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Re:How the UK lost its shipbuilding industry by gpderetta on Monday November 10, 2025 @05:12AM (#45874419)
My understanding is that the UK currently has 5 attack submarines. Is that enough to break a blockade?

More are planned (the SSN-AUKUS), but it is probably still some time away.

Re:How the UK lost its shipbuilding industry by jack_tripper on Monday November 10, 2025 @05:50AM (#45874640)
That's around 100 torpedoes loaded in the water. Is that enough to break a blockade?
Re:How the UK lost its shipbuilding industry by nradov on Monday November 10, 2025 @12:25PM (#45878254)
No, it's not nearly enough. The exact number of weapons onboard is largely irrelevant. At any given time only about one third of a nation's attack submarines can be out on active patrol while the others are in transit, undergoing maintenance, or working up. During a crisis they can maybe surge two thirds of the force for a few months but that isn't sustainable. Each submarine can only be in one place at a time and they're likely to take some losses against a competent adversary.
Re:How the UK lost its shipbuilding industry by jack_tripper on Monday November 10, 2025 @01:26PM (#45879064)
That's why my money(figuratively) is on Kraken Roboticss and Anduril's autonomous robot submarines. This will be the future of naval warfare.
Re:How the UK lost its shipbuilding industry by nradov on Monday November 10, 2025 @01:43PM (#45879278)
That's so naive. Those robot submarines will be useful for local defense but they lack the range, speed, and staying power to project power and protect sea lines of communication over thousands of miles on a sustained basis. The notion of doing that with robots remains firmly in the realm of science fiction today. Maybe in 30 years.