WW2 Submarines traveling under the polar ice cap

trurle

Banned
Thought the Kursk was lost due to torpedoes exploding in the torpedo room. It was an Oscar class nuke boat.
Yes, and the root cause for the disaster was the malfunction of the torpedo`s peroxide-based AIP - the same system what was in development since WWII..
 

trurle

Banned
Why not?
Yes, it would be tough, but I don't see any obvious reasons that it's impossible.
Because mobile dewars for liquid oxygen storage were spontaneously exploding. You need getter-free dewars for safe LOX storage on submarines, the task not easily done with the vacuum pumps and sealing technology of the era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyliquit

In particular, lead-tin solder was still not used, and sealing vacuum vessels with pure tin was common. This resulted in unreliable, leaky sealing, therefore getter to absorb leaked gas was needed (which would explode if exposed to oxygen leaked through another leaky seal). Welding quality control was also rudimentary, with rare and low-performance X-ray defectoscopes, and no ultrasound defectoscopes at all.
 
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Because mobile dewars for liquid oxygen storage were spontaneously exploding. You need getter-free dewars for safe LOX storage on submarines, the task not easily done with the vacuum pumps and sealing technology of the era.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxyliquit

In particular, lead-tin solder was still not used, and sealing vacuum vessels with pure tin was common. This resulted in unreliable, leaky sealing, therefore getter to absorb leaked gas was needed (which would explode if exposed to oxygen leaked through another leaky seal). Welding quality control was also rudimentary, with rare and low-performance X-ray defectoscopes, and no ultrasound defectoscopes at all.
Thanks for the very helpful reply.
 
The obvious question is why in the blazes would you risk being trapped under ice? What could be so valuable?

The issue of dived range is forgetting something: the water is damned cold, so the interior will have to be kept warm somehow, & that's going to eat up battery capacity...
 
For the OP’s request I dont see the problem. A purpose build large teardrop shaped sub, with large batteries and a tiny Crew (cargo sub remember) wouldn’t need to go through the ice except in emergencies.
 
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