Author: Hai Dongqing
In recent months, satellite maps of the domestic 003 catapult super aircraft carrier have been exposed on the Internet one after another, marking that after the 055 large destroyer and the 075 amphibious assault ship, the Chinese Navy has completed an important puzzle on the road to a world-class navy. As a result, for the Chinese Navy, there is now only one last piece of the puzzle, which is the nuclear submarine, especially the strategic nuclear submarine (SSBN) that represents the most important sea-based nuclear strike system in the Trinity nuclear strike system.
▲The domestic Type 094 strategic nuclear submarine is almost at the bottom of the world's strategic nuclear submarine ranking. The image comes from the Internet.
Friends who know a little about the military should know that nuclear submarines are a shortcoming of the Chinese Navy at present, if the active Type 093 attack nuclear submarines have a fighting power in the face of the older but large nuclear submarines of the Los Angeles class in the United States. Then the Type 094, as a strategic nuclear submarine, is completely at the bottom level in comparison with similar equipment in other countries.
▲ The former Soviet Union's Typhoon-class strategic nuclear submarines have an underwater displacement of up to 48,000 tons, which is the world's largest nuclear submarine, which can be described as an underwater monster, but due to Russia's financial constraints, these Typhoon-class nuclear submarines have all been abandoned. The image comes from the Internet.
At present, among the strategic nuclear submarines in active service in various countries in the world, the most advanced performance is the Russian new North Wind God class nuclear submarine, with an underwater displacement of 24,000 tons, a maximum speed of 29 knots, a maximum diving depth of 450 meters, and a noise of only 108 decibels. As a strategic nuclear submarine, these performance indicators are even better than the attack nuclear submarines of some countries, which has to make people marvel at Russia's technical strength in this area of nuclear submarines. Its core armament lies in 16 Bulava submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, although the performance of the missile is not as good as the US Trident 2D5 missile, and the 16 bomb load is also less than the 24 of the US Ohio class, but the North Wind God class surpasses the Ohio class in terms of speed, depth, silence and other indicators, so it is not too much to call it the world's first strategic nuclear submarine.
▲ Russia's North Wind God class strategic nuclear submarine, is also the current Russian Navy's Tianzi No. 1 project, in the case of Limited Russian funds, all other naval projects for the North Wind God to make way. The image comes from the Internet.
The Ohio-class nuclear submarine of the United States has an underwater displacement of 18,750 tons, a maximum speed of 20 knots, a maximum diving depth of 240 meters, and a noise of 110 decibels. As a nuclear submarine in service in the 80s, the performance indicators of the submarine itself are indeed somewhat inadequate compared to the North Wind God class, but its 24 Trident 2D5 intercontinental ballistic missiles can be said to be the second strongest submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles in the world today (the first strong will be mentioned later), and the performance indicators are better than the Russian Brava missiles. With these 24 trident 2D5s, the Ohio class is also an extremely terrifying existence.
▲ The Ohio-class nuclear submarine of the United States is currently the nuclear submarine with the largest number of submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles. The image comes from the Internet.
Of course, the United States also realized that the Ohio class was a veteran who began service in the 80s, so it has launched a new generation of strategic nuclear submarine project, which has been named Columbia-class nuclear submarines, aimed at completely overwhelming Russia's North Wind God class. Although the performance is extremely advanced, but its estimated cost of up to 13 billion US dollars, even reached the same level as the Ford-class aircraft carrier (this does not take into account that the U.S. military equipment will inevitably face the problem of budget exceeding the standard), although the U.S. Navy is still determined to purchase 12 of these gold-devouring behemoths, which shows the importance of the United States to it, but also once again reflects the importance of strategic nuclear submarines for a country. Of course, the Colombian-level procurement plan has undoubtedly added great pressure to China.
▲ The Number of Missiles Carried by the Columbia-class Nuclear Submarine PPT of the United States has been reduced to 16, because the United States believes that sacrificing a part of the space of missiles to improve the living environment of the crew can improve the efficiency of combat readiness submarine navigation, and the combat effectiveness will not decrease but increase. The image comes from the Internet.
In addition to the Ohio class, there is also a nuclear submarine that uses the advanced Trident 2D5 submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile, that is, the British Avant-garde class nuclear submarine, and the United Kingdom is also the only country in the United Nations Five to purchase submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles. Its underwater displacement is 16,000 tons, the maximum speed is 25 knots, the maximum diving depth is 350 meters, and it is equipped with 16 Trident 2D5 missiles purchased from the United States, but usually only 12 silos are equipped with missiles, naturally because it is difficult for rich men to have money. However, with the excellent performance of the submarine itself, coupled with the advanced missile of Trident 2D5, it can also be regarded as the strongest defender of the afterglow of the Empire.
▲ British Avant-garde class strategic nuclear submarines, equipped with intercontinental ballistic missiles purchased from the United States, led to a rumor that the British nuclear bomb launch code was in the hands of the Americans, which is actually very outrageous, how can a country's nuclear bomb launch code be in the hands of foreigners. The image comes from the Internet.
The remaining two foreign strategic nuclear submarines, the author believes that they have their own advantages and disadvantages, should be ranked side by side. One of them is Russia's Delta 4-class strategic nuclear submarine, which has an underwater displacement of 18,000 tons, a maximum speed of 24 knots, a maximum diving depth of 320 meters, and a huge turtle back is her signature feature, which looks very similar to the 094 class. However, delta 4 level in the performance indicators in all aspects of the overwhelmed 094 level, especially its 16 light boat missiles were replaced by Russia's further improved Raniere missiles, combat effectiveness to a higher level, Raniere missile in the bomb, range and other important performance indicators even overwhelmed the United States Trident 2D5 missile, is the world's strongest submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missile, but the disadvantage is that as a liquid fuel missile, need to be injected with liquid fuel before launch, the reaction speed is not as good as the use of solid fuel Trident 2D5, This is also why Russia is equipped with the North Wind God class with a Brava missile that is not as good as Raniere but uses solid fuel. All in all, in the case that the North Wind God class is not yet fully in place, Delta 4, a veteran, can still stand the last shift.
▲ The word "sword" is used to describe Delta level 4, which is simply very appropriate. The image comes from the Internet.
The other side of the Delta 4 class is France's Triumph class strategic nuclear submarine, which has an underwater displacement of 14,000 tons, a maximum speed of 25 knots, a maximum diving depth of 400 meters, and a noise of about 110 decibels. However, its disadvantage is that it is equipped with 16 domestic M-51 missiles, which are smaller in size, which limits its performance, although the French media tout it, but its performance is obviously worse than trident 2D5, Brava, Raniere, even compared to the Chinese JL 2 improved version may not be able to open much gap. What's more, this missile only underwent 7 tests before it was declared into service, which is unimaginable for submarine-launched ICBMs of other countries, so its reliability needs to be a big question mark.
▲ French Triumph class strategic nuclear submarines, compared with the strategic nuclear submarines of the United States, Russia and Britain, have a small displacement and are equipped with M-51 missiles one head smaller. The image comes from the Internet.
However, although delta 4 and triumph class strategic nuclear submarines have such defects, but still not the type 094 nuclear submarine can be comparable, although due to confidentiality reasons, the 094 submarine itself displacement, speed, depth, noise and other indicators we can not know, but considering that the type 094 is based on the hull of the type 093 attack nuclear submarine, and the 093 nuclear reactor is based on the reactor of the old type 091 nuclear submarine, the above indicators of the 094 may be difficult to be optimistic. And the 094 can only carry 12 JL-2 missiles, which is a difference in number, and the performance of the JL 2 is also subject to the hull size of the 094, and its performance can only be equal to the French M-51 missile at most. It is indeed unjust to say that 094 is the bottom of the strategic nuclear submarines in active service.
What's more fatal is that the marine environment around China is even more impossible for 094 to unfold, the Yellow Sea and the East China Sea are not only shallow, not conducive to the hiding of nuclear submarines, but also the anti-submarine aircraft of the United States, Japan and South Korea, and the only South China Sea suitable for 094 activities is too far away from the United States, and it is difficult for 094 to launch a huge wave 2 in the South China Sea to hit the United States.
▲ China's topographic map, the average water depth of the East China Sea and the Yellow Sea is only a few tens of meters, and there are anti-submarine aircraft wreaking havoc in the United States, Japan and South Korea, which is not suitable for 094 activities at all, and although the South China Sea has the advantages of large area and water depth, it is difficult to launch a huge wave 2 here to hit the US mainland. The image comes from the Internet.
Because the situation is so severe, the demand for the next generation of 096 strategic nuclear submarines and the next generation of submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles (it is reasonable to say that the next generation of submarine-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles should be called JLW 3, but recently there are rumors that China has greatly improved the JL 2 and developed JL 3, still equipped with 094 nuclear submarines, if so, it is also a great thing), it can be said that it is imminent.