How fast do Navy submarines descend?

Question

How big are they? Can you tell when they are moving?

Answer 1

Fast enough and that's as close to an unclassified answer as you'll get.

U.S. submarines are nuclear powered and have power to spare.  On the surface, they wallow and are not comfortable.  Submerged, they fly and do so very comfortably.  Bad guys do not want to be in the same ocean as these sharks.

Visit this fact file for more specifics.

Answer 2

My last boat was the USS Alaska SSBN 732 [b]

594 foot long, and four stories tall inside. Picture a parking garage that is two blocks long basically.

Walking underneath them in a drydock is really cool :)

Sometimes when going up or down, the planesmen put on an up or down bubble. So the bow will go up or down first and the entire boat will tilt. During those angles we can do 30 degrees down angle or up angle. I have stood straight up and been able to reach out in front of me and touch the deck [becuase the deck was at such an extreme tilt].

But the angles are not needed, We go up and down commonly without angles.

For the most part, you can not tell if we are tied up to a pier, or underwater charging along punching holes. it feels the same.

I did 14 years in the Silent Service during my 20 year career.

It is good pay too. :)

Answer 3

It depends on what submarine you are talking about.  Fast Attacks (FA) are the smallest and about the size of 7 houses side by side.  When looking at it, it is like an iceberg - 3/4 of it is underwater.   Tridents are bigger, nicknamed the Cadillac by Submariners.  About the size of 14 houses side by side.  Then there is the Virginia & SeaWolf class as well.  

They can go down as fast as necessary.  

Can you tell they are moving yes you can.  

Answer 4

Oh about 35 knots, unless they're in a hurry. Really big. Think football fields for some. Yes you can tell if they are moving. Especially if you happen to be snorkeling along side of one...or worse, direct in front.  

Answer 5

depends how fast they need to  - normally it's a gradual descent, believe it or not it's actually much rougher for a sub on the surface than when they are underwater and level. Dives normall aren't at drastic angles - other than that - it's classified.