Submarine Lengths - info, ship costs

Started by Kaiser Kirk, September 04, 2023, 08:13:26 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Kaiser Kirk

One thing I used to wonder is 'how long are submarines' to fit in my docks.

Quite a while ago I started going through Wiki's submarine listings and making a spreadsheet.
Never finished, but had enough it's probably usable.

Summary is this :

N7 Sub   Tonnage   Length (m)            
   250   24      2.3      1.5
   500   48      4.6      3.0
   750   72      6.9      4.5
   1000   97      9.2      6.0
   1500   145      13.8      9.0
                   

Worksheet (as far as I got) is attached.
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

Kaiser Kirk

May as well stick some cost info here.


   From 1903 encyclopedia               
                  
name   class   ld date   tons   cost      cost/ton
missouri   BB   1900   12230   2885000      235.9
ohio   BB   1899   12440   2889000      232.2
maine   BB   1899   12300   2885000      234.6
Illonois   BB   1897   11565   2595000      224.4
bainbridge   tbd   1898   420   283000      673.8
bagley   tb    1898   167   161000      964.1
bailey   tb    1897   235   310000      1319.1
Dahlgren   tb    1897   146   194000      1328.8
Denver   PC   1900   3200   1080000      337.5
                  
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest

Kaiser Kirk

And another source of costs, also with expected service life.
There's a Royal Navy list on maintenance costs I found in a post while researching carrier costs.
It also has "Type Lifes"
BBs - 26yrs
Cruisers - 23.5yrs
Carriers - 20 years
DD - 22
Sub - 14   - on subs I had long ago come across '12' as their useful life.
Quite simply, on a surface warship, having minor equipment failures, or sprung seams, can be machinery in need of repair or leaks.
For subs, it may mean not returning to the surface...so 'safe' sub life was shorter.
Worse, subs took alot of expensive well trained engineers, and specialty parts, so costs were high. Not to mention torpedoes were actually pricey.
Factors like that are why the French considered a submarine-focused fleet...and decided not to.


Anyhow the interwar data broke down like this....I made this several years ago...back in the age I had spare time....
To me, one aspect of interest was the concept that due to obsolescence and attrition, carrier planes basically had to be replaced every three years.

I've taken the base data and played with it.
The last element is maintenance costs per ton, with and without aircraft.
As one can see the maintenance varies greatly by ship type,
the carrier hulls aren't so bad, but the airgroups are very pricey.

There's also a note equating 27 AC to 1 BB, I think that is the maintenance cost ratio.

There was also a RAF study that concluded that a squadron of bombers (twins at that time) cost as much as a BB over the lifespan of the BB.


Interwar Royal Navy costs                                 
                                 
Known                                  
Ship Class   Assumed   Type   Light   Standard   Full Load       Type Life   Annual Maint   Annual A/C main      Ave * Life / STD = Capital cost/ton
Nelson   Nelson   BB-3ac      33300   37780      26   310000   34500      240
"Cruiser Large"   County   CA-2ac      10400   14150      23.5   187000   23000      212
"Cruiser Small"   Artheusa   CL-2ac      5220   6665      23.5   130000   23000      259
CV Large   Courageous   CV -36 AC      22500   26500      20   255000   414000      180
CV Small   Hermes   CVL -15 AC      10850   13700      20   160000   172500      300
DD Flotilla (8)   J   DD      13760         22   332000 (8)          291
DD Individual    J   DD      1720         22   41500         401
Sub 1000t   L Group 3   SS      960         14   39800          
                           Equals 11,500/AC      
Known                            Or 27 AC = 1 BB      
Ship Class   Assumed   Type   Light   Standard   Full Load       Type Life   Maint/Ton   W/AC      
Nelson   Nelson   BB-3ac      33300   37780      26   9.3         
"Cruiser Large"   County   CA-2ac      10400   14150      23.5   18.0         
"Cruiser Small"   Artheusa   CL-2ac      5220   6665      23.5   24.9         
CV Large   Courageous   CV       22500   26500      20   11.3   29.7      
CV Small   Hermes   CVL      10850   13700      20   14.7   30.6      
DD Individual    J   DD      1720         22   24.1         
Sub 1000t   L Group 3   SS      960         14   41.5         
Did they beat the drum slowly,
Did they play the fife lowly,
Did they sound the death march, as they lowered you down,
Did the band play the last post and chorus,
Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest