Rubis SSN Sub Brief

Could you explain what you are talking about?

Have been on the Rubis class did a FOST observation on the Rubis herself the results were at best disappointing

Blair Shaw (Subhunter)

I hate to sound like an activist, but dubious act's of terrorism against defenseless and clueless civilians wanting a survivable world for their children and themselves with military grade weaponry speaks volumes about the French goverment. It alao shine's light on what would normally be taken as an incidental sinking or fire.

Interesting brief. It sounds like the Rubis class had some serious design deficiencies. The role that Rubis played in the Rainbow Warrior bombing is worth clarifying. There’s no evidence (and it’s extremely unlikely) that Rubis ever operated in NZ waters in direct support of the bombing. The Waitemata Harbour is less than 20m, and that’s in the shipping channels. The only water more than 30m deep that’s within a swim distance of the bombing site is a fresh water lake (Lake Pupuke) that has no sea connection. The bombing site is about 800m across the harbour from the main RNZN base, at the time the RNZN operated 4 Leander Class ASW frigates out of that base. The DGSE bombing operation was very complex with at least 4 different teams involved; 1) Recon Team - Flew into NZ on a visitors visa. Infiltrated Greenpeace’s local office to gain intel on Rainbow Warriors plans and movements 2) Logistics Team 1 - Sailed from Noumea to NZ on the yacht Ouvea, bringing the limpet mines with them in order to avoid NZ customs. 3) Logistics Team 2 - Flew into NZ as Swiss tourists (fake passports)and provided land based logistics support to the bombing team 4) Bombing Team - Flew into NZ as tourists, did the job, and then went on a 10 day ski holiday before flying out. Long story short; Log Team 1 RV’D with Log Team 2 a few days before the attack and provided equipment including the limpet mines. Log Team 2 then RV’D with the bombing team. The bombing team used a Zodiac inflatable launched from the shoreline about 2km east of the RW. Moved to within a few hundred meters of the RW and then deployed divers who placed 2 limpet mines with 4 hour fuses. The bombing team returned to their launch point and were assisted by Log Team 2. The mines detonated shortly afterwards. The bombing team went skiing in southern NZ. The recon team had already left the country by commercial airline. Log Team 2 went touring round NZ but we’re caught by NZ Police as they returned their camper an to a rental agency. Log team 1 sailed out of NZ for Noumea and stopped at Norfolk Island for supplies. Upon arrival at Norfolk Island they were detained for a period by Australian Police but released as there was nothing to hold them on. They returned to the yacht Ouvea and then RV’D with Rubis and scuttled Ouvea in water 1,000’s of meters deep and returned to Noumea aboard Rubis. So the role that Rubis played was to bail out the DGSE/MN team when they got into trouble. Where was Rubis during the rest of the Op? Hard to say, but it is unlikely to have been in the near vicinity of the attack. A general comment on the attack. Pretty poorly planned at all levels. Ultimately the ship was successfully sunk, but a small part o the team was captured and the attack was traced to the French government very quickly. The operation was exceedingly complex, with too many people involved and too many moving parts. Intelligence preparation of the battlefield was woeful, with most of those involved in the attack having no idea of the environment that they were operating in…leading to the operation being discovered. So mission failure from the perspective of their original intent to remain undetected. Rubis’s role was very minor.

They found the wreckage field of Air France 447 over a year after the crash, using statistical analysis and a sidescanning sonar, at a depth of 13000 ft/3900 m. They recovered both recorders as well as 104 bodies, an engine and the avionics bay.

Raven Coldheart

I was wondering to what extent the speed limitations are caused by the propulsion system, rather than specifically just the reactor? From my understanding most naval nuclear propulsion systems use a reactor to generate high pressure steam that drives turbines, which have reduction gear boxes to directly drive the propeller shafts and screws... however the Rubis drive train is much closer to a diesel electric sub, in that the screws are driven by a big electric motor that gets its electric current from the diesel generators and batteries. Only in this case the nuclear reactor and turbines drive the generators and there is no direct mechanical connection to the screws... maybe this helped them make the power plant small enough to fit in this little submarine?

https://www.navalnews.com/naval-news/2021/04/video-french-navy-submarine-emeraude-deployed-to-the-indo-pacific-and-south-china-sea/

Phoa Yew Hui

France does make conventional submarines. Rubis is the nuclear SSN before Barracuda. Some (incorrect) websites consider the Amethyste update to be the Amethyste class.

Aaron Amick

I really enjoyed this SubBrief. And from what I learned watching these briefs is how strategically important the Med is.. During all my summer holidays on the Med, I never gave it a thought that ballistic and hunter killer subs are roaming that sea too..

Is there an intermediate class between the Rubis and Barracuda?

Andrew MacDougall

The reactors may be under powered, but to their credit, it sounds like there were no teething issues with them.

Paul D Berkebile

I liked it. The graphic of the periscope shot on TR is awesome looking, I think that was second to last slide