Germany gets new non-nuclear submarines

These new submarines use a seriously cool technology! They get driven by two means: 1) a diesel generator and 2) a fuel cell. Water and oxygen gets transfered into energy without creating any noise or exhaust fumes. The only by-products which get created by this reaction, are direct current and distilled water, making this machine seriously clean and efficient! The distilled water could be used in the toilets again or for showering. The submarine can stay below the water for up to 30 days without surfacing, can dive down to 150 meters and is virtually undetectable.

[img]http://www.subnetitalia.it/u212image.jpg[/img] Read what ThyssenKrupp, the producers have to say about it:

Here is an article about it in a German newspaper.

Cool submarine, but where do you get the Hydrogen gas from? Oxygen you can get from fractional distillation of air, but don't know about Hydrogen... AFAIK you either get it from non renewable sources or electrolysis of water.. which requiures lots of energy.

Hey man, did I build the thing? This website (in German though) explains the technology behind it a bit better. I haven't read it all yet, no time.

Oops... didn't mean to have a go at you, more just thinking aloud. I'll go to the website and look at the pictures!

I was just trying to decide whether that or a nuclear sub was better for the environment

Sounds like a bit of a contradiction in terms: environmentally-friendly weapons of war.

Geez and I thought subs were obselete since the 70s.
Not really, considering us humans do more damage to the environment than anything else, anything reducing our numbers has to be a good thing, for the environment I mean.

large scale hydrogen production is normally through steam reformation of methane. ive worked on the design of one of these plants.

http://www.nyserda.org/ges/6HydrogenProduc...neReforming.pdf

@benpanter

wz kiddin, hence the
Nudge-nudge, wink-wink, say-no-more!

@Ulysses

Didn't you know? Germany exports its weaponry only for humanitarian purposes.

Bollox, Germany were involved in the South African arms deal scandal. Looks like Schröder pulled the wool over your eyes too.

The War On Terra

German submarines... yey!!!

*sigh* *heavier sigh*

//makes mental note to herself to teach Ulysses the unsubtle art of irony.

Well cool indeed, but need a little more info to compare this vs. nuclear. How about range and max speed for starters? Nuclear subs obviously have unlimited range (until reactor runs out of fuel - msrd in years), and have speeds faster than most conventional ships even.

Damn! This new technology will certainly make it tougher for our convoys to get through.

They also have some new "ECO Friendly" torpedoes... The Greens got upset that the explosions of the old torpedoes caused mass kill off's of fish and the one’s that didn't die were traumatized. So they have switched over to Paint ball (DYE) filled warheads.. This Brings a new meaning to the phrase "Paint the target"..

I would guess this is a variant of the standard diesel/electric sub. When on the surface they "charge" the fuel cell via the diesel generator (electrolysis).

Big advantage diesel/electrics have over nukes is they are very stealthy, no cooling systems that need to run all the time.