Silent Power

(fm the BC thread "The CRU Hack")

Eggplant,
I am eager to see Fuel-Cell systems developed for silent submarine propulsion. Taiwan, Japan, Israel and the EU would all want in on that. The Navy nuke lobby has hurt security, blocking all alternative systems to their specialty.

Eggplant
The German Type 212 submarines already do that.

Eggzactly. So why aren't we in the fuel-cell powered submarine business? Specialization unions make a difference. The aviators and the missile shooters combined and got all the guns over 5", and most of the smaller guns, removed from the fleet. In fact we had Terrier missile shooters that we called cruisers that had no guns on them at all for anti surface ship or shore bombardment use. We are building amphibious assault ships that have only a couple of 40 mm guns for the suicide dinghy threat but nothing for the Marines. The reason is that aviators don't want the competition. Similarly the nuclear propulsion community has made sure the US builds no non-nuclear powered submarines.

If Israel had four Type 212 mods, each with 4 to 6 Polaris type MRBMs, so one could always be on station wherever, and another four as hunter-killers, so one could always be off Hormuz, it would not eliminate the threat from Iran but it would change it.