Summary and Key Points: Titanium’s remarkable strength, corrosion resistance, and light weight make it theoretically ideal for submarine construction.
-Yet the U.S. Navy has long avoided using titanium, primarily because of its prohibitively high costs and manufacturing complexity.
-In contrast, the Soviet Navy employed titanium in the Alfa-class submarines, achieving unprecedented depths and speeds—but the cost proved unsustainable.
-Technological advancements like additive manufacturing might eventually reduce costs, allowing broader naval use.
-Still, despite titanium’s advantages, the U.S. Navy continues favoring cost-effective, readily available steel. While titanium shows promise, the economic and industrial factors have kept its widespread adoption for submarine hulls limited for now.
The U.S. Navy Said No to Titanium Submarines
Though titanium has several remarkable properties, it has never been extensively used in U.S. Navy submarines.
Excellent corrosion resistance, lightweight and strong, with exceptional performance in high-pressure applications — in a few words, seemingly ideal for deep-diving submarines.
However, the advantages presented by titanium come at a significant cost: not only is the metal expensive, but its manufacture is exceedingly complex compared to steel — so much so that the U.S. Navy decided the price would not be worth the investment.
The United States Navy has traditionally avoided using titanium for submarine hulls, primarily due to the material’s high cost and manufacturing complexities.
Titanium boasts exceptional qualities, including a high strength-to-weight ratio, excellent corrosion resistance, and superior performance under high-pressure conditions.
These properties make it an ideal candidate for submarine applications, especially in deep-sea environments. However, titanium’s advantages come at a significant cost and require specialized manufacturing techniques that are challenging to scale for large naval programs.
Steel has remained the dominant material for submarine hulls in the U.S. Navy.
It’s just hard to beat cost-effective, readily available, and supported by a well-established industrial base.
Back in the USSR
In stark contrast to the United States however, the Soviet Navy did incorporate the exotic metal into some of its submarine designs — the Alfa-class.
Launched in the 1970s, these submarines could reach speeds in excess of 40 knots and dive to depths of over 1,200 meters — far surpassing the performance of contemporary American steel-hulled submarine designs.
Titanium’s strength and resistance to compression were key to these achievements, enabling the Alfa-class to operate in ways that would have been impossible with steel construction.
The submarines were also remarkably light, allowing for smaller and more efficient reactors to power them.
Despite their groundbreaking design, the Alfa-class faced significant challenges.
Manufacturing titanium hulls proved to be prohibitively expensive, and the Soviet Union struggled to maintain the industrial infrastructure needed to produce and repair them.
Consequently, the Alfa-class program was limited in scope and curtailed by high development and production costs.
Into the Titanium Submarine Future?
Titanium could play a bigger role in naval applications as technology advances and the manufacturing costs potentially decrease.
Additive manufacturing and other techniques reduce some of the complexities of working with titanium.
The metal’s robustness and corrosion resistance in harsh saltwater environments is undoubtedly a selling point.
“Titanium has also been increasingly popular in the naval sector, with interest originally being driven by its popularity in commercial ships,” an additive manufacturer explains.
“This is primarily because salt water has almost no effect on the material. The property is a considerable advantage when compared to the majority of other metals, as it avoids corrosion, lowering the need for regular maintenance because of the negative effects of saltwater.”
“The lack of corrosion from sea water has meant that titanium has become increasingly popular in the exterior of many submarines and other naval vessels, with the material being used in the likes of exhaust stack liners, submarine ball valves, fire pumps and heat exchangers, as well as the majority of a submarine’s piping and cooling systems.”
“Before titanium made its way throughout the navy, the primary material used in heat exchangers was a copper-nickel blend, which needed to be maintained and replaced regularly. Since being replaced, this has meant that the lifespan of various submarine components has been drastically improved, which has improved cost-efficiency across the navy.”
While titanium has not yet found widespread use in U.S. submarine hulls, its future potential remains significant.
Advances in material science and manufacturing could make it a more viable option for next-generation submarines, enabling them to achieve greater depths and enhanced operational performance.
However, steel continues to dominate for now, offering a balance of performance and cost that, for the U.S. Navy, just cannot be bested by titanium, regardless of its benefits.
About the Author: Caleb Larson
Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.
