The headline in the South China Morning Post was, at the very least, eye catching — Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes by Chinese supersonic submarine. The article makes it clear that while the Chinese may be researching such a submarine, they are no where close to actually building one. So how does one, even theoretically, build a “supersonic submarine?” The answer may be by using supercavitation. How close are the Chinese to actually designing and building one — not very.
Cavitation is the creation of water vapor bubbles in areas of low pressure on a hull or propeller underwater. In most cases cavitation is something to avoid, if possible. Cavitation bubbles forming and collapsing on a ship’s propeller can damage the blades. The formation and collapse of the bubbles is also noisy, so submarine designers try to design to avoid cavitation in order that submarines be a stealthy as possible. Cavitation also reduces the lift on hydrofoils.
Supercavitation is very different, however. Continue reading
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