I was recently reading about things called "narco-submarines" on the internet. Narco-subs are boats used by drug smugglers to covertly transport drugs from South America to North America. However, most of them are not true submarines, but, rather, boats with a covered top and a very low freeboard. That makes them harder to detect. I was wondering if this principle could be applied to RC naval combat. People always say that a hard part about building subs is that there is not much space to work with. However, wouldn't it be easier to just run them as ships with very low freeboards, like narco-subs? For example, somebody could build a Surcouf so that it runs very low in the water, just high enough to comfortably be able to fire its guns. It might be a stupid idea - I don't know much about rc subs at all. I guess it might sink quickly. Still, what do you guys think? narco-submarine:
It's not a stupid idea. It's entirely valid and probably the easiest way to build one. The downside of it is that submarines are slow, relative to a lot of things that can kill them. So survival would be tricky without the capability to dive.
I'm game Half-unit gun, half-unit pump, and you could place the bow planes at a slight downangle to 'duck' when you goose the throttle You want me to send the Typ VIID or Typ IX plans, James? Or a Holland boat?
A Holland would make Othar look absolutely massive. I don't have the sub-bug, but the M-1 or a K-boat would be more my style.
But a small U-boat with a single-shot spurt gun... possibilities... must meditate in the presence of the Hard Drive upon possibilities.
My Fa De Bruno battled this year at Nats, used it as a convoy boat. Was shot at numerious times, and chased by 3 boats at once. Her top speed was 48 sec per 100 ft, just to stay floating, since she only sticks out of the water 1/2 she was almost impossible to hit. But she did get hit with 2 BB's both on the 3/8 subdeck, one on each side. She is only sticking out of the water 1 1/4 inch besides the turret. All I did was keep the bow pointed at the attacking ship, and since she is 7 inch's wide, lots of impentrable area.
Hi eighthgear, There is someone in the WWCC who is using something like that. It's an I-400 with a terrifying set of bow torpedoes, that is designed to run on the surface. Given a submarine's speed, it's intended for the coup de grace on disabled vessels, not for chasing down destroyers. With its size and maneuverability, no capital warships will try to tangle with it, due to the risk, although smaller torpedo-armed destroyers and cruisers may give it some trouble.
