This episode of Hunter’s War is a conversation with Fernando, a former executive officer in the Chilean Navy’s submarine service with 21 years at sea, on why submarines still matter in modern warfare and why so many countries are rushing to buy them.
From Canada’s plans for twelve new boats to Poland’s search for submarines built for the Baltic and Brazil’s home-grown programme, navies around the world are reinvesting in undersea power. But the production lines are full. As Fernando puts it, a country that orders a submarine today may wait 10 to 15 years for delivery, and it takes just as long to grow the crews and commanders to run one.
Fernando explains why the submarine’s greatest weapon is uncertainty: an adversary that cannot find it has to plan for it everywhere. He also covers why quiet conventional submarines worry even carrier strike groups, how the US Navy trains against South American boats through its Diesel-Electric Submarine Initiative, and what it takes to lead a crew of 40 people hundreds of metres below the surface with no link to the outside world.
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