Artaimís-class Fleet Submarine
Conceived toward the end of the 1980s what would become the Artaimís-class were specifically designed to hunt both deterrent carriers and hunter-killers in the Meridian ocean. Entering service in the late nineties four out of six vessels were completed, the final two being cancelled with funds directed elsewhere.
They represented a step-change in submarine-warfare, constructed with titanium pressure hulls they could dive deeper than any previous Glasic submarine, they were the first highly automated submarines to be commissioned into the submarine service, capable of operating with a crew as low as 66 (though more usually 74), had larger diameter torpedo tubes for the then as-yet unrealised Devilfish torpedo as well as vertical launch tubes for anti-ship or later on land-attack missiles.
Operational service for the class has been varied with deployments to both the Meridian and Helian oceans as needs dictate. Between 2015 and 2018 the class in their entirety were dry-docked for extensive mid-life updates, the net result of which was the gutting of much of the original combat system and its replacement with systems introduced during the intervening years, mainly upon the four SSGNs of the Bean Sí class which are ostensibly direct descendants of the Artaimís class albeit of constructed of less-exotic materials. The four Artaimís-class vessels are expected to remain in service until around 2030.
Class Members
RGF Artaimís
RGF Aitéiné
RGF Artio
RGF Áine
Performance
Speed:
Max. Operational: 39 Knots
Max. Silent: 28 Knots
Search: 12 Knots (25 knots towed-array survival limit)
Emergency: 5 Knots (Thrusters)
Test Depth
- 825m
Max. Operating Depth
- 1,000m normal 1,250m emergency
Crush Depth
- ±1,500m
Range
- Essentially unlimited, no re-fuelling expected during lifetime
Endurance
- Stores for 120 days of operations
Complement
- Nominally 74 (31 officers and 43 enlisted), a minimum of 66 and maximum of 80, accommodation for 90
Armament
- 8x 660mm Torpedo tubes - 4x lined to 533mm
- 16x Vertical launch tubes
- 52 Torpedo room weapons
- BHI Devilfish 660mm heavyweight torpedo
- BHI Icefish 533mm heavyweight torpedo
- GAIA Mosquito multi-role missile
- BHI Trident anti-submarine missile
- BHI Shillelagh cruise missile
Sensors
- Large-Area bow array (0.5-5kHz Passive - 3.5kHz Active)
- Chin Array (70-100kHz Active)
- Forward and aft sail arrays (5-8kHz Active, fore and aft - 70-100kHz Active, fore only)
- Planar Flank Array (0.5-5kHz Passive - 3.5kHz Active)
- Intercept array (0.5-100kHz Passive)
- Thin-Line Towed Array (10Hz to 3.5kHz)
- Passive ranging array
- Self-Noise Monitoring Hydrophones
- Non-Acoustic Sensor System (SOKS equivalent)
- Photonics Mast 1 (Attack Periscope)
- Photonics Mast 2 (Search Periscope)
- COMMO Mast 1 (SATCOM - Secure Datalinks)
- COMMO Mast 2 (SATCOM - Secure Datalinks)
- COMMO Mast 3 (Secure Communications)
- COMMO Mast 4 (Secure Communications)
- Radar Mast (Sharpeye X Submarine Radar)
- ESM Mast 1 - TIMNEX-derived
- ESM Mast 2 - ES-3601U / ES-3701U derived
- Snorkel Mast
Countermeasures
- Hard and soft-kill tube-launched countermeasures (Torbuster, Subscut)
- Nixie-derived towed-acoustic decoys
Machinery
- 1x Collins LFR2 lead-cooled fast reactor totalling 200MWt
- Turbo-electric transmission form two turbines totalling 55MWe
- 1x 760kW emergency diesel-generators
- 6x 120kW PEM fuel-cell banks producing up-to 720kW
- 2x 350kW emergency-propulsion / manoeuvring devices
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Edit 1: addressing of concerns