Näcken-class submarine vs British C-class submarine

The Näcken-class submarines, also known as the A14 type, were built for the Swedish Navy in the late 1970s. The boats were authorised in 1972 and the programme was completed in 1981. All boats were built by Kockums in Karlskrona. The boats had a teardrop hull and diving depth was 150 metres (490 ft). Between 1987 and 1988 Näcken was cut in half and an 8-metre (26 ft) long hull section containing a prototype Air-independent propulsion (AIP) using a closed cycle Stirling engine was installed between the aft battery/propulsion & power control room and the engine/motor room. This technology increased underwater endurance to 14 days and has been adopted in subsequent Swedish submarines. By the early 2000s the class was decommissioned from the Swedish navy. HSwMS Näcken was temporary leased to the Royal Danish Navy but was returned in 2005.

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The British C-class submarines were the last class of petrol engined submarines of the Royal Navy and marked the end of the development of the Holland class in the Royal Navy. Thirty-eight were constructed between 1905 and 1910 and they served through World War I. With limited endurance and only a ten percent reserve of buoyancy over their surface displacement, they were poor surface vessels, but their spindle shaped hull made for good underwater performance compared to their contemporaries.

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