The vents of the Redoutable are under the casing. The square openings in the casing are limber holes to facilitate draining the superstructure.
In submarine technology a vent is a valve fitted to the top of a submarine's ballast tanks to let air escape from the top of the ballast tank and be replaced by water entering through the opening(s) called "flood ports" or "floods" at the bottom of the tank. In earlier times, the openings at the bottom of the ballast tank were fitted with valves known as Kingston valves. These valves were eliminated in the U.S. Navy between the World Wars.
When on the surface a submarine's ballast tanks are filled with air which gives the vessel its buoyancy and in order for the submarine to submerge water is taken into the ballast tanks through the flood ports at the bottom of the tanks, effacing this excess buoyancy. As the ballast tanks contain air when on the surface it is necessary to allow this air to escape, so that water may then enter the tanks, and this air is allowed to escape via the opened vents in the top of the ballast tanks.
The vents which are used to allow water to enter the submarine's main ballast tanks when it submerges are the main vents and it is air escaping through these that accounts for the spray sometimes seen when submarines dive.
To get a submarine to surface, the main vents in the top of the tank are closed and high-pressurecompressed air is blown into the ballast tanks, forcing the water out through the flood ports at the bottom of the tank. Replacing ballast water with lighter air reduces the vessel's total mass. When the weight of the vessel becomes less than the weight of the volume of displaced water, buoyancy becomes positive, in accordance with Archimedes' principle and the submarine begins to rise. The displacement of a submerged submarine with full ballast tanks is greater than the displacement on the surface with empty ballast tanks where buoyancy equilibrium is restored.
Once on the surface, in order to conserve supplies of compressed air, a lower-pressure compressor is then used to remove the remainder of the water from the tanks.
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or informally to refer to remotely operated vehicles and robots, or to medium-sized or smaller vessels. Submarines are referred to as boats rather than ships regardless of their size.
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
Buoyancy, or upthrust is a net upward force exerted by a fluid that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed object. In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of the overlying fluid. Thus, the pressure at the bottom of a column of fluid is greater than at the top of the column. Similarly, the pressure at the bottom of an object submerged in a fluid is greater than at the top of the object. The pressure difference results in a net upward force on the object. The magnitude of the force is proportional to the pressure difference, and is equivalent to the weight of the fluid that would otherwise occupy the submerged volume of the object, i.e. the displaced fluid.
USS S-5 (SS-110) was a "Government-type" S-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 4 December 1917 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 10 November 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Glenn S. Burrell, and commissioned on 6 March 1920 with Lieutenant Commander Charles M. "Savvy" Cooke, Jr., in command. She sank accidentally during full-power trials on 1 September 1920, but due to actions by her crew and the crews of other ships, there were no deaths. Refloated, she was lost when she sank again while under tow on 3 September 1920.
A buoyancy compensator (BC), also called a buoyancy control device (BCD), stabilizer, stabilisor, stab jacket, wing or adjustable buoyancy life jacket (ABLJ), depending on design, is a type of diving equipment which is worn by divers to establish neutral buoyancy underwater and positive buoyancy at the surface, when needed.
A lifting bag is an item of diving equipment consisting of a robust and air-tight bag with straps, which is used to lift heavy objects underwater by means of the bag's buoyancy. The heavy object can either be moved horizontally underwater by the diver or sent unaccompanied to the surface.
A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers from the surface to depth and back in open water, usually for the purpose of performing underwater work. The most common types are the open-bottomed wet bell and the closed bell, which can maintain an internal pressure greater than the external ambient. Diving bells are usually suspended by a cable, and lifted and lowered by a winch from a surface support platform. Unlike a submersible, the diving bell is not designed to move under the control of its occupants, or to operate independently of its launch and recovery system.
A crash dive is a maneuver by a submarine in which the vessel submerges as quickly as possible to avoid attack. Crash diving from the surface to avoid attack has been largely rendered obsolete with the advent of nuclear-powered submarines, as they normally operate submerged. However, the crash dive is also a standard maneuver to avoid a collision.
K-429 was a Project 670-A Скат nuclear submarine of the Soviet Navy. Her keel was laid down on 26 January 1971 at Krasnoye Sormovo in Gorky. She was launched on 22 April 1972, and was commissioned on 31 October 1972 into the Soviet Pacific Fleet.
Ballast is weight placed low in ships to lower their centre of gravity, which increases stability. Insufficiently ballasted boats tend to tip or heel excessively in high winds. Too much heel may result in the vessel filling with water and/or capsizing. If a sailing vessel needs to voyage without cargo, then ballast of little or no value will be loaded to keep the vessel upright. Some or all of this ballast will then be discarded when cargo is loaded.
The K-class submarines were a class of steam-propelled submarines of the Royal Navy designed in 1913. Intended as large, fast vessels with the endurance and speed to operate with the battle fleet, they gained notoriety and the nickname of "Kalamity class" for being involved in many accidents. Of the 18 built, none were lost through enemy action, but six sank, with significant loss of life, in accidents. Only one ever engaged an enemy vessel, K-7 hitting a U-boat amidships, though the torpedo failed to explode with what has been described as typical "K" luck; K-7 escaped retaliation by steaming away at speed.
An escape trunk is a small compartment on a submarine which provides a means for crew to escape from a downed submarine; it operates on a principle similar to an airlock, in that it allows the transfer of persons or objects between two areas of different pressure.
A ballast tank is a compartment within a boat, ship or other floating structure that holds water, which is used as ballast to provide hydrostatic stability for a vessel, to reduce or control buoyancy, as in a submarine, to correct trim or list, to provide a more even load distribution along the hull to reduce structural hogging or sagging stresses, or to increase draft, as in a semi-submersible vessel or platform, or a SWATH, to improve seakeeping. Using water in a tank provides easier weight adjustment than the stone or iron ballast used in older vessels, and makes it easy for the crew to reduce a vessel's draft when it enters shallower water, by temporarily pumping out ballast. Airships use ballast tanks mainly to control buoyancy and correct trim.
A Kingston valve is a type of valve fitted in the bottom of a ship's plating that connects the sea to the ship's piping and storage tanks.
Saddle tanks are a type of ballast tank configuration fitted to submarines.
A submarine snorkel is a device which allows the engine of a submarine to operate submerged while still taking in air from above the surface. British Royal Navy personnel often refer to it as the snort. A concept devised by Dutch engineers, it was widely used on German U-boats during the last year of World War II and known to them as a schnorchel.
Ictíneo I was a pioneering submarine constructed in Barcelona, Spain in 1858–1859 by engineer Narcís Monturiol.
Xifias was a Greek submarine which served during World War I. It was the third submarine to enter service in the Greek navy, and the second and last vessel of the Delfin class. It was taken over by the French in 1916, and decommissioned in 1920 without seeing action.
A variable-buoyancy pressure vessel system is a type of rigid buoyancy control device for diving systems that retains a constant volume and varies its density by changing the weight (mass) of the contents, either by moving the ambient fluid into and out of a rigid pressure vessel, or by moving a stored liquid between internal and external variable-volume containers. A pressure vessel is used to withstand the hydrostatic pressure of the underwater environment. A variable-buoyancy pressure vessel can have an internal pressure greater or less than ambient pressure, and the pressure difference can vary from positive to negative within the operational depth range, or remain either positive or negative throughout the pressure range, depending on design choices.
The Avelo diving system is a single cylinder, back-mounted scuba set with variable density buoyancy control. The gas cylinder is a carbon fibre over aluminium liner filament wound pressure vessel with a charging pressure of 300 bar and a gas capacity of about 106 cubic feet of atmospheric pressure air or recreational nitrox. The fully charged set is slightly buoyant and lighter than the equivalent scuba set using a metal cylinder and inflatable buoyancy compensator. Buoyancy of the set is adjustable by injecting ambient water into the cylinder to increase density and releasing it to reduce density. Less ballast weight is needed by the diver.
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