a Dominion naval vessel. Although it is no replacement for sonar as of yet, it is certainly an effective addition to the Poseidon's tactical systems. Along with a number of new torpedo designs being tested in the Dominion, this blue-green LIDAR allows the Poseidon to engage enemy vessels with its six 533mm torpedo tubes without alerting the enemy to its presence.

One final capability granted the Poseidon by its advanced design is the ability to launch the new BGM-201 Railspike Rail-Launched Multirole Cruise Missile. Fired from the dorsally-mounted railgun while surfaced, and accelerated to several times the speed of sound, the modular Railspike missile can carry a wide variety of payloads, ranging from thermium nitrate warheads to plasma yield devices to combined effect submunitions. Built around a scramjet engine, and traveling at speeds in excess of seven times the speed of sound, the Railspike uses a combination of LIDAR, GPS, Command, and Inertial guidance to strike targets with a margin of error slightly more than one meter from up to eight hundred and fifty miles away.

Propulsion:
As if her other capabilities weren't enough, the Poseidon continues what has become a Dominion naval tradition and does not employ any form of screw or pumpjet propulsor for its primary drive system. Instead, it uses a new form of propulsion - Utterly silent, even up to maximum speed, fully reversable, and incredibly reliable. The new drive is known as a Ducted Superconducting Electromagnetic Propulsion (http://www.cs.arizona.edu/japan/www/atip/public/atip.reports.91/ship.html) drive, or DSEMP. It functions by using strong superconducting electromagnets to develop a strong magnetic field in the surrounding water. Current is then fed through the water to cross the magnetic field. This interaction between the magnetic field and the current generates electromagnetic force to propel the ship. The DSEMP drive generates these magnetic fields in water running through twin ducts that pass from bow to stern. DSEMP systems are incredibly durable, and the twin units mounted on the Poseidon-class are capable of continuing operation with less than twenty-five percent of the drive segments destroyed. With no moving parts, they are also very reliable, and require little maintenance. There is one weakness to the SEMP drive, however, and that is its vulnerability to detection by Magnetic Anomaly Detectors. MAD sets rarely fail to locate a ship operating a SEMP-based drive.

OOC: Tagalicious.

*stares in shock*

Railguns on a submarine??? That just somehow doesn't make sense...

Oh, but neither does a superdreadnought, right?

Unorthodox problems call for unorthodox answers.

True... *shakes head*

Maybe I should come up with something even more unorthodox... And NE can we talk about a possible joint submarine project?

OOC: Time to break out the sub-hunting copters and planes

Ah, but that's what Super Spearhawk missiles are for. The Poseidon is one of a very small number of submarines that is capable of shooting back at ASW aircraft, be they of fixed- or rotary-wing construction, and of doing so effectively and while submerged.

lol, Fuhrer landw... A railgun can hit you from a very, very long distance... You won't know what hit you...

Ah, but that's what Super Spearhawk missiles are for. The Poseidon is one of a very small number of submarines that is capable of shooting back at ASW aircraft, be they of fixed- or rotary-wing construction, and of doing so effectively and while submerged.I thought most Russian submarines could shoot at ASW aircraft, too... *shrugs* I know most of mine could do so...

TAGGED:
How can you get the railguns to operate under water. BTW, great idea.

FCN, send me a telly.

The Poseidon basically is the sniper of the seas... With AA support.

FCN: Perhaps. I'm more familiar with western designs than Russian ones. Still, you'd figure that with all the experience people have launching missiles from under water, you'd hear more about sub-launched SAMs. If most Russian subs can do it, though, I stand corrected.

Um, supercaviating railgun rails? Underwater, you've got a lot more drag and friction, so unless you keep adding power to your railgun rails, they're going to slow down very quickly, not to mention it's hard to fire one under water... Also, cold fusion is a pipe dream - you're better off with just regular fission.

TAGGED:
How can you get the railguns to operate under water. BTW, great idea.

Supercavitation. There are air bottles in the shell that form a cavity in the water of oxygen, and heat that vaporizes the water... Mostly the 'cavitator' air bottle system. It's been done before, we're just taking it to a new level.

Um, supercaviating railgun rails? Underwater, you've got a lot more drag and friction, so unless you keep adding power to your railgun rails, they're going to slow down very quickly, not to mention it's hard to fire one under water... Also, cold fusion is a pipe dream - you're better off with just regular fission.
That would we be why we have an entire reactor dedicated to the railgun, yes?

That would we be why we have an entire reactor dedicated to the railgun, yes?
Well, since you're kinda future tech and this is NS, it's not really a godmod... It just seems a lot less efficient than just a regular torpedo.

Not when you're trying to take down a superdreadnought.

Dear Sirs:

The Kingdom of Mauiwowee wishes to purchase two of these amazing vessels. We have been working on the development of "underwater" railgun technology ourselves and are pleased to see that another nation has perfected it. Funds will be wired upon confirmation of the order and you may rest assured that the vessels will never be deployed against your nation.

Sincerely,
Gen. Jack T. Ripper
Military Chief of Staff to
His Royal Highness,
King 'Lude II

Oh, yeah. In terms of power, it's probably worlds less efficient than slapping them with something like five or six Mk48 ADCAPs, but what it lets us do is sit out beyond their pickets and fling an osmium penetrator at one of those hideously bloated super-dreadnoughts, punch a hole in their hull, and send them to the bottom without endangering the launching ship.

Now that is something I could really use... :p

Tag

Oh, yeah. In terms of power, it's probably worlds less efficient than slapping them with something like five or six Mk48 ADCAPs, but what it lets us do is sit out beyond their pickets and fling an osmium penetrator at one of those hideously bloated super-dreadnoughts, punch a hole in their hull, and send them to the bottom without endangering the launching ship.
So you've gone to all the trouble to make a very quiet sub then stuck what has to be one of the noisiest undersea weapons on it?

Actually, that's one of the reasons we've made the Poseidon-class so incredibly quiet. Firing off this thing's main weapon will wake up every sonarman within earshot. You can't possibly miss the railgun firing, but it can fire, dive to just above its rather impressive crush depth, and sprint away at its maximum speed without being caught. Yes, this makes a hell of a lot of noise to fire, but once it's fired, you pretty much have to be sitting right on top of the thing to catch it before it dissapears again.

NE, TG sent...

Go MAD!

tag

Yeah, but most ships don't use MAD until they know a sub is in the area, and wait until they have a sonar contact.

The fact that this could have the range of a naval gun means that by the time it fires, the only thing in range to go after it will be some kind of hydrofoil or aircraft, which the thing can easily dispatch before it goes below the crush depth of a depth charge or torpedo.

It's basically the sniper of the seas. Sneak in, take out a big target, run away or relocate.

Nice touch with the rail guns but you are thinking way to small. If you can adapt a rail gun onto a sub then what’s to stop you from shooting a torpedo from a modified rail torpedo tube. Now that would make a mess of a super dreadnaught Sure it would have to be an unguided torp but shooting at ships as large as a super dreadnaught it really wouldn’t matter. In fact this has given me an idea for new sub design.

Actually, we already do...

*shudder*

This submarine makes me glad that my entire navy flies.

Axis Nova

What makes you think I haven't mounted such weapons on my battleships? (Well, about half of them... Which comes out to... Two.)

If the captain was feeling really lucky, maybe he could nail one on one of those emergency blow manuvers...

Dear Sirs:

The Kingdom of Mauiwowee is still interested in the purchase of two. Are you able to sell to us?

Sincerely,
Gen. Jack T. Ripper
Military Chief of Staff to
His Royal Highness,
King 'Lude II

You must remember, that New Empire roleplays up to the 2050 tech year so :)

The only 2050 tech I have is the Angelus and it's subfighters...

I think this one could be possible much, much sooner. I could easily make a modern tech version with two nuclear reactors.

Hmm... Is Doujin trying to avoid seeing these in 2020 and under RP?

I remember you or Freethinkers getting me to take the first one off the markets (SSRN Mako)

The only 2050 tech I have is the Angelus and it's subfighters...

I think this one could be possible much, much sooner. I could easily make a modern tech version with two nuclear reactors.

Hmm... Is Doujin trying to avoid seeing these in 2020 and under RP?

I remember you or Freethinkers getting me to take the first one off the markets (SSRN Mako)

No, frankly I couldn't care :) Just a simple change in doctrine, having MAD running all the time and in a large fleet formation.. *shrug* but there isn't a military railgun in use yet, not on a surface ship or in a fixed ground position, neverthesless underwater.

Ah, but just because it is not used in RL does not make the case for it's infeasibility.

Nobody has a superdreadnought in military use either.

But the US Navy does plan to field a railgun by 2015. And there are supercavitating bullets.

In accordance with the telegram I sent you, I am very interested in buying three of these ships from you. I am willing to pay whatever price you demand, within reason, and will pay orders of magnitude more for blueprints and production rights, and still swear that I will not sell any Poseidon-class to anyone excepting you and swear not to ever use one against you or one of your allies in an aggressive move.

Doesn't Doujin also make use of Railguns? It just means that New Empire is more advanced then the backwards nation of Doujin, since New Empire was able to research these things while Doujin was not.

Mauiwowee, your order is confirmed. Two Poseidon-class SSRN submarines will cost $9 Billion USD, and be delivered by a minimum crew of sailors. They will be delivered unarmed except for a basic load of supercavitating railgun shells, and the plans to produce more. None of the torpedoes or missiles, nor the plans for the BGM-201 Railspike or the LRAMM are included in the price of the Poseidon, though once their statistics are released you are perfectly welcome to procure them as well. They shall be escorted by the DNS Poseidon and DNS Neptune.

Industrial Experiment, your order is also approved. Three submarines will cost $12.5 Billion USD under the same circumstances as the Mauiwowee order. Yours shall be transfered under the escort of the 3rd CVBG and the DNS Odysseus which shall be passing through the area at the time of the transfer.

We wish to purchase 4 of these submarines and the accompanying torpedo's. We would also like licenses to produce two more at our own production facilities.

Doesn't Doujin also make use of Railguns? It just means that New Empire is more advanced then the backwards nation of Doujin, since New Empire was able to research these things while Doujin was not.

It's not a question of who's backwards or who's not. It's just a question of who went in what direction. For instance, my own Dominion uses railguns and coilguns, but we never researched ETC weapons on a larger scale than 135mm or on a smaller scale than 80mm, whereas - Unless I'm mistaken - Doujin has some of the biggest ETC naval guns in the NS world. It's not a matter of us versus Doujin either. We never even mentioned his ship in our little blurb - Other people build super-dreadnoughts, and some of the ships designed to kill the Doujin are enough of a threat to justify the design and construction of the Poseidon-class on their own. This isn't some anti-Doujin supership, though the railgun did come about to combat the spread of superdreads and superdread killers, and it's not some shot against him and his designs - Hell, I bought three of them, and I think New Empire might have too, though I'm not sure. It's just a question of an emerging threat and a neccesary response.

Just a simple change in doctrine, having MAD running all the time and in a large fleet formation..

Of course, since ships are such large masses of metal, you usually can't run a MAD set on a ship for the same reason that you can't hold a compass and a magnet in the same hand. You have to set it in a helicopter. Using a combination of Super Spearhawks, LRAMM-Ds, and the railgun I could still get in close enough to nail your super-dread if you weren't careful - Launch an LRAMM-D to loop down to just above crush depth, get in close, and clear a path through your active sonar pickets, swat down a segment of your MAD pickets, get a line of sight on the target, and bang!

Of course, there are ways you can compensate for that - Not beforehand that I can think of, but every action has a counter to it if you can just think of it. The Poseidon's not perfect, and it's not invincible, but it's a hell of a lot more effective than a Seawolf or an Akula. Hardware gives you the edge, but if you can't think to use it, you'll still lose every time. This just levels the playing field a little.

We wish to purchase 4 of these submarines and the accompanying torpedo's. We would also like licenses to produce two more at our own production facilities.

Due to your recent hostile actions against Ireland, the Dominion of Kotterdam can not in good conscience approve the transfer of weapons and weapons technology to your nation that could possibly be used against our Irish brothers. As a result, at 1645 hours Dominion City time, the House of Commons voted to deny your request for Poseidon-class SSRN submarines and their accompanying weapons systems. We call upon the United City-States of New Empire to stand with us and support this action with one of their own. We bear your nation no ill will, and hope that at some future time relations between us may return to normal, but we cannot approve this sale, and any Dominion government that tried would quickly be deposed in a Vote of No-Confidence.

Then please do talk to New Empire. Im sure he might change your views on my liberation of our Irish brothers. England will no longer rule over our brothers of Eire, and we will once more be united.

Thank you for approving my order, the money is being wired as we speak. I hope to do business again with you in the future.

At this time, the Dominion stands neutral. We will not interfere in your conflict, nor will we supply weapons to either side until the conflict's resolution. We will stand by the result, but we will not sell arms that would be used against the agents of Her Majesty the Queen.

OOC: Artitsa, I know I said you'd probably get them over AIM, but uh, I didn't take the Ireland thing into account, or Kotterdam's opinions...
IC:

The UCSNE, after a brief senate hearing, managed to get a small majority, but the ruling in Kotterdam has lead the opinion of the UCSNE that the deal be turned down for now (UCSNE does have a fairly large Irish population...), but with hopes future relations can be better.

OOC: Understand, it's nothing personal, and I'd be happy to sell after the conflict's over, but the Dominion is a former British colony which still recognizes the Queen of England as our head of state. It'd be completely out of character for us to sell to you while you were at war with British forces. Make your order once the conflict's resolved, and we'll see what we can do.

ooc: I consider Artitsa to be commonwealth as well. But 75% of our population is Irish, 20% slavic and 5% British. We do recognize the Queen, but we feel its time for the Irish to be reunited again.

Mauiwowee, your order is confirmed. Two Poseidon-class SSRN submarines will cost $9 Billion USD, and be delivered by a minimum crew of sailors. They will be delivered unarmed except for a basic load of supercavitating railgun shells, and the plans to produce more. None of the torpedoes or missiles, nor the plans for the BGM-201 Railspike or the LRAMM are included in the price of the Poseidon, though once their statistics are released you are perfectly welcome to procure them as well. They shall be escorted by the DNS Poseidon and DNS Neptune.

Payment has been wired, Thank you. We look forward to our sea trials of these craft.

After initial sea-trials, we have found this ship to perform amazingly well. We would like to purchase 9 more. The price, if our math is correct, comes out to 40.5 billion dollars. Money shall be wired upon confirmation.

It's true there are supercavitating bullets, but they only have a range of some 10m underwater. THey lose velocity too quickly... I can't see the railgun being able to shoot much further than..10km? Even with gas resevoirs... now, if you were to put a sustainer rocket on the shell, that would be a whole different story. I also have to ask how the railgun accellerates the shell without bursting... how do you get the water out of the gun?

And fusion... is too far future. If you can answer those questions, I'd be willing to purchase some.

You can flush the tube, but a better solution would be to use a heating system along the railgun to vaporize the water in the chamber, and then open it up before the round leaves the barrel. An additional cavitator around the barrel could also help solve this problem.

Rocket shells are availible for longer range shots...

Also, except in 2020+ RPs, my subs will be using Pebblebed nuclear reactors.

What is the range on the railgun? Also, if you vaporise the water prior to firing, the shell is going to be hitting the water interface at something like 22km/s... intersting to see the impact =)

And could the railspike missile use a ramjets instead of scramjet? Scramjets are... on the edge of future.

That's why you have a barrel cavitator... and the cavitator of the shell activates before it leaves the barrel.

Scramjets aren't really that future... But yes, I supppose.

Actually... since the shell would push out the gas in front... itwouldn't hit the water all that hard. I'm still worried about range though... what's the effective range underwater?

I'll buy 4, should work out to 18.5 billion. An excelent design.

That... Well, nobody is really sure. I'm thinking at least 50km... Some people say farther.

I'll talk it over with Kotterdam, hopefully we can get you some.

OOC: Fifty kay is probably a good official "optimum range". Under the right circumstances, you could probably get it to shoot further, but 50km sounds good to me. As to sales... Well, the Dominion has no quarrel with Chardonay. Consider your request for four Poseidon-class submarines approved.

And of our request?

5CN would like to purchase six of these submarines...

A total of US$27 billion will be wired once the order is confirmed.

That's extremely far... a supercavitating torpedo like the Shkval with a sustainer engine has only a range of about 7km. after 50km there wouldn't be any velocity left... maybe 15km for a standard round and 50km for a lower velocity shot with a sustainer?

And thank you, they're going to be an excelent addition to my growing fleet... I promise I'll protect 'em... won;t let them get broken =)

We wish to report our EXTREME satisfaction with the subs after sea trials. We managed to obtain an effectively targeted range of 23.6 Km with the supercavitating railguns. 41 Km can be reached, but targeting precision drops exponetially after 23.6 Km. If anyone has obtained better results, we'd like to discuss the configurations used that might account for the differences.

Sincerely,
Gen. Jack T. Ripper

P.S. Note that we also managed to succesfully operate the subs at a depth of 3,600 feet. We realize this exceeds specs. but when we have sea trials, we really have sea trials. We don't plan to operate the subs at anything above spec. but we need to be able to ensure our captains that the possibility they could exceed spec. does exist in the event of an emergency.