【龙腾网】美国海军需要常规潜艇吗

正文翻译

November 12, 2020 Topic: Technology Region: Americas Blog Brand: The Reboot Tags: SubmarinesSubsU.S. NavyAir IndependentMilitaryTechnologyBoomer

2020年11月12日 主题：技术区域：Americas Blog品牌：Reboot 标签：SubmarinesSubsU.S 海军航空独立军事技术潮

by Robert Farley

作者：Robert Farley

Invention

发明

Several navies experimented with AIP during the twentieth century. The earliest work began in World War II in the German and Soviet navies, although none of the experiments produced operationally suitable boats. After the war Britain, the United States and the Soviet unx took advantage of German research to produce their own experimental boats, but nuclear propulsion seemed to offer a more fruitful direction for submarine development.

在20世纪，一些海军尝试了AIP。最早的尝试开始于第二次世界大战期间的德国和苏联海军，尽管没有一个尝试能够生产出适合实战的船只。战后，英国、美国和苏联利用德国的研究成果生产了自己的实验船，但是核推进似乎为潜艇的发展提供了更富有成果的方向。

Engineering

工程

AIP systems allow conventional submarines to recharge their batteries without surfacing for air, which enables them to remain underwater for extend periods of time and not expose themselves to detection. Three main types of AIP are found in extant diesel-electric submarines:

AIP系统允许常规潜艇在不需要空气的情况下为电池充电，这使它们可以在水下停留较长时间，并且不会使其自身被到探测到。现在的柴电潜艇中有三种主要的AIP：

Used on French-built submarines, closed cycle steam turbines mimic the energy production process found on nuclear subs (where a nuclear reactor provides heat that turns water into steam) by mixing oxygen and ethanol. This system (dubbed MEsmA by the French) is complex, generates a lot of power, but is somewhat less efficient than the alternatives.

法国制造的潜艇使用闭环蒸汽轮机，通过混合氧气和乙醇来模拟在核潜艇（核反应堆提供热量将水变成蒸汽）中产生能量的过程。该系统（法国人将其称为MEsmA）很复杂，产生了强大的推力，但是运行效率却比其他系统低。

Stirling Cycle

斯特林循环

Fuel Cell

燃料电池

Fuel-cell technology is probably the state of the art in AIP. A fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen to generate electricity, and has almost no moving parts. They can generate a lot of energy with minimal waste product, and are very quiet. German-built submarines have successfully taken advantage of fuel cell technology, and the French, Russians and Indians are also moving in this direction.

燃料电池技术可能是AIP中的最新技术。燃料电池使用氢气和氧气来发电，几乎没有活动部件。它们可以产生大量的能量，而产生的废料最少，且非常安静。德国制造的潜艇已成功利用了燃料电池技术，法国、俄罗斯和印度人也在朝这个方向发展。

Procurement Trends

采购趋势

The great thing about AIP is that the technologies involved can be retrofitted into older submarines through the insertion of a hull section. Germany has done this with some boats, including a Type 209, and reports suggest Russia has managed to retrofit a Kilo. Sweden has retrofitted four older boats, and Japan at least one. For navies that want to maximize the lethality of their existing sub flotillas, retrofits can be cost effective.

AIP的优势之处在于，可以通过抛入船体部分的方式将此技术改装到旧型潜艇上。德国已经使用了包括209型在内的一些潜艇来实现这一方式，据报道，俄罗斯已经设法对基洛进行了改装。瑞典改装了四艘旧潜艇，日本改装了至少一艘。对于希望最大程度地提高现有已有潜艇的攻击力的海军，改进型可以节省成本。

Combat Implications

战斗意义

SSPs can exceed the performance of SSNs under certain conditions. They can take advantage of good endurance and extreme quiet to lay in ambush for approaching enemy vessels, although this requires good intelligence about enemy fleet deployments. They can also conduct short and medium range surveillance of enemy naval forces. In situations that favor small, maneuverable boats (shallow littorals, for example) they can pose a serious combat threat to their larger nuclear cousins.

在某些条件下，SSP可能会超过SSN的性能。他们可以利用良好的续航力和极度的安静性来伏击敌人的船只，尽管这需要对敌方舰队的部署有足够的了解。他们还可以对敌方海军部队进行中近程监视。在适合小型机动船（例如浅海沿岸）的情况下，它们也可能对其较大的核潜艇构成严重的战斗威胁。

What This Means for the United States

这对美国意味着什么

Should the United States build SSPs? The United States has not built a diesel-electric submarine since 1959. Much of the know-how associated with the construction of nuclear subs is transferable to their conventional cousins, but it would nevertheless involve a significant learning curve. The United States is a global leader in the development of fuel-cell technology, so it is likely that American sub builders would go that route.

美国应该建造SSP吗？自1959年以来，美国还没有建造过柴油电潜艇。与建造核潜艇有关的许多专门知识都可以转移到它们的常规潜艇，但尽管如此，它仍需要大量研究。美国是燃料电池技术发展的全球领导者，因此美国的制造商也可能会走这条路。

However, the U.S. Navy is nearly unique for its global focus; it intends to fight in areas distant from U.S. shores. Diesel electrics, even with AIP, have shorter ranges than nuclear boats and therefore require nearby bases. Moreover, cost-consciousness in the U.S. Navy has manifested largely in terms of personnel reductions, meaning that the organization tends to prefer smaller numbers of high-end, expensive platforms to large numbers of inexpensive vessels.

但是，美国海军的全球关注点几乎是独特的。它目标是在远离美国海岸的地区作战。即使使用了AIP，柴电气设备的潜艇航程也比核潜艇短，因此需要更近的基地。此外，美国海军的成本意识在很大程度上体现在减少艇员方面，这意味着美国军方倾向于使用数量较少的高端、昂贵的平台，而不是数量众多的廉价船只。

All in all, there is no question that AIP-equipped boats pose a threat, under some conditions, to the large nuclear attack submarines that many great navies have come to rely on. However, this does not necessarily mean that the best response for the U.S. Navy is to invest in these conventional subs. They cannot do many of the tasks that the navy requires of its submarine force, and in coming years technology may eclipse many of the advantages that they bring.

总而言之，毫无疑问，配备AIP的船只在某些情况下会对许多大国的海军依赖的大型核攻击潜艇构成威胁。但是，这并不一定意味着美国海军最好的应对方法就是对这些常规潜艇进行投入。他们无法完成海军对其潜艇部队所要求的许多任务，并且在未来几年中，技术发展可能会超过AIP带来的许多优势。