Type XXX Submarine

Type XXX Nuclear Attack Submarine

Country of Origin: German Reich
Builder: Deschimag
Completed: 55
Entered Service: 1965

The Kriegsmarine in its goal to project the power of the Reich world wide especially against the United States had one of the finest submarine fleets in the world. However the Reich lagged behind in the race to develop nuclear submarines. The Type XXX was Germany’s first mass production nuclear attack sub. It incorporated a number of components from the Type XXVIII to simplify and increase production. Most of the reused systems included electronics, sonar, and other small items. Externally the Type XXX and XXVIII would be hard to tell apart. However the XXX had a new hull to incorporate it fission reactor and allow it to dive deeper than the Type XXVIII.

The first twenty Type XXX were of the A model. These featured the original sonar and electronic systems. Four bow 533mm torpedo tubes represented the submarine’s offensive power. The Type XXX could hold up to twenty-five torpedoes. This first batch however could not launch anti-ship missiles. Another problem of the first Type XXXs was its noisy nuclear reactor. While the Germans had built a fine submarine its noisy cooling pumps proved to be a problem in the first ten submarines. Efforts were made to quiet the system but was never fully corrected in the Type XXX-As.

Problems like the lack of a missile ability and noisy reactor was corrected on the second batch of Type XXXs built known as the B model. Weapon storage was increased to hold more torpedoes or missiles along with the addition of a towed sonar array. By the late 1970s the first of the Type XXX-Cs began to enter service. These included six vertical launch systems built into the hull of the submarine. It gave the Type XXX a land attack ability which was being built into other Kriegsmarine SSGNs. A new sonar system was also included.

United States and other Alliance navies have encountered the Type XXX on multiple occasions. A Type XXX was quite embarrassing lost outside the ASW screen of the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt only to be reacquired after making a simulated attack on the carrier inside its escorts. The report got quite a bit of attention from the American press. Several reports indicate that Type XXXs and USN attack subs have collided at sea. Neither German nor American sources comment on these reports. In a war situation it would be expected that the Type XXXs would be on the frontlines of a new Battle for the Atlantic or naval operations in the South Atlantic and possibly the Pacific.

From Submarines: A Guide (1981)
.............................

A German submarine of my Alternate Cold War.