Vickers Submarine Oil Tanker for BP

The Russians touted similar designs after the Cold War ended but the 1988 date and Trafalgar class fin and planes make this very interesting.
 
And Russia today. An article I wrote a while back:

Today the largest submarine in the world is Russia’s mighty Typhoon Class ballistic missile sub. It’s massive, but it could be dwarfed if Russian engineers get their way. A ginormous undersea tanker called the Pilgrim has been proposed to transport liquid natural gas (LNG) in the Arctic. Submarine tankers would literally slip under the ice.

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St. Petersburg-based Malachite Design Bureau has unveiled a design for a massive submarine capable of carrying 170,000 to 180,000 tons at a time. That is far in excess of the volume of any previous submarine. At 1,180 feet long and 230 feet across the submarine tanker would dwarf the Typhoon. The latter is around half the length at 574 feet and one third the width at 75 feet. So in terms of volume it will be more than six times the size of the Typhoon.

To shift this incredible bulk it would be powered by no less than three nuclear reactors, each producing 30 megawatts. This could propel it at 17 knots, which is only a few knots slower than regular tankers. Because it’s not a combat vessel the crew would be small by submarine standards, just 25-28 people.


Malachite have designed many of Russia’s most famous submarines. These include the potent Severodvinsk Class cruise missile submarine. And the secretive Losharik spy sub which was involved in a tragic accident last year. They are also working on the Laika, which will probably be Russia’s next generation attack submarine.

But nothing that they have built so far is anything like the Pilgrim proposal. If it’s built it’ll be the first submarine tanker in the world. But the idea of transporting hydrocarbons underwater is not new.

There have been several proposals over the years but none have come close to fruition.In the 1950s the U.S. considered them as an alternative to undersea pipeline from oil fields in Alaska. And enterprising Dutch naval architects proposed designs based on their then-unique multi-hull submarine technology. The unusual multi-hull concept was later borrowed by the Typhoon.

The idea has also come up in Japan. In 1995 there was a patent for a submarine tanker to carry carbon dioxide in liquid form under the ice cap. Around the same time a patent was filed in Russia for an “underwater tanker,” specifically to navigate the ice-bound arctic routes across Russia.

It has yet to be seen how submarine tankers could disrupt the world of commodity trading and international trade. Especially if employed beyond the Arctic. They could be immune from piracy for example. Or they could complicate sanctions enforcement. However it plays out, if Pilgrim is ever built it will be a significant change in the tanker landscape.
 
jstar said:
"In the endless war between East and West, oil has become the ultimate prize. Nuclear-powered subtugs brave enemy waters to tap into hidden oil reserves beneath the East's continental shelf."

en.wikipedia.org

The Dragon in the Sea - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
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Yeah, I read that one in the original serialization as Under Pressure. It was the novel Frank Herbert wrote before he started his Dune series. I would recommend it as a good read.
 
I was hoping the late great Gerry Anderson would have designed a nuclear submarine tanker. Sadly his solution has all the hallmarks of a modern British Government solution as in the attached.
If you like explosions they come from the episode Echo of Danger
 

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Reading this thread jogged my memory, and after a bit of searching found these:
One is an article, I think, from the old 'Eagle' comic which used to have some AMAZING cut-away drawings for all sorts of ships, aircraft and other vehicles.
The other two are from a long forgotten source, which shows a Saunders-Roe design for a cargo carrying submarine.
I have to apologise to ALL members regarding the provenance of some items I may put up on here. A lot come from previous iterations of this board, and, I was not meticulous in noting their origins.
 

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I remember this from Speed & Power magazine in the 70s.
I have to wonder why you'd want to do this.

Chris
 
Shorter routes to certain destinations via the North Pole for one thing. Also harder to interdict during wartime or other emergency for another.
 
Pirate Pete said:
Reading this thread jogged my memory, and after a bit of searching found these:
One is an article, I think, from the old 'Eagle' comic which used to have some AMAZING cut-away drawings for all sorts of ships, aircraft and other vehicles.
The other two are from a long forgotten source, which shows a Saunders-Roe design for a cargo carrying submarine.
I have to apologise to ALL members regarding the provenance of some items I may put up on here. A lot come from previous iterations of this board, and, I was not meticulous in noting their origins.
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The second image is from A.E. Tagg's and R.L. Wheeler's From Sea to Air.
 

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