Steampunk

The Armchair Admiral describes a retro future that never was. Soviet submarine troop transports.

The Soviet’s Project 621 was designed as a landing ship-transport submarine that could carry out landings behind enemy lines. This underwater giant had two vehicle decks, and was designed to carry a full infantry battalion of 745 troops plus 10 T-34 tanks, 12 trucks, 12 towed cannon, and three La-5 fighter aircraft.

Sublog.com notes that the US was also working on undersea LSTs. “The U.S. Navy also undertook preliminary sketches of submarine LSTs, but never pursued the concept to the extent of the Soviet design efforts. This is artist Frank Tinsley’s impression of a submarine LST produced in the 1950s for Mechanix Illustrated magazine and presented to the Navy Department. This was a 10,000-ton submarine, 720 feet long, with a beam of 124 feet that could carry 2,240 Marines, landing them by “amphibious flying platforms” that could move at 100 mph.”

The old-timey guys seemed to be willing to try anything. How about a Soviet flying submarine? How about an American atomic-powered bomber? Today, nobody dares try anything that might expose them to liabilityl According to the BBC, NGOs and conservation groups are claiming that man is making the oceans too noisy for whales and dolphins. Soon we’ll be back in the age of sail.

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