[ExI] botecs for submersible tankers

spike at rainier66.com spike at rainier66.com
Tue Mar 29 05:03:14 UTC 2022


 

I still have a lotta lotta work to do, but I can share some estimates for submersible tankers.

 

What I am getting is that if we don’t get in too much of a hurry, ten knots or (more realistically) about 9, we can burn fuel at about a nautical mile per gallon of Diesel for a vessel that carries about 1.5 million gallons of liquid fuel.

 

Before you cringe at my use of English units, consider this: the data I have for drag on submersibles is all in English.  Also: a nautical mile is a unit that makes perfect sense.  It is an arc minute of great circle.  So if we can assume sailing point to point on the shortest possible path, you just take the difference in latitude and the difference in longitude (both in arc minutes) sum the squares and take the square root, gets you very close to the number of arc minutes path length.  My hypothetical 1.5 million gallon tanker sub burns about a gallon per nautical mile if we keep our gas pedal foot under control.

 

It takes a while: going from West Sahara to Paraiba in South America takes about eleven days, going to Florida takes a bit over two weeks, Spain in just a coupla days.

 

Those numbers sound like they are within reason.  So… transporting refined fuel in submersible tankers would not be a show-stopper.  If Western Sahara does not have a deep sea port, that isn’t a show stopper either because the tanker I calculated doesn’t draw a lotta water.  Fifteen meters depth might be enough, which is compatible with Florida’s continental shelf.

 

OK assuming we don’t nuke ourselves in the next few weeks and oil prices return to some semblance of normal.  The tanker would carry about 7 million bucks worth of refined fuel.  So the cost of the leisurely 9 knot trip is not excessive from the point of view of that much capital being transported for two weeks.  I initially calculated using drag number on 10 knots, but if I use 9 instead, my hypothetical sub comes pretty close to a gallon per nautical mile fuel consumption, which makes BOTECs very easy even without the envelope.

 

Anyone getting numbers anywhere close those?

 

spike

 

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