Chinese sailless submarine vs Shallow Water Combat Submersible

ASubmarines

Chinese sailless submarine

sailless submarine

Shallow Water Combat Submersible — licensed reference photograph

BSubmarines

Shallow Water Combat Submersible

Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle

Credit

CAPT Kate Dollof · Public domain · Resized · Public domain · Source ↗ · Modified

First system

Second system

At a glance

Side by side

Length comparisonOne shared metre scale

Chinese sailless submarineLength

45.72 m

Length source ↗

Shallow Water Combat SubmersibleLength

6.8 m

Length source ↗

Lengths retain their source configuration and measurement scope.

Chinese sailless submarinelarger figure on 2 of 2

Length+572%
Beam+205%

Shallow Water Combat Submersiblelarger figure on 0 of 2

None

Counts only measures both sources give with the same scope. A larger figure is not a better system.

Measured figures

Head to head

3 of 25 rows sourced on both sides

45.72m

6.8m

Length+572%

All recorded figures & sources

45.72 m

Length

Single source

150 ft^[source]

6.8 m

Length

Single source

6.8 meters (22 ft)^[source]

4.57m

1.5m

Beam+205%

All recorded figures & sources

4.572 m

Beam

Single source

15 ft^[source]

1.5 m

Beam

Single source

1.5 meters (4.9 ft)^[source]

—

1.5mDraft

Draught

All recorded figures & sources

1.5 m

Draft

Single source

1.5 meters (4.9 ft)^[source]

—

Displacement

All recorded figures & sources

4.5 tonnes

Displacement

Single source

4.5 tonnes (5.0 short tons)^[source]

—

62 crew, 4 passengers

Complement

All recorded figures & sources

6 people

2 crew, 4 passengers

Single source

6 (2 crew, 4 passengers)^[source]

—

11km/hMaximum; Speed

Speed

All recorded figures & sources

11 km/h

Maximum; Speed

Single source

6 kn (11 km/h)^[source]

—

12h

Endurance

All recorded figures & sources

12 h

Endurance

Single source

12 hours^[source]

Bars compare reported quantities only. A larger figure does not make a system better; configurations and test conditions differ.

Configuration

Details

Chinese sailless submarine and Shallow Water Combat Submersible configuration
Specification	Chinese sailless submarine	Shallow Water Combat Submersible
Launched	2018^[source]	—
In service	2019^[source]	—
Type	sailless submarine^[source]	Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle^[source]
Launch site	Jiangnan Shipyard^[source]Launchsite only; not inferred builder	—
Hull configuration	lacks the conning tower commonly found on submarines^[source] tiny bump where the conning tower is usually located^[source]	—
Programme role	used as a test bed for Chinese submarine technologies^[source]Source explicitly speculated role; not independently confirmed operational capability	—
Builders	—	Teledyne Brown Engineering^[source]
Operators	—	United States Navy Royal Navy (planned)^[source]
Preceded by	—	SEAL Delivery Vehicle^[source]
Cost	—	$383 million (program cost)^[source]
On order	—	7 USN, 3 RN^[source]
Building	—	2^[source]
Completed	—	2^[source]
Propulsion	—	Lithium-ion batteries powering electric motors^[source]
Test depth	—	>190 feet (58 m)^[source]
Sensors & processing systems	—	Inertial navigation system , high-frequency sonar for obstacle/mine avoidance and navigation, GPS^[source]
Armament	—	SEAL team personal weapons, limpet mines^[source]
Country of origin	—	United States^[source]Inventory Origin column; table 2, row 5, cell 2; revision 1373375989; retrieved 2026-09-30

FORCETALLY

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Chinese sailless submarine

Shallow Water Combat Submersible

Launched

2018^[source]

—

In service

2019^[source]

—

Type

sailless submarine^[source]

Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle^[source]

Launch site

Jiangnan Shipyard^[source]Launchsite only; not inferred builder

—

Hull configuration

lacks the conning tower commonly found on submarines^[source]

tiny bump where the conning tower is usually located^[source]

—

Programme role

used as a test bed for Chinese submarine technologies^[source]Source explicitly speculated role; not independently confirmed operational capability

—

Builders

—

Teledyne Brown Engineering^[source]

Operators

—

United States Navy Royal Navy (planned)^[source]

Preceded by

—

SEAL Delivery Vehicle^[source]

Cost

—

$383 million (program cost)^[source]

On order

—

7 USN, 3 RN^[source]

Building

—

2^[source]

Completed

—

2^[source]

Propulsion

—

Lithium-ion batteries powering electric motors^[source]

Test depth

—

>190 feet (58 m)^[source]

Sensors & processing systems

—

Inertial navigation system , high-frequency sonar for obstacle/mine avoidance and navigation, GPS^[source]

Armament

—

SEAL team personal weapons, limpet mines^[source]

Country of origin

—

United States^[source]Inventory Origin column; table 2, row 5, cell 2; revision 1373375989; retrieved 2026-09-30