Need info on submarine's pump, compressor etc.

[EFileTahi-A]

First of all, I apologize if these are stupid questions. My knowledge in submarines is not that great, specially regarding modern models.

These are the questions I would love to have them answered:

1 - What is the purpose of a the submarine's pump?
2 - What is the purpose of the compressor?
3 - By having larger ballast tanks will this increase the subs ascending / descending speeds without using the engine?
4 - By having larger ballast tanks will this increase the flood capacity of the ship? That is, will the submarine be allowed to have more compartments flooded before beginning to sink?
5 - Imagine 2 submarines engaging each other. Will the depth factor influence anything? I mean, by going deeper will any of them gain the upper-hand in the duel?
6 - Can high water pressures be used as any source of energy at all?
7 - Will the sonar and torpedoes be influenced by extremely high water pressures?

Thank you for any possible info on this matter.

[TLAM Strike]

1 - What is the purpose of a the submarine's pump?

It pumps waters out of the submarine's crew compartments or bilge or moves water from one trim tank to another.

2 - What is the purpose of the compressor?

Refills the submarine's compressed air tanks used for launching torpedoes or blowing tanks clear.

3 - By having larger ballast tanks will this increase the subs ascending / descending speeds without using the engine?

Yes, but it would be difficult to control and noisy. Subs mostly control depth after diving with their engines and controls surfaces. SSBNs do "Hover" with ballast tanks pumps however.

4 - By having larger ballast tanks will this increase the flood capacity of the ship? That is, will the submarine be allowed to have more compartments flooded before beginning to sink?

More likely it would make things worse since the ballast tanks are more likely to be damaged first making the sub unable to get sufficient buoyancy to surface.

5 - Imagine 2 submarines engaging each other. Will the depth factor influence anything? I mean, by going deeper will any of them gain the upper-hand in the duel?

Depends on the local acoustic conditions. If the tempature decreases with depth a deeper diving sub will be able to get closer to a shallow sub because the sound waves from it curve down.

6 - Can high water pressures be used as any source of energy at all?

I don't see any, maybe someone else might know.

7 - Will the sonar and torpedoes be influenced by extremely high water pressures?

Torpedoes tend to have to "work harder" at deeper depths meaning their ranges are reduced. Not sure if sonar is affected other than how it would be affected by the local acoustic conditions (Deeper can mean getting in to the deep sound channel and using it).

[EFileTahi-A]

Interesting! Thank you very much for the answer.

Regarding question 1:
Let me see if I did understand what you've said. The pump can be used to extract water from all the compartments. This means the pump is vital in case the crew needs to fight a flood in a compartment?

Regarding Question 4:
So, in other words the ship would better deal with floods in case the "large" ballast tanks remained 100% operational?

Thank you once more.

[TLAM Strike]

Regarding question 1:
Let me see if I did understand what you've said. The pump can be used to extract water from all the compartments. This means the pump is vital in case the crew needs to fight a flood in a compartment?

Exactly.

Regarding Question 4:
So, in other words the ship would better deal with floods in case the "large" ballast tanks remained 100% operational?

This sort of comes down to what submarine we are talking about. A Los Angeles that loses a compartment will sink because there are only three (and one is quite smaller than the other two), but if it lost a ballast tank it could drive it self to the surface (See USS San Francisco). On the other hand a Kilo could lose one of its six compartments and its adjacent ballast tanks because its is double hulled so each internal compartment has a pair of ballast tanks.

[Diopos]

Originally Posted by EFileTahi-A

6 - Can high water pressures be used as any source of energy at all?

Pressure in itself no. Pressure difference yes. Just take a sub beyond its crush depth and see what kind of work pressure difference produces!



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