Soviet engineers built the Alfa-class submarine in the 1970s with a titanium hull that allowed it to dive deeper and swim faster than the actual torpedoes the US Navy was using to hunt it.

A closer look

Soviet engineers built the Alfa-class submarine in the 1970s with a titanium hull that allowed it to dive deeper and swim faster than the actual torpedoes the US Navy was using to hunt it. It was so incredibly loud underwater that American sonar operators could hear it from miles away, but it did not matter because they physically could not catch the damn thing in a pursuit. The Russians basically built an underwater drag racer that sacrificed all stealth for pure, unadulterated speed, forcing the entire western world to completely redesign their underwater weapons systems. It is the naval equivalent of putting a massive spoiler and a loud exhaust on a Honda Civic and easily outrunning the cops because they are all trying to chase you in electric golf carts