09III/09IV (093/094) Nuclear Submarine Thread

[SinoSoldier]

The fact that the PLAN is freely and publicly displaying its "top-line" 09IV and 09IIIA boats could only mean one thing...

 

[Totoro]

Another question: Was there ever a high quality image of two 09IV subs, sailing or docked one next to the the other, where quality of the image was enough to count the drainage hole rows AND both subs were of exact same subvariant?

 

[KIENCHIN]

The fact that the PLAN is freely and publicly displaying its "top-line" 09IV and 09IIIA boats could only mean one thing...

The suspense is killing me what does it mean sinosoldier and do we or don’t we have more then 4 094 subs.

 

[SinoSoldier]

The suspense is killing me what does it mean sinosoldier and do we or don’t we have more then 4 094 subs.

No, it just means that the next-gen 09V and 09VI should be near the end of their development cycles. Goes well with how the Chinese do these types of reveals.

 

[Hyperwarp]

Another change. They have cut down on the opennings a lot in this version

 

[Totoro]

And why did the first 09IV have a lower/smaller hump anyway? It sits visibly lower, by perhaps as much as 2 meters, from this hump visible on boats with smooth sails? While one could jump to the conclusion of larger missiles, there could be myriad of reasons. Including more space for noise insulation.

 

[taxiya]

And why did the first 09IV have a lower/smaller hump anyway? It sits visibly lower, by perhaps as much as 2 meters, from this hump visible on boats with smooth sails? While one could jump to the conclusion of larger missiles, there could be myriad of reasons. Including more space for noise insulation.

Or the sail is larger?

 

[taxiya]

I'm still not sure how do the names and numbers suggest the submarine in question is not 5th 09IV overall. I suggested it might be so, then interstellar said:
"No, it's not. Look at the names and pennant numbers of the two 09IV. What do you notice?" which suggests to me it's NOT the fifth one and the answer lies
in the names. But how exactly do the names and numbers prove anything here? Unless we have a total list of all subs with their exact numbers published somewhere.

How do you get "5th"? PLAN's SSN and SSBN use the same numbering serial from the first nuclear sub type 09-I SSN for both names and pennants.

I don't know what Interstellar was trying to tell by "what do you notice?", but I think it is impossible for any outsider to count by looking at photos. The only thing that can be said is that "By far, according to that diagram, there are or have been 16 nuclear submarines ever inducted into PLAN service. And this does not mean that the total number is limited to 16. Nor does it mean the number in service is greater than 16. This also does not tell how many were/are SSNs or SSBNs".

 

[taxiya]

Another question: Was there ever a high quality image of two 09IV subs, sailing or docked one next to the the other, where quality of the image was enough to count the drainage hole rows AND both subs were of exact same subvariant?

I see why you ask. The answer is NO, I have never seen such photos, not in this forum, nor any other Chinese BBS.

I think the PLAN is deliberately making sure that outsider won't be sure of anything by avoiding any identifiable markings on their sub. When one spot a single sub in different time and/or location, one would not know if one is seeing the same boat or another. When two boats of the same variant show up at the same time and location, one can only say PLAN has at least two of such boats, but one can saying nothing else. Neither can one conclude how many boats have one port as home port (regional deployment).

 

[Totoro]

Or the sail is larger?

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Now I am not trying to say anything definitive, but even with all the differences in perspective and lenses, the various height levels of sub components seems to be fairly similar. Except for the height of the hump.

The crew is roughly to scale, the waterline at bow and waterline at stern are roughly the same level, the horizontal surfaces on the sail are roughly the same size and at same level, the rudder is roughly on similar level... but not the hump. I'd say one can't throw away the possibility that earlier 09IV did indeed have a smaller hump.