August 10, 2015

A Table to Describe Soryu to Future Australian Submarine Build

Launch of the first of class Soryu ("Blue (or Green) Dragon") (Japanese そうりゅう ) at MHI's shipyard in Kobe, Japan, December 2007. Australia's future submarines are likely to be launched from slips in Kobe at MHI and/or KHI. With necessarily gradual timings Australia's first in class submarine may be "laid down" in 2023, launched 2026 and commissioned by 2029 (hopefully with major technical problems fixed...)(Photo courtesy Japan Times).
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I think it is useful, when considering how the Soryu will (or may) evolve into Australia's future submarine, to illustrate the possibilities in tabular form.

S has been very helpful in the construction of the Table. The "16SS" through to "29SS" sequence appears to be Japanese Ministry of Defence's (JMD/MoD's) terminology for planning and funding submarine authorizations year after year.

16SS can be called the beginning of the sequence of "Soryu Mark 1s" which have diesel engines and Lead Acid Batteries (LABs) as their primary propulsion and Stirling Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) as secondary propulsion. 

For the future Soryus 27SS and 28SS LABs will be replaced by Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). For them and Japanese submarines onwards Stirling AIP will be removed. These changes could justify future  27SS or 28SS being described as the first of the "Soryu Mark 2s". Possibly they will be given another Japanese name instead of Soryu and possibly they may have a fuel cell AIP emergency backup. 

29SS with greater certainty will be a new submarine class (no longer called Soryu). It is likely that Australia's future submarine will be a derivative of 29SS - perhaps 500 tons to 1,000 tons heavier than 29SS to fulfil Australia's submarine content requirements (eg. much more diesel fuel capacity and one or more vertical multi-purpose locks (VMPL))

The first of class Australian submarine should be launched and fully commissioned BEFORE the next Australian submarines are launched. This will allow any problems (like diesel  propulsion noise, cavitation, LIB current and battery efficiency/reliability, fuel tanks, combat system) in the first of class to be identified and rectified. 

This is so the lessons can be fixed on first of class and applied to second in class onwards. 

This first of class problem rectification process did not occur efficiently with the Collins class - a series of mistakes the Collins submarines and RAN are still suffering from.

When Australia's first new submarine is laid down in Kobe, Japan (perhaps in 2023) major changes to Japan's submarine production/build pattern will occur. KHI/MHI will cease their overall one submarine per year alternating build pattern and will build an average of one Japanese submarine and one (or half of one) Australian submarine per year.

Anywhere from 6 to 12 Australian submarines will be built. US and Australian technicians will be present in Japan installing and testing the mainly US developed combat system of sensors-database-weapons (perhaps 30% of a submarine build effort and cost).

SORYU TABLE

In the Soryu Table below:

- LAB means Lead Acid Battery.
- LIB is Lithium-ion Battery,
- AIP is Air Independent Propulsion (Swedish-Kockums designed Stirling)

When I translate Soryu (in Japanese そうりゅう ) into English it usually comes out as "Ssangyong". Obviously a more complex translation process than German or French.


SS
No.
Building
No.
Pennant
No.
Name/Namesake
LAB or LIB & AIP *
Laid Down
Laun
-ched
Commi-ssioned
Built
By
16SS
8116
SS-501
Sōryū (そうりゅう) / Blue Dragon
LAB + AIP
March 2005
Dec 2007
March
2009
MHI
17SS
8117
SS-502
Unryū (うんりゅう) / Cloud Dragon
LAB + AIP
March 2006
Oct 2008
March
2010
KHI
18SS
8118
SS-503
Hakuryū (はくりゅう) / White Dragon
LAB + AIP
Feb 2007
Oct 2009
March
2011
MHI
19SS
8119
SS-504
Kenryū (けんりゅう) / Sword Dragon
LAB + AIP
March 2008
Nov 2010
March
2012
KHI
20SS
8120
SS-505
Zuiryu (けんりゅう) / Sword Dragon
LAB + AIP
March 2009
Oct 2011
March
2013
MHI
22SS
8122
SS-506
Kokuryū (こくりゅう) / Black Dragon
LAB + AIP
January 2011
Oct 2013
March
2014
KHI
23SS
8123
SS-507
Jinryū (じんりゅう)/ Benevolent Dragon
LAB + AIP
Feb 2012
Nov 2014
March
2016?
MHI
24SS
8124
SS-508
Sekiryu /
Holy Dragon 
LAB + AIP
2013
2 Nov 2015
2017
KHI
25SS
8125
SS-509
?
LAB + AIP
2014
2016?
2018
MHI
26SS
8126
SS-510
?
LAB? + AIP
2015
2017?
2019
KHI
27SS
8127
SS-511
Soryu Mark 2 
LIB only
2016?
2018?
2020?
MHI
28SS
8128
SS-512
?
LIB only
2017?
2019?
2021?
KHI
29SS
8129
SS-513
LIB only
2018?
2020?
2022?
MHI







1AU?


 1st Australian class?

2023?
2026?
2029?



















The Japanese Ministry of Defence seems to be steadily generating more website material - part of public transparency - which I will explore in future articles.

Pete

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