Word: subs
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Three months ago, the Soviet trawler Vega made a much-photographed nuisance of herself oT the U.S. Atlantic Coast-taking bearings on U.S. coastal radars, barging boldly into the midst of fleet and Air Force maneuvers. On one occasion, in a practice session off Long Island, the U.S. nuclear sub George Washington fired a dummy Polaris, and a Navy tug churned over to recover the missile. Before it got there, the Vega steamed over the horizon, headed straight for the floating missile...
...Dust. Oxygen alone is not enough. As the crew breathes, it contaminates the air with exhaled carbon dioxide. In older subs the way to get rid of it was to absorb most of it in a caustic such as lithium hydroxide. The nuclear subs must have a far more elaborate system: secondhand air is passed through a liquid containing monoethanolamine, which absorbs carbon dioxide at room temperature, is then heated, and releases the gas so that it can be piped out of the sub...
...this unwanted stuff is eliminated by a hot catalyst that oxidizes it to CO2 and water. All traces of organic matter that escape the catalyst are mopped up by a bed of activated carbon, and finally an electrostatic precipitator removes the last aerosols (dust or smoke particles) from the sub's fresh, clean world. In case of an atmosphere-fouling emergency, the crew can plug gas masks into a piped air supply...
...sodium sulphate solution. When an electric current passes through it, oxygen bubbles off from one electrode. An acid is formed in the solution at the same electrode, and a caustic accumulates at the other electrode. The caustic can be withdrawn and used to absorb carbon dioxide from the sub's atmosphere. When it is then remixed with the acid from the other electrode, the carbon dioxide separates and can be pumped out of the submarine. What remains is the same sodium sulphate with which the cycle started. When this system is at work cleaning and oxygenating...
...World War II as obsolete as blunderbusses. Non-nuclear submarines, depending on storage batteries for underwater propulsion, can move at full speed for only a few miles, then have to slow down to a walk to save electricity. A destroyer that makes sonar contact can hover over such a sub for hours, dropping slow-sinking depth charges. But the nuclear submarines-called "nukes"-can cruise underwater for weeks at top speed. When a destroyer makes sonar contact with one of them, it must attack instantly or its nimble prey will dodge and speed away. Only a quick-acting, long-range...