HMCS Windsor SSK 877 — Alan Rowlands · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

🐋

Attack submarine

Sea

A warship that operates hidden under the sea, hunting enemy ships and submarines with torpedoes and missiles, and gathering intelligence. Because they are so hard to find, a few submarines can threaten an entire fleet.
Nuclear-powered submarines (SSN) can stay underwater for months; conventional diesel-electric submarines (SSK) are cheaper and very quiet, but must surface or snorkel more often.

Well-known examples

**Virginia class**U.S. Navy photo by General Dynamics Electric Boat · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

**Astute class**LA(Phot) Will Haigh · OGL v1.0 · Wikimedia Commons

**Yasen class**Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

**Kilo class**Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

**Scorpène class**Indian Navy · CC BY 2.5 in · Wikimedia Commons

**Type 212**user:Stahlkocher · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

**Taigei class**https://www.mod.go.jp/msdf/ 海上自衛隊 · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Well-known examples — All

Virginia class (USA) Astute class (UK) Yasen class (Russia) Kilo class (Russia) Scorpène (France) Type 212/214 (Germany) Sōryū/Taigei (Japan)

Countries with the most — Submarines

See all →

1Russian Federation66
2United States66
3China61
4Iran, Islamic Rep.25
5Korea, Dem. People's Rep.24
6Japan23
7Korea, Rep.22
8India18
9Turkiye14
10United Kingdom10