Trends in the global submarine building of the 21st century, in fact, like the production of any other type of naval weapons, usually tend to minimize the size of a combat unit while giving it maximum strike potential, excellent stealth, proper defensive capabilities, as well as high information coverage of the crew. These parameters are possessed by almost all modern strategic missile submarines and multipurpose nuclear submarines, the so-called SSGNs, which are in service with the most developed countries of the world. In the Russian fleet, these are MAPLs of project 885 "Ash", the noise level of which does not exceed the performance of the expensive American "Sea Wolf" and SSBNs of project 955 "Borey" with a super-quiet water-jet propulsion unit; in the US Navy - the low-noise MPSS "Sea Wolf", stuffed with 600 hull acoustic sensors to reduce the noise level at medium speeds in underwater mode, as well as similar, but cheaper multipurpose nuclear submarines of the "Virginia" class, in the French Navy - " Le Triompant ", possessing one of the most technologically advanced nuclear power plants, where steam generators are not installed separately from the core of the K-15 pressurized water reactor, but are integrated with it into a single module (plus there is a standby retractable propeller powered by emergency diesel generators). The design of the power plant turned out to be as compact as possible, with the ability to maintain the mobility of the submarine even in emergency situations.
China at the moment has not yet distinguished itself by the independent development of a nuclear submarine carrier of intercontinental ballistic missiles. So, at the end of the 80s. SSBN of project 092 "Xia" was completed and adopted, the body of which repeated the main structural elements of the outdated American SSBNs of "George Washington" class, and the configuration of the power plant, propeller and rocket banquet with launching silos was similar to the first project of the French SSBN of "Redutable" class … This is absolutely no coincidence, because after the border military conflict on Damansky Island, the Celestial Empire abruptly shifted the vector of cooperation towards the West by as much as 20 years. Then, in the early 90s, project 094 "Jin" developed rapidly. This strategic missile submarine was created with noticeable technological support from our Rubin Design Bureau. The first submarine of the class, also known as Type 09-IV, was laid down under hull number 409 in 1999 at CSIC's Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Co. Ltd.”, and was launched in 2004. The rocket banquet SSBN pr. 094 "Jin" is quite high and has a very pronounced angular ("box") shape, similar to the performance in domestic SSBNs starting from the project 667A "Navaga" and ending with the project 667BDRM "Dolphin". Nevertheless, the noise level of these submarines is several times higher than that of the American Los Angeles-class MPSS. Today, the Chinese are just learning to design promising ultra-low-noise submarines. The most ambitious project is the Type 095 MAPL with a water jet propeller built into the hull, the water flow into which comes from 2 narrow water intakes at the rear of the submarine.
Let's hope that this concept will be a breakthrough for the Chinese submarine building, but for now we will consider a very interesting British project of a nuclear submarine with intercontinental ballistic missiles on board the next generation, which has already received the nickname "British loaf" in the media.
On the website of the British Ministry of Defense, on October 1, 2016, the first image of a promising 5th generation nuclear submarine, which will be designed in accordance with the Successor program (translated from English - "Successor"), was published. An image of the new submarine is attached to the announcement of the British Secretary of Defense Michael Fallon on the implementation of a contract worth £ 1,300 million to develop a technical design with detailed drawings of the next generation advanced SSBN, which will be taken over by BAE Systems, renowned in Western Europe. In the next few years, the so-called project stage "Delivery Phase-1" will take place, during which the tactical and technical assignment for a new submarine will be created and clearly worked out, all the costs of operating the 4 boards planned for construction will be assessed, and the sequence replacement SSBNs of the previous generation "Vanguard".
The image of the lead MAPL of the Successor class, which is a good installation, can already reveal the long-term plans of the Ministry of Defense and the British Navy regarding the strategy in the global theater of operations. The current class of nuclear submarines "Vanguard" can be considered as the main instrument of military-political deterrence in the European and North Atlantic theaters of operations. Four production submarines (S.28 Vanguard, S.29 Victorious, S.30 Vigilant and S.31 Vengeance) carry a total of 58 Trident-2D5 ICBMs, although there are 64 mines (16 on each submarine). This was done for economic reasons (only one SSBN on patrol). But given every year the increasingly deteriorating relations within the framework of "Russia-NATO", as well as the unpredictable consequences for the EU from the flow of migrants from the Middle East (you never know what can happen in the continental part of the Old World after a dozen years), Great Britain can completely equip its nuclear submarine component with 64 Tridents. The new submarines have 12 silos for SLBMs, and therefore for the full use of all 64 missiles, it will be necessary to leave at least one Vanguard-class submarine in service.
The appearance of the "Successor" class is quite formidable: the large width of the hull, the wheelhouse with missing antenna-mast devices, judging by its appearance, made according to the laws of reduced radar signature, and also absolutely not prominent rocket banquet, stand out. Apparently, the displacement of the Successor will significantly exceed the displacement of the Vanguards and will be about 20 thousand tons, which may indicate the adjustment of internal volumes for large arsenals of torpedoes and strategic cruise missiles "Tomahawk" launched from standard 533-mm torpedo tubes. This submarine project forms a general idea of the appearance of the British fleet of the 21st century, where great emphasis will be placed on multipurpose nuclear submarines and cruise and ballistic missiles with both deterrent capabilities and the ability to deliver massive non-nuclear strikes with a large number of TFRs.
The Successor engine will be launched next week at one of BAE Systems' facilities in Barrow-in-Fernöss, where the first steel cutting ceremony for the project's lead nuclear reactor will take place. Michael Fallon himself will take part in it. The main stages of the construction of submarines of the series will take place in the early 1920s, and we will learn about their details no earlier than 2025.
