Riachuelo-class submarine vs Shallow Water Combat Submersible

Riachuelo-class submarine — licensed reference photograph

ASubmarines

Riachuelo-class submarine

Attack submarine

Credit

Marinha do Brasil · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Resized · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source ↗ · Modified

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

Riachuelo-class submarineNuclear

100 m

Length source ↗

Shallow Water Combat SubmersibleLength

6.8 m

Length source ↗

Lengths retain their source configuration and measurement scope.

Measured figures

Head to head

15 of 29 rows sourced on both sides

100mNuclear

6.8m

Length

All recorded figures & sources

70.62 m

Diesel-electric

Single source

100 m

Nuclear

Single source

Diesel-electric: 70.62 m (231 ft 8 in) Nuclear: 100 m (328 ft 1 in)^[source]

6.8 m

Length

Single source

6.8 meters (22 ft)^[source]

9.8mNuclear

1.5m

Beam

All recorded figures & sources

6.2 m

Diesel-electric

Single source

9.8 m

Nuclear

Single source

Diesel-electric: 6.2 m (20 ft 4 in) Nuclear: 9.8 m (32 ft 2 in)^[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]

6,000tNuclear

Displacement

All recorded figures & sources

1,900 tonnes

Diesel-electric

Single source

6,000 tonnes

Nuclear

Single source

Diesel-electric: 1,900 t (1,900 long tons ) Nuclear: 6,000 t (5,900 long tons)^[source]

4.5 tonnes

Displacement

Single source

4.5 tonnes (5.0 short tons)^[source]

Diesel-electric: 32 Nuclear: 100

62 crew, 4 passengers

Complement

All recorded figures & sources

Diesel-electric: 32 Nuclear: 100^[source]

6 people

2 crew, 4 passengers

Single source

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

46km/hMaximum; Nuclear

11km/hMaximum; Speed

SpeedScopes differ

All recorded figures & sources

39 km/h

Maximum; Diesel-electric

Single source

46 km/h

Maximum; Nuclear

Single source

Diesel-electric: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph) Nuclear: 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph)^[source]

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

Riachuelo-class submarine and Shallow Water Combat Submersible configuration
Specification	Riachuelo-class submarine	Shallow Water Combat Submersible
Power	Diesel-electric: 4 × MTU 12V 396 SE84 diesels 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) each 1 × Jeumont-Schneider EPM Magtronic electric 3,909 hp (2,915 kW) 1 × Shaft Exide Hagen batteries Nuclear: 1 × Pressurized water reactor, 48 MW (64,000 hp), LEU 20% 1 × Nuclear turbo-electric engine 1 × Shaft^[source]	—
Name	Riachuelo class^[source]	—
Builders	ICN^[source]	Teledyne Brown Engineering^[source]
Operators	Brazilian Navy^[source]	United States Navy Royal Navy (planned)^[source]
Preceded by	Tupi class^[source]	SEAL Delivery Vehicle^[source]
Cost	US$ 1 billion per unit (diesel-electric) US$ 3.8 billion per unit (nuclear)^[source]	$383 million (program cost)^[source]
Built	2010–present^[source]	—
In commission	2022–present^[source]	—
Planned	5 (1 nuclear)^[source]	—
Building	1^[source]	2^[source]
Completed	4^[source]	2^[source]
Active	3^[source]	—
Type	Attack submarine^[source]	Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle^[source]
Test depth	400 m (1,300 ft)^[source]	>190 feet (58 m)^[source]
Sensors & processing systems	Naval Group SUBTICS combat management system Thales TSM 2233 Eledone hull and flank array passive sonar Thales Safare/S-Cube hull active sonar Safran Series 20 target identification and classification system^[source]	Inertial navigation system , high-frequency sonar for obstacle/mine avoidance and navigation, GPS^[source]
Electronic warfare & decoys	Thales DR 3000/ITT AR 900 electronic support measures Naval Group Contralto-S decoy launchers CANTO anti-torpedo countermeasures^[source]	—
Armament	6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes : 8 × SM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles 18 × F21 heavy-weight torpedoes 30 × naval mines^[source]	SEAL team personal weapons, limpet mines^[source]
Notes	Sources:^[source]	—
National origin	Brazil^[source]	—
On order	—	7 USN, 3 RN^[source]
Propulsion	—	Lithium-ion batteries powering electric motors^[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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Riachuelo-class submarine

Shallow Water Combat Submersible

Power

Diesel-electric: 4 × MTU 12V 396 SE84 diesels 1,500 hp (1,119 kW) each 1 × Jeumont-Schneider EPM Magtronic electric 3,909 hp (2,915 kW) 1 × Shaft Exide Hagen batteries Nuclear: 1 × Pressurized water reactor, 48 MW (64,000 hp), LEU 20% 1 × Nuclear turbo-electric engine 1 × Shaft^[source]

—

Name

Riachuelo class^[source]

—

Builders

ICN^[source]

Teledyne Brown Engineering^[source]

Operators

Brazilian Navy^[source]

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

Preceded by

Tupi class^[source]

SEAL Delivery Vehicle^[source]

Cost

US$ 1 billion per unit (diesel-electric) US$ 3.8 billion per unit (nuclear)^[source]

$383 million (program cost)^[source]

Built

2010–present^[source]

—

In commission

2022–present^[source]

—

Planned

5 (1 nuclear)^[source]

—

Building

Completed

Active

—

Type

Attack submarine^[source]

Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle^[source]

Test depth

400 m (1,300 ft)^[source]

>190 feet (58 m)^[source]

Sensors & processing systems

Naval Group SUBTICS combat management system Thales TSM 2233 Eledone hull and flank array passive sonar Thales Safare/S-Cube hull active sonar Safran Series 20 target identification and classification system^[source]

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

Electronic warfare & decoys

Thales DR 3000/ITT AR 900 electronic support measures Naval Group Contralto-S decoy launchers CANTO anti-torpedo countermeasures^[source]

—

Armament

6 × 533 mm (21 in) torpedo tubes : 8 × SM39 Exocet anti-ship missiles 18 × F21 heavy-weight torpedoes 30 × naval mines^[source]

SEAL team personal weapons, limpet mines^[source]

Notes

Sources:^[source]

—

National origin

Brazil^[source]

—

On order

—

7 USN, 3 RN^[source]

Propulsion

—

Lithium-ion batteries powering electric motors^[source]

Country of origin

—

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