Putting 20th century ship killers to the test
History’s three great submarine campaigns include the First Battle of the Atlantic, the Second Battle of the Atlantic, and the U.S. Navy’s war against Japanese commerce in World War II. The contestants fought these campaigns through asymmetrical means, with submarines doing battle against aircraft and surface escorts.
But the greatest true submarine campaign never (or only intermittently) went “hot.” Waged with advanced, streamlined submarines, hunting each other from the polar ice cap to the Eastern seaboard, the Cold War undersea “game” lasted for over three decades.
In case of real war, these submarines would safeguard — or destroy — NATO’s trans-Atlantic lifeline, and would protect or sink much of the nuclear deterrent of America, Russia, Britain, and France.
So what were the best submarines of the Cold War era? For the purposes of this list, we’re excluding ballistic missiles submarines or boomers, which have an entirely different mission from attack boats, built for different requirements.
Instead, this list will focus on submarines optimized for killing surface ships or other submarines.
The criteria should be familiar from previous lists — to what extent did the vessels perform its strategic mission at a price that its nation could afford?
Cost: Submarines compete with other providers of national security. If they break the bank, they risk crowding out the other capabilities that a nation requires for its defense.
Reliability: When submarines have accidents, the results can be catastrophic. And showing up is half the battle. Boats stuck in port can’t fulfill national objectives.
Effectiveness: Could the submarine do the job? How did it stack up against its contemporaries?
Read the Remainder at War is Boring