The French SSBN ballistic missile submarine REDOUTABLE

(Source: http://www.cnet.com/pictures/a-tour-of-the-ballistic-missile-submarine-redoutable)
Credits (& hat tip) to Geoffrey Morrison
Le Redoutable
The French nuclear submarine Redoutable spent the '70s and '80s at sea and was home to 135
sailors for months at a time.

The missile boat-turned-museum now resides in the French seaside town of Cherbourg after
extensive refurbishment.

It's pretty much impossible to get a full shot of the sub, given where it rests. Let's just say, it's big... Its
the largest submarine you can tour without security clearance, and one of the only ballistic missile
subs fully accessible to the general public.
See inside this massive submarine and silent threat of nuclear annihilation through many pictures and
a bunch of words.

Tail 'n' prop

You start your tour down (cut in specifically for this purpose) this end, through a door that's just off to
the left of this shot.
Modern subs don't usually use propellers like that (too loud).

Engine room

After the reactor generates steam, this steam spins some turbines, the turbines hit a reduction gear
(all of this you'll see in a moment), and eventually it hits the prop shaft, which was cut away so you
can walk more easily (the yellow cap is the end).

Looking forward
To the left is where you enter, the yellow cap is the other half of the severed prop shaft. Above, you
can see some of the big hydraulics that turn the rudder.

Oil

If it doesn't run on electricity, it runs on hydraulics. Here, you can see one of the main hubs that direct
the oil throughout the ship.

Working our way forward

On the left, you can see the reduction gear (closeup in the next frame). Even though there's more
space on this sub than most I've been on, they certainly don't waste any of it.

Reduction gear
The turbines spin way too fast to directly turn the propeller, so a reduction gear is used.

Where's Scotty?
Those huge tubes carry the high-pressure steam from the reactor to the turbines. These are heavily
insulated, as you'd guess. On the right is one of two electrical generators (the other was removed
during the museum conversion).

Tubes and tubes and tubes

A slightly different angle, showing the passage aft.

Engine control room

Man, this looks like a nuclear power station control room.
Oh, wait, it is. Along with all the other moving and dangerous parts of the "drivetrain."

Rear escape hatch

One of the few escape hatches. This thing looks creepy, even on dry land.

Switches and circuit breakers

A nuclear sub is largely a power station that pushes around a missile base.

How do you tell?

I think it's quite interesting that there's little way to tell, for a layman, what or where any of these go.
It's not like it says "guest room" or "kitchen" like the panel at your house.

New-clear
This was the reactor room. It was wise that they removed the reactor completely for the museum
refurb, since there was only a small space along the spine that allowed passage from the bow areas
of the ship to the stern.
That and, you know, it's a nuclear reactor.

Water, water everywhere

With nearly unlimited energy, a lot of very useful things can happen. You get propulsion, sure, but
also electricity. And with electricity, you can take seawater and make pure drinking water. You can
also separate out those pesky H molecules and make as much oxygen as your crew needs too.
CO2 scrubbers (lower left) take out that deadly gas.

Missile room
The Redoutable carried 16x M20 ballistic missiles, each with a range of over 1,800 miles. That's what
was in the two curved tubes you see here.

Creepy corridor
On the right are all the computers charged with programming the missiles with directions on how to
get to their targets.
Along the left are all the missiles. They're blocked off now so you can't walk in and around them.

M20s
Two of these missiles are more powerful than all the conventional explosives dropped in WWI and
WWII combined.

Be careful...
Some things in here don't react too well to bullets.

Never wet
The missiles are fired using compressed air and never actually get wet. As they breach the surface,
their engines fire, quickly accelerating to over 9,000 mph.

Two stories high

This is the top deck of the sub. The previous pictures were the main deck; the missiles extend above
and below, as well.

Bridge
Around the corner from the missile bay is the command center. The big box you see here is the
inertial navigation system.

Missile command
No joke -- this is where you'd launch the missiles, if so commanded.

Red
Apparently they did actually use red lights during high alert and/or exercises. Also, throughout the rest
of the ship, they'd use red lights to simulate night.

Anybody got the keys?

Stick or automatic?

Oh sure, bury the sound guy

That console in the back is the sonar table, off in its own corner.

Seismic anomaly?
Took the combined power of my phone's LED and the camera's (hardly ever used) flash. Still not
great, but pretty good for the dark.
The sonar station, where ears are the eyes of the boat.

Down periscope
Periscopes for the XO and captain.

Hatch up the sail

Very few subs let you climb up into the sail. Not sure why. Is climbing a liability?

A hallway!
All of a sudden, we've left a submarine and entered a '70s kitsch hotel that's been squished from the
sides.

Captain's bunk
The wide-angle lens makes this look bigger than it was, but by sub standards, it was still pretty roomy.

Officers' galley
Of course, the French would have an espresso maker! That can't be original equipment, can it?

Officers' mess
This is the single nicest space I've ever seen on a submarine. Downright cozy.

Stylish, too
Nice design to cover the curve of the hull. Quite a lovely space...reserved for officers, of course.

Downstairs
Most of the subs I've been on have been one floor only (plus the sail). This one not only has stairs,
but an elevator (OK, a dumbwaiter, but still).

Screen door
Well, that doesn't look water-tight (but the towels will help!).

Pantry
The only thing that prevents a sub from touring indefinitely is having sufficient food for the crew. So as
much as possible goes in here. Normal tours were about 70 days.

Mess
How's this for a big wide-open space? The crew's mess, a place to eat and relax while off duty.

Galley
Even the galley is impressively sized.

8 on, 16 off
Normal crew rotation is for 8 hours on duty, 8 hours for sleep, and 8 hours for everything else,
including studying, maintenance, relaxing, and so on.

No hot bunks
Apparently the Redoutable was the first sub to have enough space for every member of its crew to
get their own bunk. Now, that's luxury!

I'm a doctor, not a dentist

Through the (not original, obviously) glass in the floor, you can see the chair of the ship's doctor,
which doubles as the dentist's chair, for the ship's dentist, who also doubles as the ship's doctor.

Head
With access to an unlimited water supply, there are sinks and showers galore (relatively speaking).

Torpedo room
Unlike most subs, a 'boomer' (US Navy slang for ballistic missile submarine) has torpedo tubes for
defensive use only.

Torpedo tube
The torpedoes the Redoutable carried had a range of about nine miles.

Hulls
Thanks to a cutaway for the exit door, you can see the inner pressure hull and the exterior hull.

Ladder?
Cross bracing for sure, but a ladder? Who knew?

Sail
Normally subs cruise from around 164 to 656 feet below the surface. Unless they're headed for the
legendary "periscope depth."

Hatches
The 16 missile hatches, with the lovely Cherbourg harbor in the background.

Long boat
Out of the water, it looks huge. I can only imagine how much sleeker it looked while cruising.

Prop
Many modern subs use pump-jets instead.

Under the long keel

This is a view I didn't expect. You can actually walk all around it, even touch the rudder. It's coarser
than you'd expect.

Seams
I would have expected a smoother overall surface, but then, it's not like they can forge it out of a
single piece of steel.

Dive planes
The dive planes on the sail help the sub fine-tune its depth, or assist in surfacing and submerging.

Quietly into history

The Redoutable's long and graceful lines sit peacefully next to Cherbourg harbor. Not a bad way to
spend retirement (considering the alternatives).

The End