National Affairs: Killer Sub

The Navy’s newest, stealthiest killer will slide down the ways this week at the Electric Boat Co. yard in Groton, Conn. It is the Ki, pocket-size (750 tons) submarine, designed and built with one mission: to hunt and destroy other submarines. Only a little more than half as big as the Navy’s fleet-type sub, the K-i’s job is to lie in ambush along enemy submarine lanes, spot its prey with sonar gear, then nail the enemy with homing torpedoes equipped with electronic ears. It is one answer to the threat of Russia’s big and still growing underwater fleet. Said Rear Admiral C. B. Momsen, veteran submariner: “I can say from my own experience that there is no foe that strikes more terror in the heart of a submariner than an enemy submarine in the same waters. It is somewhat like two blindfolded antagonists armed with baseball bats, each waiting for the other to break the silence.”