French Final Ballistic Missile Submarine being launched.

www.defense-aerospace.com...







A beautiful boat. I do have a question though...is that big rectangular outline the torpedoe tube? I usually see pics of the torpedoe tube and I never seen something like this. Unless this is some kind of sonar array I mistaken it for. Or perhaps this is their version of how they launch torpedoes with 2 tubes in one big door. The reason I stated two tubes in one is because of the scale in the first pic with the men standing nearby. Besides that, two tubes would make no sense when trying to launch massive firepower against the enemy when most subs have 4 or even 8 tubes. Just asking.

A very beautiful boat I concur but from what I can see is her name the "Le Terrible"? I mean seriously, it can't be.

reply to post by WestPoint23


Yep it is indeed named the Le Terrible.

Manage to find a video of this prepared launch. Posted on youtube a day ago. Got a clear view of the pump jet propulsor.

Yes, I'm pretty sure the long rectangular shapes on the side are passive sonar arrays. The Seawolf's and Virginia's have similar arrays.

The tubes are the smaller rectangular indentations closer to the bow.

Le Terrible is supposed to mean "terrible" as in frightening, not "terrible" as in "sucks"

The connotations of the word in French are closer to the older meaning in English I guess.

Nice pics, good find


[edit on 3/25/08 by xmotex]

reply to post by deltaboy


Deltaboy,
The long rectangular outline running down the side length of the hull ..it has a bevel flushing or fairing it to the hull...is the sonar.

The long slotted rectulangular outline foreward of this ,close to the bow, is the torpedo shutter door. A shutter door keeps the hull clean and faired flush when the boat is running and the torpedo door shut.
This shutter door is usually connected to the muzzle door by a common linkage When the muzzle door is completely open the shutter door must be completely open and vice versa. Not smart to shoot a torpedo if either door is not completely open. It has happened too..the olde torpedo stuck in the tube or half in and half out.. Talk about a pucker factor!!

This common muzzle and shutter door on our boats is connected through a safety device so that you cannot make the mistake... when the boat is in the water...of having the muzzle door and the breech door in side the torpedo room open at the same time. Believe it or not..this too has happened. Really bad news Deltaboy...really bad news.

What I would like to know is if the torpedo tubes are parallel to the centerline of the boat or slightly canted outward to clear the sonar dome. Either way will work with todays guided smart torpedos. No ..no ..I dont think so because if you have them canted slightly outward you wouldnt need such an obviously long shutter door. Hmmmmm perhapsed this boat has a bigger torpedo compliment than I had thought!!??

These shutter doors look like they are hinged vertically at the front and just pivot inward ...at the aft portion of the door till they clear the width of the muzzle door.

As I told Tonka in the bottom paragraphs of this post..

www.abovetopsecret.com...

You had better know exactly what you are doing in a drydock when you need to work around a torpedo tube like this. You can get seriously hurt and or killed if you dont know what is happening.

If you look at the photo of the bottom of the boat taken from the bow looking slightly up...you see that some of the ballast tank louvers are covered up with some kind of rubber. Some of the louvers or slots where water is taken in or blown out...are open/uncovered..not many of them.
In the centerline the hole or access seems to be larger than the others. I cannot tell if it is another ballast tank louver that has been removed or where an eject pump access door is located for taking in water for the firing of the torpedos.

A boat like this their primary job would be remaining undetected till tiime to fire their main weapons ICBMs. Their torpedo use would be pretty much defensive.

If you look carefully at the sonar dome from the same photo I just described you can see the black paint discoloration just foreward of the point where the torpedo door pivots on the foreward end. This is where the bow sonar dome is attached and faired in cleanly. You cannot tell this so easily from the photos taken from further away. It is only detectable here by the slight difference in the light and paint.

Their fairwater planes are really high up on the sail structure.

Smart move not to have any antennas up and visible in these photos. I dont even detect a snorkel mast.

If you look carefully in two of the photos of the length of the boat...there is a vertical like stabilizer fin on the end of the stern planes. Kind of like the tail rudders on a B25 mitchel bomber or like on a A10 Thunderbolt tank killer jet. Way back aft on two photos. You almost wouldnt notice it unless it is pointed out to you. It is so far back in the photos.

I cant be sure but I think that is a submergable type platform the boat is on and is in position to be let down into the water. I forget what they call them but it is not a drydock per se.

Very nice pictures. Thanks for this.

Thanks,
Orangetom





[edit on 26-3-2008 by orangetom1999]

reply to post by orangetom1999


That conformal SONAR array down the length of this boat is huge! I guess maybe it was hydrodynamically preferable to fair several into one housing than individual fairings like recent US designs?

I'd be interested to see Le Terrible with the bow dome removed. Have you seen depictions of the Block III Virginia bows? Very interesting.

Regarding the additional "rudders" in the rear, this is similar to the Ohio class. Think it has something to do with the speeds/mission profiles of these boats?

Great looking boat. I'm a little surprised they so openly display the pump jet propulsor shroud.

reply to post by oxillini



Yes the array down the side is very long. I was myself surprised by that at first.

I have not seen the depictions of the Block III Virginia bows. I do know that there are alot of upgrades and changes in the making. Computer designs, verses the older LA design method, helps to expedite this process.

Pump Jet propulsors are not new to the French. I believe they were using them long before us. But yes...I too am surprised by this.

Thanks,
Orangetom

reply to post by orangetom1999


Not to derail this thread too much, but here's the Block III Virginia. Two MAJOR changes. The sonar sphere is gone and the individual VLS tubes are six shooters a la SSGN. Couple that info with the knowledge that the USN is interested in other payloads that easily swap in/out of SSGN tubes and the future capabilities of these boats just grew substantially.

This is what I could find about the Block III Virginia's via a quick search.

It seems the biggest changes are the switch from 12 separate VLS tubes to two big Ohio style missile tubes each with 6 missiles arranged inside. And the bow sonar on the Block III will use and I quote…

The other big change you can see in the above diagram is switching from an air-backed sonar sphere to a water-backed Large Aperture Bow (LAB) array. Eliminating the hundreds of SUBSAFE penetrations that help maintain required pressure in the air-backed sonar sphere.

Link

The LAB Array has 2 primary components: the passive array, which will provide improved performance, and a medium-frequency active array. It utilizes transducers from the SSN-21 Seawolf Class that are that are designed to last the life of the hull. This is rather par for the course, as the Virginia Class’ was created in the 1990s to incorporate key elements of the $4 billion Seawolf Class submarine technologies into a cheaper boat.

The most impressive success was the “bow bundle”. Designers are dramatically simplifying the bow, working to replace the traditional sonar sphere with a hydrophone array and change the configuration for the Tomahawk cruise missile launchers mounted behind the sphere. Instead of 12 individual tubes, the design would include two six-missile magazines. Not only will it save more than $40 million per ship, it will increase the payload flexibility of the Virginia class.

The new missile tubes are based on the 7-foot diameter D-5 Trident ballistic missile tubes, with changes similar to those done in the four Ohio-class SSGN submarine conversions. The tubes, which will be newly manufactured and somewhat shorter than the Ohio tubes, each carry a Multiple All-Up-Round Canister (MAC) with six Tomahawks. Since the connectors and dimensions are the same as the Ohio SSGN tubes, new payloads designed for those ships will be compatible with the Block III and later Virginias. The new tubes nearly double the amount of payload space compared with the former VLS installation, going from 1,200 cubic feet to 2,300.

The new Large Aperture Bow (LAB) sonar array substitutes the sonar sphere active/passive transducers with a listening-only hydrophone system. Replacement of the water-backed LAB array for the air-backed sonar sphere will save about $11 million per sub. The LAB array features two primary components: the passive array - using hydrophone technology from the Seawolf SSN 21-class submarines - and a medium-frequency active array.
Link

There are a total of about 25 redesign changes most have to do with construction and budget, making things easer and cheaper yet still effective.

[edit on 26-3-2008 by WestPoint23]

reply to post by orangetom1999


Thanks orangetom for the informative presentation and observation of this boat. Yeah I was thinking the same about the French having a new larger torpedoes if those shutter doors are of that size! And another thing was the Red October thing that brings up my memory where it looks like the torpedo tubes are just too large so it has to be something else sinister, maybe the Caterpillar Drive!!!

reply to post by deltaboy


The Triomphant class (of which Le Terrible is the final boat) has 4 21-inch (533-mm) tubes. I couldn't locate anything on whether the tubes are parallel or canted, but I don't see the advantage of parallel tubes with modern torpedoes or missiles anyway as long as the cant isn't too severe.

The Triomphant class (of which Le Terrible is the final boat) has 4 21-inch (533-mm) tubes. I couldn't locate anything on whether the tubes are parallel or canted, but I don't see the advantage of parallel tubes with modern torpedoes or missiles anyway as long as the cant isn't too severe.

Deltaboy, 533mm or 21 inchs is pretty much standard for torpedos in the western world.
I dont know if they developed it but there were plans for a 30 inch torpedo when a real big bang was needed. Remember now..torpedos at one time were 19 inchs. WW2 and that era. I have seen torpedo rooms set up to handle both types. The rollers on the handling equipment could manage both the 19 to the 21 inch torpedos..no problem. This I surmise was a tansition period in this knid of developnemt ..hence the ability to handle both. 30 inch would be a big one. Would require special handling equipment and proceedures.

The primary size to which I was refering is the length of the shutter door.
Why such a long door. The only thing I could come up with is that the tube is parallel to the centerline of the boat..instead of a slight outward angle.
By the way..the older boomers we built before the Ohio class had the torpedo tubes..four right through the center of the bow. They had a different sonar arrangetment in those boats. It was unusual at first. But then again...their torpedos too were mostly for defense. The objective was also remain undetected until they fired thier main weapons.

Then again..to quote a cliche..."Youve come along way Baby!!" Refering here to sonar development. This is quite obvious and stark when looking at these excellent photos.

Oxillini,
I cannot see any reason for such a long shutter door unless the tubes were not canted outward. To me that is just more surface to rattle and make noise. More surface to keep properly aligned and adjusted after disassembly and or maintenance. But I am sure they have thier reasons.

Musing to myself about the artists conceptions of the new arrangement for the Virginias based on the Ohio Class modifications....that has to be some kind of module they load into the two tubes. When only one is fired...the others must remain secure and dry in its section of the module. You would have to be able to ballast for only one fired....yet keep the others dry. Intresting design problem. Obviously someone has worked it out.

Thanks,
Orangetom