SeaKingTacco said:Lets be very careful with the direction that this thread is heading.
In my career, I have worked against a Type 209, several LA Class SSNs, a Virginia Class SSN and 2 out of our 4 Victoria Class SSKs.
In order of difficulty They gave me (easiest to hardest), they were:
Type 209
Virginia Class
LA Class
Victoria Class
Some of had it had to do with the structure of the exercises (the poor Type 209 was forced to be a staked goat). A lot of it has to do with the skill of the particular Captain and the water conditions of the day.
I think I just plain got lucky on the Virginia (BTW, in ASW, I will take luck any day of the week). But, consistently, I have had my butt handed to me by the Victoria Class boats. I think they are both pretty quiet (or quiet enough) and generally very well driven.
Why would a boat try to avoid detection in all exercises? Might the objective be centred on training the boat's crew in countering the ship's or MPA's attack, or the ship or MPA crew in dealing with a boat that has been detected? Would other navies, even if "friendly", necessarily want to reveal the performance of their boats, including sensors, to the RCN or others?