Quote:
Originally Posted by Capt Jack Harkness
From lowest to highest, the self noise of all playable subs is:
105: Narwhal
115: Lost Angeles
130: Sturgeon (both eras)
136: Permit (both eras)
140: Skipjack (both eras)
The biggest gap is the Sturgeon to the Los Angeles, however it's widely acknowledged that rafting the turbines and other equipment in the engine room of the Permit made a massive difference in quieting compared to the Skipjack... Shouldn't the gap between those two (currently 4) be similar to the Sturgeon/LA gap (currently 15)?
Side note, is it entirely accurate that the noise levels remained the same from '68 to '84 despite retrofits? I mean obviously any improvement would be slight, but still...
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I've said the same thing myself, however I will admit I did underestimate some of the silencing things that were done with the Skipjack, I agree that the gulf between Skipjack to Permit should be bigger than any of the others.
Another point to make, in regards to refits. The 84 Skipjack is 3 knots slower, to reflect the change of going over to a 7 blade "Scimitar" screw from the standard 5 blade (which was notably noisier as it suffered from turbulence / interference issues with the sail and control surfaces) it should also be slightly quieter as well.
As far as other improvements, the later Skipjacks were built with quieter gearing than the first units and I think some similar progression was phased in with the succeeding classes as well.