Overview of vital matters on high strength steel utilization in submarines

With the increasing diving depth of submarines, high strength steel are often required, as steel is the major material in building the pressure hull of submarines. However, certain disadvantageous factors are observed in the actual operation with high strength steel, including the decrease of the fatigue strength and the plastic reserve. These factors will increase the sensitivity of the structure to manufacturing defects, the processing difficulty, the sensitivity of the deviations from the process, and the residual stress, etc. This paper reviews the special defects of high strength steel applied on the hull of submarines in accordance with the features of the high strength steel. Meanwhile, it deals with strength reserve, major hull structural style, calculated parameters, high stress local structural style, low cycle fatigue tests, manufacturing tech-nique, verification technique, and proof test etc. Finally, corresponding views are presented in combination with engineering practices.