Transcript for:
Global Overview of Military Submarines

this is every military submarine on Earth at least the ones we know about I've separated them out by each country whoever rules the waves rules the world is a saying that Rings especially true in recent years as Global power dynamics are shifting before our eyes submarines represent ocean power so today let's look at the 471 known military submarines and which countries they belong to both big and small I want to do this so that we can see how countries use these vessels not only to protect their country but also to project power of the 43 countries that have Subs most just have small fleets less than a dozen by the way experts argue about these numbers if you want to see our methodology here you can go to our sources Link in the description to explore country by country how we got these numbers and specs and yes these submarines are to scale these smaller countries want submarines for slightly different reasons than the big countries for these small navies having even one submarine is a major level up because submarines are designed to be invisible to lurk and spy and be ready to attack at any moment their great Advantage is that your enemy has no idea where they are so they have to assume that they could be anywhere these submarines are also much smaller than the ones we'll see later on when we get to the big navies and almost all of them have a massive limitation which is that they're powered by diesel engines that need oxygen to run this means that the submarine has to go to the surface every so often to run these loud engines to charge the batteries on the sub before diving back down again this makes these submarines less effective than nuclear-powered submarines that we'll see later these submarines could stay underwater basically forever that is if they didn't have humans aboard that needed to come to the surface for food and supplies I made a whole video about the fascinating technology and history of submarines if you want to learn more but let's keep going 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these attacks are getting more and more sophisticated and this could help you feel a little bit more at ease Nord also has other products like a password manager I think that's cool so nordvpn it's a great fast efficient and affordable tool there's a link in my description where you can get 4 months of nordvpn when you sign up for the 2-year plan use the link please if you do plan to sign up for this it helps support the channel thank you nordvpn for sponsoring today's video I appreciate it and with that let's look at some more submarines strategically the submarine in these smaller navies are meant to patrol and protect a country's Coastal Waters the ocean close by making anyone think twice before attacking that country though we're arriving at a bit of an exception to this Israel Israel currently has five very modern submarines two of which can stay underwater for up to a week without needing to take in oxygen making them stealthier than the older diesel models and allowing them to travel up to 4500 km and while all of the sub we've seen so far carry smaller weapons like Torpedoes or anti-ship missiles or mines Israel's submarines can shoot missiles loaded with nuclear warheads at least that's what the US government believes and has said even though Israel denies all of this Israel uses these submarines as defense against the many enemies they have in their region like Iran hoping that these nuclear armed submarines would make Iran think twice before ever striking Israel first by the way those Israeli submarines are being purchased from Germany a country that is coming up here [Music] soon Germany has six super powerful longrange submarines of their own but they also build and Export submarines all over the world here we have Australia which has a relatively small Fleet of diesel submarines but this is going to change soon thanks to a historic deal with the UK and US Australia will soon have super advanced nuclear powered submarines they're buying this from the United States this is all a part of the US's effort of arming and strengthening its alliances in China's neighborhood by the way this is where you'll start to see us moving into more powerful [Music] navies these navies use their submarines not just to protect their Coastline and Coastal Waters but to project power in their region so you'll start to see bigger and more advanced diesel submarines but we'll also start to see submarines that run on nuclear energy like these French and British Subs these submarines have a nuclear reactor on board that breaks apart atoms and creates an immense amount of energy that heats up water and Powers the submarine it could do this basically forever without having to go to the surface for air this process also makes oxygen and drinkable water for the sailors having a nuclear reactor on board is a GameChanger for Subs because it allows them to silently Patrol the Seas traveling long distances and projecting power to Regions that are important to them here come the fleets of Greece and Turkey they have a similar number of Subs because both countries see securing their water as very important and while they don't have nuclear power plants on board both countries have Subs that don't require as much oxygen as typical diesel Subs allowing the to stay underwater for much longer this is also where you start to see submarines that are equipped with the most powerful weapons of all India currently has at least two submarines that as far as we know are not only powered by nuclear energy but can also launch rockets with nuclear warheads on them they have a range of around 700 km and they're working on two more which could potentially increase that range to more like 3500 km they're also planning to build a fleet of at least six modern attack submarines that are quicker and that are meant to accompany and support to these nuclear armed Subs though it's hard to know the full picture because a lot of the details from the Indian army are kept secret if you want you can look at my sources for more details on this reporting Here Comes Iran they don't have nuclear capabilities on their submarines but they do have a lot of Subs these four big Diesel power powered submarines and at least 15 of these mini subs they use these to patrol their Coastal Waters through which a lot of valuable oil flows we've got six countries left and this is where things get really big really fast here are two countries that have a lot in common both are high-tech economies both are close friends with the United States both are deeply reliant on the ocean and crucially both countries are surrounded by rival countries with strong navies one of those neighbors is the hermit Kingdom of North Korea we don't know how big North Korea's Fleet is for obvious reasons experts think they could have as many as 85 submarines but here I'm going to visualize a more conservative estimate of 36 submarines a lot of this info is gleaned by satellite imagery on Naval bases like this one but regardless of the specific number we do know that it's a pretty big submarine Fleet it Rivals some of the great Powers at least in terms of numbers but experts disagree about how functional all of these Subs really are some of these boats are at least 50 years old it has around eight diesel Subs capable of long range patrols and then they have these two they're diesel powered and even though they can't stay underwater for more than just a few days they do have the ability to shoot four ballistic missiles armed with nuclear warheads with a likely range that could easily reach Japan or even Guam and Hawaii a part of the United States now we're moving into the big three navies the countries that use their subs to project power at each other and around the world China has 58 submarines six of these Subs are capable of firing Rockets with nuclear weapons and six more are attack submarines powered by nuclear energy but the majority of China submarines are still the older diesel powered kind but not for long what China's Rivals see when they look at this Fleet is more like this in the next 6 years China's Fleet will include at least five new nuclear powered subs two of them are going to be able to launch ballistic missiles with nuclear weapons on them and three of them will be able to launch cruise missiles they're even getting Russia's help to build a new extra quiet extra stealthy ballistic missile sub that the US is worried about because it'll be nearly impossible for them to track they're doing this in part as a response to the US selling this submarine technology to Australia but it's also a part of China's bigger goal of being a global superpower like the US who can project power to every ocean in the world this will be difficult for them first and foremost because the US and its allies have created a chain of military installations here in the Pacific this allows them to track Chinese submarines trying to leave the region but it will also be difficult because China lags quite a bit behind the US when it comes to creating stealthy submarines it's a gap that they are working hard to close Russia has the second largest Fleet 62 submarines in total we've just made a massive leap this Fleet is a huge step up from China's half of the fleet is powered by nuclear energy and 12 of these Subs can launch nuclear weapons something that they remind the world of by conducting these tests that show off their Subs launching these Rockets obviously without the nukes on board these other subs are attack submarines which are quick hard to track they can launch missiles with a range of 600 km that are precise and able to hit a landbased Target on the east coast of the United States if they were here in the Atlantic Ocean and this gets to a really important use of submarines at this level their ability to L around the globe Russia quietly sends its nuclear armed Subs to key regions that puts their enemies and rivals in range it's a part of their nuclear deterrent the threat that if they are attacked they have the capability to strike back with nukes and no one can know exactly from where in recent years Russia shocked the World by unveiling this long range nuclear powered torpedo called Poseidon it can travel 185 km an hour underwater and it can hit targets as far away as 1,000 km oh and it apparently carries a 100 Megaton nuclear warhead that can create a radioactive tsunami we're not 100% sure how much of this is real and how much is Russian propaganda but it just goes to show you how crazy our advanced technology is becoming here okay we've made it to number one the United States which unambiguously is the most powerful submarine force in the world not just by numbers but by capability all 68 of these Subs are powered by nuclear energy most of these are attack submarines which are smaller and quicker they're meant for battle with their Torpedoes and sea mines and shorter range weapons like these four submarines can each be loaded up with4 cruise missiles missiles that have a range of 1,000 km and are very precise then we get to these 14 Subs which are huge you can really see it when you look at them out of the water these submarines can carry up to 24 missiles each of them capable of carrying multiple nule nuclear warheads these things can travel up to 12,000 km which is nearly a third of the Earth's circumference and at any given moment eight of these are lurking around the world's oceans carrying some 720 nuclear warheads between them and no one knows where and that's the whole point they are a foundational part of the US's nuclear deterrent a constant reminder that attacking the us could easily provoke a response from one of these hidden Subs this is what controlling the ocean really looks like and it's one of the ways that the US has maintained its place as the most powerful country on Earth to keep this position in 2020 the US started building 12 new massive submarines to replace these 14 aging nuclear armed Subs they will be completed in 2042 so those are the world submarines and a little bit about their strategic application there's so much more to cover about submarines and Naval strategy so please tell me what questions you have or what else I should cover on this topic in the future thanks for watching [Music]