PLA Navy news, pics and videos

sndef888

Captain
Registered Member
There's a specification sheet for a Winston Battery WB-LYP10000AHA battery pack from 2014, which markets itself as used in the Yuan.
It's listed as 31MWh with a weight of 335tonnes using Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries. That is much higher performance than previous generation lead-acid batteries.

Also, Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries are safer than lead-acid batteries because they can't release chlorine gas when exposed to seawater. And with lead-acid batteries, you could get an explosion if enough chlorine gas is produced quickly.

So why wouldn't you go with Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, given an inherently safer battery chemistry which cannot produce explosions or release toxic gases when exposed to sewater, whilst also providing a lot more performance.

I expect these batteries have been used in the Yuan for years now.


shop.gwl.eu/blog/LiFePO4/Winston-Battery-WB-LYP10000AHA-in-large-submarines.html

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Wait, doesnt the Yuan use stirling engines? I thought the japanese soryu was the first to use batteries
 

AndrewS

Brigadier
Registered Member
Wait, doesnt the Yuan use stirling engines? I thought the japanese soryu was the first to use batteries

The Soryu was previously [Stirling engine + Lead Acid Battery]
Then they changed to all Lithium batteries.

So my guess is that the Yuan submarine is [Stirling engine + Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery]. Given the secrecy, I don't think we will ever get official confirmation though.
 

gelgoog

Lieutenant General
Registered Member
You would think China would have moved from Stirling engines into fuel cells by this time however. The fuel cells are way more efficient and quiet.
 

Tam

Brigadier
Registered Member
I mean the impact on the sub's passive sonar performance, smaller sub means smaller aperture.

It may impact the size of the bow sonar. But they can still use long low frequency flank sonars (see the long line near the bottom of these subs). The Yuan has that (second picture), which is a huge advantage over the Kilo that lacks flank sonars.

U-35.jpgmain-qimg-7ffc36eda5d7b44f254bc84e7ee1f497.png
 

by78

General
Some snips from a now deleted video by our usual problematic source (see last image), but it certainly looks legit and appears to be a new type of compact littoral submarine. Sorry didnt know any other thread to post in, given the submarine-threads I saw are type specific.

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This could be one of the designs shown in the images below, which were taken at a naval expo in Malaysia in 2019. These same models had been shown
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, and they are confirmed to feature single hull.

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Strangelove

Colonel
Registered Member
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PLA holds simultaneous drills after US, Japan exercise near Taiwan island

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Published: Feb 10, 2022 10:54 PM

The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) recently conducted simultaneous exercises in three major sea regions in a move experts said on Thursday displayed the Chinese military's combat preparedness after the US and Japan held massive, troublemaking exercises along the first island chain near the island of Taiwan as the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics started.

In the East China Sea, the Type 052C destroyer Changchun, the Type 052D destroyer Xiamen and the Type 054A frigate Yiyang attached to the PLA Eastern Theater Command Navy carried out realistic combat exercises with multiple training courses, including air defense, maneuvering and main gun live-fire shooting, China Central Television (CCTV) reported on Wednesday.

In the South China Sea, the Type 903 comprehensive supply ship Weishanhu and the hospital ship You'ai attached to the PLA Southern Theater Command Navy held maritime drills, including search and rescue, maritime replenishment and live-fire shooting, CCTV reported.

In the Yellow Sea, the Northern Theater Command Navy organized a maritime-aerial multidimensional comprehensive rescue exercise, practicing damage control, minesweeping and search and rescue, the report said.

The PLA also sent two J-16 fighter jets, a Y-8 electronic warfare aircraft, a Y-8 anti-submarine warfare aircraft and a Y-8 electronic intelligence aircraft to the island of Taiwan's self-proclaimed southwest air defense identification zone on Wednesday, according to the defense authority on the island.

The reports on the PLA drills come after the US and Japan held the Noble Fusion 2022 exercise between February 3 and Monday.

Led by the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, about 15,000 US sailors and marines and another 1,000 members of the Japan Self-Defense Forces took part in the drill, which encompassed a wide swath of the first island chain, stretching from the Luzon Strait to the Miyako Strait, including Okinawa and the East China Sea, US military newspaper the Stars and Stripes reported on Wednesday.

These locations are particularly sensitive, since they essentially cover the waters to the east of the island of Taiwan, making the drills by the US and Japan very provocative to China, observers pointed out.

The US and Japan kept on holding military drills and creating tensions despite the Beijing Winter Olympics, during which the Olympic Truce is applied and atmosphere of peace should be fostered, Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Thursday.

This is not only a serious threat to China's national security, but also to world peace and stability, Song said, noting that the US is also rallying its NATO allies for drills in Europe.

China predicted the US and its allies' military exercises and training around China during the Winter Games, with Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesperson at China's Ministry of National Defense, saying at a routine press conference on January 27 that the Chinese military would be
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for any external provocation and contingency.

The PLA's latest drills demonstrated that China is ready to deal with those threats, Song said.
 

enroger

Junior Member
Registered Member
It may impact the size of the bow sonar. But they can still use long low frequency flank sonars (see the long line near the bottom of these subs). The Yuan has that (second picture), which is a huge advantage over the Kilo that lacks flank sonars.

View attachment 82571View attachment 82572

True, towed array is available as well. I think if smaller subs can retain say 80% detection range compared to 039, there is a sweet spot for them.
 

tphuang

Lieutenant General
Staff member
Super Moderator
VIP Professional
Registered Member
True, towed array is available as well. I think if smaller subs can retain say 80% detection range compared to 039, there is a sweet spot for them.
Where are you going to fit towed array? It takes a lot of space. Keep it simple guys. If this is not an experimental sub, then its primary strength is using numbers and networking to detect really quiet subs in shallow waters. You don't need towed array for that. If they can put flank array on it, that's fantastic. But given the space limitations, it's possible they won't be able to fit it in there.
 

FairAndUnbiased

Brigadier
Registered Member
The external hull in a double hulled submarine isn't made to be a pressure vessel. You don't get any extra pressure resistance from it.
The external hull is basically used to shape the hull hydro dynamically and might increase sound dampening.
It also allows for auxiliary equipment mounting in the space between the hulls without resorting to drilling, welding or fastening to anything on the pressure hull, which increases mechanical strength and decreases hydrodynamic noise. It also provides some dampening against near miss explosions.

There's many valid reasons to use a double hull. I have strong doubts as to how much noise is internal vs hydrodynamic for a conventional sub.
 
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