Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes by Chinese supersonic submarine

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http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1580226/shanghai-san-francisco-100-minutes-chinese-supersonic-submarine?page=all



Chinese eye 'supercavitation' technology as future of underwater travel

Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes by Chinese supersonic submarine
Stephen Chen
PUBLISHED : Sunday, 24 August, 2014, 5:22am
UPDATED : Sunday, 24 August, 2014, 5:22am

China has moved a step closer to creating a supersonic submarine that could travel from Shanghai to San Francisco in less than two hours.

~snip~

However, during the cold war, the Soviet military developed a technology called supercavitation, which involves enveloping a submerged vessel inside an air bubble to avoid problems caused by water drag.

A Soviet supercavitation torpedo called Shakval was able to reach a speed of 370km/h or more - much faster than any other conventional torpedoes.

In theory, a supercavitating vessel could reach the speed of sound underwater, or about 5,800km/h, which would reduce the journey time for a transatlantic underwater cruise to less than an hour, and for a transpacific journey to about 100 minutes, according to a report by California Institute of Technology in 2001.