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Are the rockets launched from submarines in a horizontal or vertical position?

I mean for the space launches like Volna and Shtil.

This article says

By reaching orbit, LauncherOne has become the first liquid fueled, horizontally launched rocket to do so.

Related question:

Has a rocket from a torpedo tube ever reached space?

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2 Answers 2

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A ICBM rocket launched from a submarine should leave the water as fast as possible. Therefore the rocket has to leave the water vertically.

The rocket is blown out of the submarine by using compressed air, it is ignited in air, not in the water. The rocket is stored in vertical position within the submarine. To be launched successfully, the rocket is launched from a very shallow depth, it should not be destroyed by the high pressure of deep water. A rocket resisting deeper water would be too heavy.

There is no engine driving the rocket under water, if the water is deeper, the rocket would lose too much speed in the water.

There are cruise missiles with wings launched horizontally, but they are not useful for orbital flight, especially those cruise missiles equipped with an air breathing turbo jet.

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    $\begingroup$ Vertical may be better but rockets certainly can launch horizontally underwater from submarines: 1, 2, 3 I don't know if there are any torpedo-tube-to-space rockets, but it may be possible! $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Jan 18, 2021 at 3:09
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    $\begingroup$ These certainly looks vertical! Shitl: spacelaunchreport.com/shtil.html Volna: twitter.com/capt_navy/status/1043016630903533568 $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    Jan 18, 2021 at 3:17
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    $\begingroup$ @uhoh Your examples 1 to 3 are cruise missiles with wings that are flying horizontally. Not useful for an orbital launch. They may be driven by a rocket engine or a jet engine. The engine of a cruise missile is working during the whole flight. The engine of a vertical launched rocket is burning only for short time after launch. Cruise missiles are flying at constant speed without acceleration after start. Rockets are accelerating during as long as the engine burns. $\endgroup$
    – Uwe
    Jan 18, 2021 at 9:55
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    $\begingroup$ @JoeJobs, the size of the vertically launched missiles largely defines the needed size of a ballistic missile submarine, though they do cheat a bit en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drag-reducing_aerospike $\endgroup$ Jan 18, 2021 at 11:18
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    $\begingroup$ I am reminded of the line from the movie Hunt for Red October: "Can you launch an ICBM horizontally? Sure, but why would you want to?" $\endgroup$
    – DKNguyen
    Jan 18, 2021 at 17:07
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Are the rockets launched from submarines in a horizontal or vertical position?

I mean for the space launches like Volna and Shtil.

The Volna is "a converted Submarine-launched ballistic missile used for launching satellites into orbit." So is the Shtil.

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles launch vertically, as shown in this Wikipedia image:

enter image description here

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