The External Anatomy of a Modern Submarine
Taking a page from nature's own, the submarine has evolved from Jules Verne-like shapes in more "ocean-friendly" designs along the same lines as a shark or porpoise. A typical modern submarine's profile is dominated by this elongated shape which in turn is broken up by the "sail" (or "conning tower") and various planes about the design. The sail is the tower that contains various communications equipment and available periscopes and may or may not contain the sail planes - planes that operate in the same way that an aircraft's elevators might, allowing for movement upwards and downwards. The stern (or aft or rear) section of the submarine is usually made up of the propeller, the rudder (allowing for side-to-side movement similar to the tail of a shark) and the stern planes.
Armament of the submarine at one time primarily revolved around its torpedo tubes, usually several mounted as forward-facing and several as rear-facing tubes. This eventually gave way to strictly forward-facing ones as it is in today's designs, opening up space for further systems and equipment to be carried. Additionally, deck guns were installed to combat lighter vessels on the surface of the water. Modern submarines have no deck guns afforded to their armament as that need in battle has all but past. Today's submarine vessels still take on the need to operate torpedo tubes but, more importantly, many are undergoing or have undergone conversions to become ballistic missile submarines. This has provided them with long range strike capabilities unheard of in World War 1 or World War 2 by allowing the vessel to be near surface or surfaced entirely and launch its payload of vertical-loaded cruise missiles into the air, only to be guided furthermore by satellite and GPS systems. |
The Internal Anatomy of a Modern Submarine |