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The problem is that the crew of the submarine more or less has to accept to die.
A stirling motor is not a diesel. Had quite some fun building a simple one in school.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotland-class_submarine

> The Gotland-class submarines of the Swedish Navy are modern diesel-electric submarines, which were designed and built by the Kockums shipyard in Sweden. They are the first submarines in the world to feature a Stirling engine air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, which extends their underwater endurance from a few days to weeks. ...

> On the water surface, the submarine is powered by two sets of MTU engines. While submerged, the Kockums-built Stirling engine AIP system is used to drive a 75-kilowatt (101 shp) generator for either propulsion or charging the batteries.

Large, slow, expensive naval assets are highly vulnerable to relatively cheap modern technology.

In a modern war against a competent adversary, these will be some of the first casualties.