Would a Submarine Work as a Spaceship? 

I especially enjoyed the sentence "If the ballistic missiles carried by a nuclear sub were placed in the tubes backward."

Fun fact: there are more spaceships in the ocean than submarines in space.

Helmsman: "Sir, I think we're off course." CO: "Why do you say that?" Helmsman: "Because we're in space."

"Red Five Standing By" "Red October Standing By"

Regarding the reverse question, I'll always remember the _Futurama_ line: "How many atmospheres of pressure can this ship take??" "Well, it's a spaceship, so between zero and one."

And I was JUST about to launch my nuclear sub to orbit. Thank god you uploaded this video!

Someone in Hollywood: "Write that down, WRITE THAT DOWN!!!"

I love that he gives the speed for the wreckage in knots 😂

I am reminded of the Planet Express Ship's forced deep ocean dive on _Futurama:_ -"Pressure at 20 atmospheres...30 atmospheres!" -"Professor, how many atmospheres can the ship stand?" -"Well, it's a _spaceship,_ so I'd wager anywhere between zero and one."

4:03 "If you ever try this, I have one piece of advice that is absolutely critical..." LIVESTREAM IT

"If you sit in this spot just right" has the same vibe as "if you jump right before the plane crashes, you'll survive"

"Plowing into the ground at several hundred knots" isn't something I thought I'd ever hear but I'm so glad I did 😂

I would have to wonder just how airtight a sub would be. The seals are designed to have positive (by a large amount) external pressure, and not negative pressure. So to me the seals are "pointing in the wrong direction". It might leak like a sieve in space.

i love how this situation is obviously a hilariously bad idea, but it takes a good amount of thinking to figure out *why exactly* it's a bad idea

Hootsforce arise!

I really appreciate how you went through all the trouble of explaining how a Submarine would work in space and the logic of how it can return… but never once questioned how it got there 😂.

That comparison to sparks when grinding got me to understand what you meant. I really appreciate comparisons/metaphors that fit that well, makes things way easier for us dummies out there

Space is warm? Yesn't, but actually yesn'tn't.

Just came across this channel for the first time. I’ve now watched every video. Love the graphics, the explanation, and the crazy ideas. Looking forward to a new video hopefully soon

"For a brick, he flew pretty good!"

I love that you give the ground impact speed in knots

1:30 _"Dad, why don't the sparks burn you?"_ *"Well, son, I have a mutation that makes me heal rapidly, and I have an adamantium-reinforced skeleton-"* _"You're describing Wolverine."_ *"No, I'm pretty sure that's me."* - the joke used in the original article

I loved this one. I also loved that Randal did the narration. :-)

Great timing! Thank you! I was planning to try this next week, but I wasn't sure if I should disable the detonators or not!

+50 atmospheres implying -1 atmosphere is fine might come down to how seals are enginered. Some might depend on being pressed together from the outside.

Love all the random sound effects you add in.

You guys have been a channel for 3 months and I only just found it, Awesome!

just found you today. this is my fave vid type. great quality too

Best part? "I didn't know submarines had these." Reminds me of "Why do we even HAVE that lever?" from The Emperor's New Groove.

Former Naval ETN, and can confirm; you'd survive longer on the backup battery (with no propulsion required) than on the nuclear reactor. Good luck you space submariners.

Im very happy that you mentioned the heat-issue in space, because it feels like every movie and game completely ignores that part and just goes with "yeah its super cold in space" and then you get people that insta-freeze or a space ship that somehow builds ice on the walls because of a hull breach etc.

Star Blazers taught me even a battleship can function in space.

I love that you don't ask how it got there, but makes sure to answer how it would survive reentry

As a submariner I saw this and just HAD to click on this video. Thanks for the insightful scenario! Now I have a one-up on my shipmates if we ever get into a conversation of the environments our sub could survive in. (I must admit, temperature is never something I’d have considered)

That space temperature explanation was actually so helpful

That went in ALL KINDS of directions I was not expecting

Refuting the whole "Space is cold, duh!" trope is a battle I have far more often than I would have guessed.

This is also a very specific question I had to think about. I ran a fantasy/sci-fi campaign in D&D and players had access to a submarine, and a girl who could teleport and take large objects with her. They needed to go into space. I didn't consider the reactor immediately blowing up, but I did crack the hull a bit from the sudden change in pressure and the fact that one side was in the hot sun and the other side in freezing darkness. Players founds the leaks via incense and followed the smoke trails, which made me very proud. Also instead of maneuvering using missiles, one of them put on a space suit, stood on the sub's hull and fired guns. For hours. Not a great change in velocity, but they didn't need much. The initial teleport had, fortunately, brought them pretty close and over the course of days they drifted close enough.

I keep forgetting "xkcd" exists, and was today years old when I found out they had a YT channel. This vid was bonkers. Thank you!

I work at a shipyard that repairs submarines, and a coworker asked "why haven't we combined a submarine and a spaceship?" I replied "same reason we haven't combined airplanes and snowplows". We ended up having an AI art generator make us pictures of combination Submarine/spaceships. Not gonna lie, they go hard. Funny this video popped into my feed.

Ex US Navy nuclear plant operator here, first thing I though of was "Well, not very long without water for the turbine condensers". It would probably (horrifically) more likely be that the condenser rupture disks fail and the engine room is filled with superheated steam killing everyone inside in a mater of minutes, after a few seconds the electrical turbines trip causing critical loads to move onto the motor generators and quickly chew through the batteries until a loss of all power scram occurs. Depending on how high reactor power was at the time of the scram the pressure relief valves will probably not pop for a few minutes to hours. It wont be until the pressurizer tank goes empty (Oops, we're in space! PWR reactors won't like that, nobody tell them they're in micro gravity!). Not that maters since now everyone outside of engineering is in a pitch black tube relying on flashlights to see and the ventilation systems have failed along with the potable water pumps that pump water from the storage tanks located in engineering. . . . Being insta killed by steam seems like a kinder fate that dying of dehydration and slowly suffocating. I only have one question; how did that submarine get up in space in the first place? 🤣

4:08 "Wait a minute. I just lit a rocket. Rockets explo-!"

Ok, I will never enter a submarine without a parachute.

It's a bit of an oversimplification to say that just because a submarine can withstand incredible external pressure, that it would be totally fine maintaining an internal pressure in space. The mechanics of withstanding the depths of the ocean, and holding an atmosphere in space are entirely different, and it's completely plausible, and even possible, that under an internal load, the airtight seal of the submarine would form small gaps and leak. This is because the sealing of the submarine relies on compression from the ocean to be so effective. Without that compression, and in fact replacing that compression with tension, could be catastrophic for the structural integrity of the hull.

Having "what if" as RU-vid clips is one of the best things ever. Thanks to all involved making these possible! ❤

"I have an idea. How many parachutes does this submarine have?"

Great video, I liked the sound effects 😂 made me laugh 😊

I never had this as a question, but I got all the answers I needed, thanks🙂🙂

The research is good but the sound effects are even better lmao

Under Project Orion, the proposal to have spacecraft propel themselves via a sequence of nuclear bomb detonations (Yes!) it was suggested that spacecraft could be built in naval yards, on the grounds that it didn't much matter how heavy a spaceship is if it's propelled by exploding nukes.

I finally watched your video and can sum up: No one used the power of the hootsforce.

Surpringly entertaining channel which RU-vid’s algorithm has only just decided to show me. Fascinating. I subscribed.

-Is space hot? -Of course it is, where do you think we get pineapples from!?

I truely love having a thought (like "what about reentry?" ) and then you read my mind an answer that exact sub-question.

Well this is coming off my bucket list.

I absolutely love your books and am stoked that you've made a youtube channel. Thank you so much!

I have a story called The Water Thieves where massive (500 km dia) spaceships come and lower into the seas and steal water. They capture a nuclear submarine by accident and the story follows the sub, encased in ice, as it travels to an alien planet. This video was very informative. I got most of the tech description correct in the novel.

"It's hard to get good numbers on the efficiency of nuclear reactors in military submarines."

Things not mentioned in video about subject. Color plays a huge role in heat dispersants the outside of the ship would need to be painted a white or gray color. Which would help with heat dispersants having the ballast tanks filled with water and having the reactor pull from that reservoir would fix the overheating issue. then having piping along the fins of the ship to act like a giant radiator which would also help with heat dispersion. A fully enclosed system is possible on a reactor this small.

This video had a chill TEDed kind of vibe, I like it.

XKCD?!? On RU-vid?!? With fun explainer videos?! Yes!!!!

In the Looking Glass series by John Ringo and Travis Taylor, humanity finds a warp drive from an extinct race, and uses it to build our first interstellar ship, by converting a submarine. They discuss the cooling issue, and deal with it by storing heat in solid glass bars attached to the underside of the ship, and they periodically have to stop and "chill" bu extending thr glass rods to let them radiate in space for a few hours. Good book series. Highly recommend it to any sci fi readers

That was kinda fun, do more!

when I was a teenager, xkcd comics blew my mind. Now I'm an adult, and xkcd videos are blowing my mind.

Interesting side note, in order to deorbit, you'd want to burn your -engines- missiles in the opposite direction of travel, not down towards the Earth. It's your speed around the planet that is keeping you in orbit. So in order to deorbit, you reduce your speed and let gravity do this rest.

In space, no one can hear your propellers turn.

The idea of a nuclear submarine floating through space is just so insanely cool

Thank goodness for that last safety tip, I'd have been in real trouble when I try this without it.

Gotcha, our Sub Space Marine is to remove the Torpedo detonators & add air conditioners

This is the type of random stuff I expect to see in my recommended. It's an answer to a question I didn't need but now I want to know.

The pressure in the ocean is not a vacuum like in space. The pressure in the ocean is inwards, while the pressure in space is outwards

You could have stopped at 2:57, but everything after that point is why I love these

3:17, ah, I see where we are taking things off the rails, popcorn time.

Thanks for the helpful explanation and in such a short video, I REALLY needed the info as fast as possible! Do you know where they store acceleration couches on submarines though?

good to know, next time i'm on a submarine i'll bring my parachute

You are wrong in some ideas 1. Submarines are anything, but airtight. In fact, it is that massive pressure while underwater which makes them waterproof. When they are on surface, they leak regularly and water pumps are usually running to keep their bottom dry. Modern submarines are not leaking like those from WW2, but still, there are thousands of bolts, welds and joints in modern nuclear submarine. If few of them are leaking, it does not mean, that submarine would be dismantled and those faulty connections repaired. They are built in such way, that external pressure would keep them together, even if all connections would fail. But this exact design feature revert to design flaw, when there is not external, but internal overpressure. So submarine would lose livable air pressure pretty quickly, in matter of hours or even minutes. 2. CO2 scrubbers on submarines would not work in microgravity. First, they need water (cooling) for their function, second submarines rely on gravity for airflow into these scrubbers. But there is almost no gravity in microgravity so they would not work. But truth is, that air would be out much faster, than CO2 buildup itself to dangerous concentrations. 3. Temperature in space, especially on Earth orbit is mainly about massive solar power at Earth orbit. It is 1366W/m2. So if submarine, which is also black, would face sun by one of its side, power recieved would be in megawatts. And temperature of sun facing hull would quickly rise to 120°C! And because submarines has metallic interior and little to no heat insulation (especially american ones), this temperature would be on internal walls in submarine. This is why it is problem to keep spacecrafts cool and why they have silver or gold coating. And on dark side of Earth it is not so cold, because Earth itself radiate like 460W/m2, so this significantly reduces cooling ability of radiation cooling. 4. Naval nuclear reactors are nowhere near 50% efficiency you suggested, In fact, it is 15-25% and its inefficiency in comparison with civilian reactors (30-43%) is due necessity to quickly changing power output. 5. 200MW nuclear reactor would heat interier of submarine much faster. Let say, that submarine weights 8000 tons of steel, steel has heat capacity 420J/kg, so you need just 3,36GJ to increase temperature of all submarine mass by 1 degree. 200MW reactor would accumulate that energy every 17 seconds and do not forget about suns addition. In less than 10 minutes temperature of mass of submarine would be over 60°C, which would be deadly. 6. Your calculation of Trident missile push to Ohio class submarine is slightly off, accoridng my calculation knowing specific impulse and mass of propellant in that missile and dry weight of Ohio class, it is 8m/s per missile. But in the end, it combined push from all missiles is enough to reentry in both values. 7. I am pretty sure, that submarine would survive reentry pretty intact. First thing it will semistabilise in backward direction (propeller in front of flight) because of its shape. Second thing, it is massive steel construction and many of them protected by echelon tiles coating. So many things for ablative cooling. And last thing, when massive human objects are falling from orbit, they survive surprisingly intact and they are constructed from thin aluminium and/or lithium sheets. So 5cm thick steel hull should survive pretty easily. But this leads to conseqeunt problem - terminal velocity of such submarine would be too high for jumping of it. Accordion my "calculation" for Ohio class it would be at 4000 meters at least 1200 m/s, so basically borderline hypersonic. Even at supersonic speed is impossible to jump out of flying object without protective suit and rocket chair.

Belgians who brought parachutes into subs: My time has come

XKCD IS ON RU-vid OMG I LOVE YOU

This is quite a lot of work to get through in less than two hours!

I appreciate the very necessary thoroughness of this. Especially the part about turning off the detenators on the nuclear armed missles.

The total thermal output (or close to it) of the nuclear reactor would need to be radiated out of the submarine, no matter how efficiently the reactor converts it to electricity, since the electrical power will itself eventually be converted to heat mostly if not entirely within the confines of the sub. Exceptions might be things like radio broadcasts. Point being that the efficiency aside isn't important. Also the lack of cooling water would cause the reactor to cease functioning properly in short order. Still a fun thought experiment though!

I loved the explanation of heat using the sparks!

That was more fun to watch then i thought

3:46 I like how its speed is measured in knots because it's a ship, completely disregarding that it's a) in space, b) falling (or would it be sinking?), and c) no longer a cohesive vessel but rather a scattered collection of former submarine parts. (Note: I tried to find out what unit is used to measure the speed at which submarines dive by looking up "submarine dive speed", but I couldn't find a single helpful result)

This is a really fun answer to this question

Most people do not know that the difference in pressure is just one bar of atmosphere. Equipmentwise it's far easier to build a spaceship than a submarine because as mentioned it'S just one bar pressure difference. The only difficulty is building it light enough that it can be shot up with a rocket.

As a tax paying american citizen i demand that nasa focuses all its resources on this project. Im starting a petition.

Something to remember, submarines have ballast tanks in any basic design. They're already designed to hold water, water is also good for blocking that pesky radiation.

These are the kinda questions I love asking myself

Okay, I actually learned something: Nuclear submarines aren't submarine with nuclear rockets, but nuclear-powered submarines.

Dude, I've been following you off and on for years, no idea you had a RU-vid Channel. This is great news and helped make my day!

That was a funny nice little video, ty! 🙂

Cool. I've wondered about this my entire life.

0:38 "Uh-O2!" god damnit, that made me chuckle

"There are more planes in the ocean than there are submarines in the sky" - Einstein

3:15 "now that we are in space, how are we supposed to reenter the earths atmosphere?" "we are gonna launch a nuclear attack against ourselves!"

Are you sure a submarine hull would be good? Ships are designed to have the pleasure of the ocean pressing on them. Ships that are left out of the water for an extended amount of time collapse on themselves.

So if I remember correctly, I think the DY class of ships in Star Trek were basically remodeled nuclear submarine hulls with a bunch of pods attached to them, then launched into orbit.

1:37 Wolverine. The answer is: Because your father is Wolverine

"Is it hot in here or is just me?" said the traveler as the universe came to an end.