US NUCLEAR SUBMARINES: THE FAST ATTACK INTROD UCTION T his book co nstitutes a brief ove rview o f the development of o ne type of submarine over a pe...
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US NUCLEAR SUBMARINES: THE FAST ATTACK
I NT R O D U CTI ON h is boo k co ns titutes a brie f ove rview o f th e deve lo p me nt of o ne typ e of su bmarine over a peri od of 50 years, Mu ch o f the hi story of th ese boats is sh ro uded in secrecy, a n d co ns ists o f th o usands of m en sp ending e n d less d ays o n patrol , preservin g th e peace by th eir preseu ce, In th e main , dIe)' we re a n d co n tin ue to be successfu l in thi s mi ssion. H ere is not a sto ry of h eroi c battles wh ere sh ips a re torpedo ed a n d airc ra ft sho t d own, b ut ra th er a sto ry of e ngi neeri ng tr ad e-o il's a nd te chn ol ogical ad vances. Th e heroi cs are in the work itsel f.
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THE PROPULSION PROBLE M Ea rly su b ma ri ne evo lut io n is m arked by a struggle to ove rcome th e prob le m o f h ow to propel th e su b ma rine effic ie n tly both o n th e surface a n d su b me rged. This e n gin ee rin g challc nge ca n be divi d ed into two interrelat ed co nc e r ns - hull form a nd propulsion . T he propulsi on problem drives th e hu ll form probl em . Th e US su b ma ri ne of 1945, e m bo d ied by th e Balao an d Ten ch classes, su ffered from two se rious sho rtc om ings - limited unde rwat er 1~lI1ge and ina deq ua te speed . To run co m ple tely subme rge d th c sub ma ri ne had to o pera te o n its batt erv/ e lec tric m ot or co mb inatio n alo ne. T he 1~lI1ge in
Polar bears examin e a Sturgeon Class boat surfaced in the Arctic. When surfaced in th e ocean for a swim call , th e boat crew posts an armed shark wa tch. When surfaced in the Arctic , the boat has a polar bear watch. Even though the person is armed, his main job is not to kill the bears but to warn personnel on the ice th at a be ar has been sighted. On the occ asion of a sight ing the ice is evacuated, leaving the bear in charge of the territory.
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th is mode II~IS 10 na utica l mi les (n m) a t R knot s o r :"iOn m at 2 kn ots. th e differen ce d ue to th e batteries' ab ility to sup p ly a large qua nt ity of a m ps (h ig h d ischarge rat e) lo r a short time lx-Io re th ev were ex ha us ted an d had to be re cha rged. A smalle r d isch a rge ra te m eant th e boat m oved slo wer bu t co u ld do so fo r a longe r tim e . An a nswer to th is ra nge e nd u ra nce p roblem was the snorkel. a sma ll indu ct ion p ipe th at rea che d above the surface an d supp lied a ir to the di esel e ngin es. alloll; ng the m to I"IIn wh ile the bo at was sub me rged . Ho wever, the suo r kel ing su bmari ne is noisier- b~ ' far- tha n o ne running on th e sa me n umber o f e ngines on th e su rfa ce , a nd q u iet n ess is part of th e subma rine 's un d erwater ad vantage. Th e speed issu e invol ved a reth inking of th e enti re o u te r sbell (h u ll) d esign. :\ first ste p was to remove all th e things th at caused flow resistance . th us wast ing e nergy, This modificat ion cu t th e flow resista nce o f th e Wodd War II fleet subm arin e by nearlv 50 pe rce n t. an d was on e of th e prin cipal measu res o f th e G u p py co nversio n o f m an y " 'o d d Wa r II bo a ts. (G up py was th e G rea ter U nde rwate r Propu lsion Prog ram, wh ich exte nded th e useful postwar life of di esel-electri c sub ma ri nes by re moving items su ch as deck gu ns so as to stream lin e th ei r hu lls. in crea sing batt ery ca pac ity. a nd th e addit ion of sno rke l syste ms .) Fo r a give n hull d esign . however. a n increase in spe ed is di rect ly d ependent o n th e amount o f power put in to th e wat er. an d eq ua tes d ir ectl y to shaft horsepower (sh p). Speed is rel at ed to a cha nge in sh p as th e cu bic fun ction o f th e cha nge. T h us to go fro m 5 to 10 knots (d o ubling) req u ire s a n e ig h tfo ld (two cu be d) in crease in sh p. To go fro m th e maxim run 10 kn ots short-term subm e rged speed o f a fleet sub mari ne to th e ex pec ted sho rt-te r m sp ee d of 15 to 20 kn ots o f a replacem en t d esign re q u ired a u in crease fro m 5.400sh p to ove r IR.OOOsh p . Mot o r a nd batt ery desig ns ca pa ble of thi s h o rsepower would be huge a n d much too la rge f(1I- sub ma ri ne re q uirem e nts. So m e th ing e lse had to tak e th e place of the di esel-elect ric desig n . Fortunat ely. a n ew so urce o f c n ergv \\< IS becom in g availa ble th at would change evervt h ing .
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From le ft to righ t: a Skate Cla ss, a Perm it Cla ss, and a Tan g Clas s. The two outboard boats ar e nucl ear. Th e inboa rd boat is
a dt esel-et ectrt c . Th e fin- like protrusi on on the bow of th e Tang Class boat is th e forward
hydrophone s et for th e BOG-4 PUFFS sonar syst em , whi eh bec am e th e Wide Aperture Array portion of t he BOO-S on th e Seawalf and Virginia Cla sse s.
EVOLUTION - NAUTILUS TO V IRGINIA
Down the hatch. Onc e a submari ne is built everything that goes into the ship or comes out mu st pass through this vertical hatch syst em , th e diameter of wh ich is less t han 30in. This means all stores and supplies must be handed up and down by cha ins of sa ilors. In this wa y the modem fast attack submarine is little different from the 18th-century sa iling warship.
T he post-Wo rld War II US submari ne co m m u ni ty was faced with two sign itica lll cha lle nges, First ,,'as a surplus of su bmari n es that we re of a te n-yea r-old d esign , T he world for wh ich th e, ' were d esign ed elfec tivelv ceased to ex ist in lat e 19-1:, - it was p e rcei ved hy th e ge nera l p u b lic a n d man y in the gm'ern m e nt tha t there was no th reat o n the hori zon tha t req uired a large maritim e presen ce , Th ese boat s an d the stra tegy tha t surro u n ded th eir use h ad be en p remised o n cu tti ng e ne mies ' lin es o f seaborne su p p ly a nd co m m u n ica tio n , Th e su bma rine force had to lind new task s to suppon its co n tin ued ex iste nce , Th e seco nd p roblem was th e possib ility th a t th e Sovie t l' n ion possessed a t leas t a dozen Germ an Type XXI sub ma ri nes a nd wo uld re p ro d uce th is d esign o r a n im p roved d esign in la rge q uanr ities . Th ese boats were a d istin ct th reat to th e US l\';I\'y, Properly o pe ra te d thev we re fas te r th an d estroyer so na r co u ld track a nd co u ld out ruu a d estroye r in roug h seas, Thus a n ~' batt le gro u p th at h oped to oppo se a ra pid Sovie t advan ce into th e North At la nt ic o r No rt h Pacific oce an s was se rio usly a t risk, To co nside r th e o p tio ns avai lable for n ew su b ma rines, the Office o f th e Ch ief of :\';\\~II Operations (O pNav) fo rm ed the Sh ip Charac te ristic Board (SCB) 10 rep lace th e Ce ne ra! Board for sh ip design , Th e SCB produced d esign req u ire m en ts ca lled cha rac te ristics a nd eac h was given a n u mber, In ad d itio n , th e SCB p roduced d esign policy docum ents that se rve d as guid ance fo r not only th e design , b u t th e fle et impl em entation o f th e d esign fea tures, Th e SCB in 1945/ 46 rea lized that it h ad to redesign the fleet sub marine and th e new d esign had to he as good as, or (p re fe ra b ly) be tte r th an , the Type XX I U-boa t. Design ch ara cte ristics th at th e SCB want ed im p ro ved includ ed so na r, weap o n ry, sile nc ing, batte rie s a nd u nd e rwate r e nd u ra nce, propulsion syste m s, an d un d erwa ter sp eed a nd co ntrol. In the fa ll o f 1945 Co m mod o re Co mstock, th e h ead of th e Bureau o f Sh ips (BuSh ips), aske d skippers a nd ope ra tional co m ma n ders for their views o n new su bmari ne d esign re q u ire ments in th e a reas of speed , d esign d epth . power p lan ts , a nd th e effe ct o f nucl ea r ,,'eapons on su bma rine ope ra tions a nd st raregv Based on the res ults , th e d esign o pe ra ting d ept h o f new su bmarines was to be increased to 700ft. with an eye toward 1,000f!, Un de rwate r speed wo u ld have to be in crea sed - much o f thi s co uld be a tta ined by re moving all ex te rnal ap pe n dages, smoot h ing th e h ull lines , a nd th rough Iairiu g. Mo de l testin g sh owed th at a short su bmarine had bett e r un d erwat e r performa nce tha n lo nge r sub ma ri nes . Th e o u tcome of th e ini tia l d esign study was th e 1947 d esign fix th e Ta ng Class (SC B 2), I n ad d itio n to th is d esign , in 1946 Op NaY a u tho rized a n imm ediate expe rime n ta l p ro gram th at incl uded two nuclear p ro p u lsio n proto typ es, fo u r close d-cvcle systems (in wh ich th e fuel a nd ox d izer ca rried o n bo ard allo wed th e e ngines or boil ers to be o pe ra te d with out ex te r n al a ir), o ne a rc tic, a nd o ne midget subm a rin e , This p ro gram was in ad d itio n to th e bui ld cycle fo r the Tan gs. Budget restraints, h oweve r, lim ite d th e Tang sc hed u le fro m six pe r yea r to two per yea r a nd put co n str uct io n o f the prototyp es on h old b ecause the d esigns we re cha ng ing too fast . Th en in 1950, the ent ire US d efense budget was se rious ly curta ile d . Th e sub m a rine force struggled to h ave a nv n ew su bmarines b u ilt a t a ll. By th e tim e th e Fiscal Yea r (FY ) 1952
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budge: cycle ca me a ro u nd . the Tan g d esign was six years o ld . a nd a new design was needed 10 keep pace with the Soviets, T he :\;1\:-. usin g th e sa h ~lge d e ngi ne room fro m lJ-J-I(J(ja nd a 7.500h p turbiuc from a German TYVe XXVI . tested the closed-cycle Walte r system at An napolis in 194:>-47. Th e \\'alt er design \\~IS the tYVe used in th e Type XXY!. and used hydro gen peroxide as an oxidant to he co m bine d with a fuel 10 drive eit her an e ngi ne o r turbin e , O ne of the init ial Tang designs em'isaged usin g two of th e turb ines \\irh rhe \rall e r sy's lem; however, th is system wa s so large it wouldn 't fi t in th e proposed hull. Other alternat ive submarine propulsion design s we re studied . T hese in cluded two g;Ls tu rbine se mi-e nc losed syste ms. an ex te rna l co m bustio n co ndensing cycle. th e free-piston g;Ls ge net
The possibi lity of nuclear propulsion in na \OI1 vessels had been under co nside ra tio n sin ce 1939 and und er active e n gin ee ring p lanning since 1947. Studi es were undertaken to d eterm in e th e bes t design fill' th e propu lsion p lant and in August 1949 it became clea r that a n uclear-powered submarine co uld be and shou ld be b uilt. T he nucl ear propulsion plant married a new technolob,}' with a n old one. Th e old on e was th e steam turbin e marine propulsion plant. This was test ed. bailie tested , a nd refined to be an e fficie n t and lightweight (in terms o f we ight-to-h o rsepower ra tio) shipboa rd syste m . Th e new tec h nology wa s th e m ean s of ge net
PLATE A The transition from the diesel-electric "fleet type" submarine to the production "nuclear fast attack " not only changed the size of submarines but produced a fundamental change in their shape, The fleet type design (1) had to compromise a good submerged performance hull form with the need to be seaworth y on the surface where it spent most of its time. The Tang Class diesel-electric fast attack design (2) smoothed much of the hull form to decrease drag. From the Nautilus design (3) was learned a great deal about high-speed submerged ship characteristics . It still retained a small superstructure for surfaced operations. The Skate Class design (4) was the first "production design " nuclear fast atta ck.
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wat e r, p ressu rized gase s. a nd liq uid-m et al mediums, In t hc e n d . th e p re ssuri zed w.ur-r therm a l reacto r proved to be lh e m ost attrac tive. T h e use a nd refine ment of th is syste m produce d wh a t has becom e the sta nd a rd nucl ear prop u lsion pl ant fo r surface sh ips a nd sub m a rin es, Th e SC ll ca llc d /(,1' a specilic d cs ig n . SCll (H . lO be pa n of the FY:j ~ bu ildin g p ro gram. T h e sh ip was 10 prove n -volurionarv in mo re tha n its propulsion . Its d esi gn re qu ired adva n ces in areas tha t we re no t neces sa ry o n previous s u b ma rin e-s. T he steam pl an I prod uced a g rea t qu antity of h eal thai had 10 be co n tro lle d bv in creasing th e sill' of ai r-co udi tioni ug s~ ·s t e m s . T he abi lity o f th e boat to st a~' underwater for long p e riods o f lim e m ea nt tha t th e a ir h ad to be clea nsed of carbon diox id e a nd th e o xyge n re p lenish ed , So nar perf o rm an ce cha rac te ristics ch a nged because th e sub ma rine wo u ld not be making a tta cks whi le surface d . i\'a\ 'ig,uion syste ms h ad lO be rer hough : a nd made independ ent of th e sta n dard m e th ods tha i used the su n a n d sta rs fill' lo cating . In J a n ua ry 19:;4 the wo rld 's first nuclear-powe red vesse l. th e US5 X n u tilus (55:'\-:;7 1) . se n t a radi o message " U n cle rwa v on n uclear power..· T h e SUllli/II .1 p ro ved that high u nd e rwat er speed a n d lo n g e n d u ra n ce were possible , a n d th e US Nayy n eed ed 10 e nsu re it was read y fo r t lm -a ts with th e sa me ca pa b ility. Ant isubmarine warfare (A5,," ) ta ctics a nd stra tegies ha d lO bc rcr houg h l a ll over the world. Su bma rines co uld now trave l h ug e disum ces co m p le tely o ut of sig h t a n d co u ld o pe "a le u nseen in auy o cea n . i\'o t o n ly did Nautilus cha nge th e fut u re of sub m arines. b u t it a lso alte re d the futu re co u rse of a ll naval warfare . Naut ilus Class T he USS Nauttlu» was a big su bm a rine . It had three d ecks an d pk-nry o f
int ern al space compared wit h the flee! sub marine. Alon gsid e its ability 10 stay co m ple te lv submerge d nearl y indefin itely. it was fas t, A Ten ch Class flee t submarine co uld r u n a t ~~ kn o ts on th e su rface and a Ta ng Class d iese l-ek-ct ric co u ld make 18 knots in a sh o rt burst or II kno ts snorkeling. Na utilus co u ld m ake ~ :~ kno ts whi le re main ing co m p le te ly sub me rge d for mont hs . It co uld eva d e d estroyer scree ns , run in a nd a ttack esco rted
USS Nau tilu s makes its triu mpha nt entry into New York Harbo r aft e r cro ssing from th e Pac ific to th e Atl antic und er th e Arcti c ice. She demonstra ted in st unning fashion that th e Arcti c Ocean could be traversed , and open ed it for submarine operat ions t hat continu e to
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t his d ay.
USS Nautilus in dry dock being overhaul ed. The BQR ·4 son ar dome is cl early visible, ' air ed into th e fo refoo t. The bow pla nes ar e aft of the hull
number and fold against the hull, as with the fl e et
submarine s. Skate Class boats
had the bow planes fold back and into slots in the forward superstructure. The green color pa int is ant ifouling paint but is diff erent from that used by operat ional submarin es.
h igh -va lu e targe ts. an d ru n o ut aga in . T h e d own-sid e of th is speed was a ,'ery hi gh no ise level. Its ballast ta nk flood ports and its re lat ively thin p lat in g mad e a hummin g so un d that vari ed in freq ue n cy an d in te nsi ty with speed. It h as been said th at the noise was so loud it prevent ed any co nve rsation in the torpedo roo m exce p t by sho ut ing , Nautilus had a BQR-4 pass ive so nar syste m, Th e 48 vertica l stave hydro ph on es " Tapped a ro un d just insid e th e skin o f a so nar dom e that was faire d into the forefo o t o f th e bo a t. T h is so nar system W,LS useless at any a pp rec iable speed becau se of th e noise crea ted by th e sh ip itsel f. However, using sp rint a nd wait tact ics. Xa utiius p ro ved to be a da nge ro us ad versa ry, Du ring o ne of h er first tactical tria ls she d e mo nstra ted a grea te r th reat th an all th e acc o m pa nying d iesel-electri c su bma rines co m bine d . Xautilus h ad six torpedo tubes forward in th e torped o room, Th e c rew a nd o fficers ' berth ing a n d m essin g spaces were lo cat ed aft o f the to rped o ro o m , Th e co n tro l roo m a n d co n n ing statio ns were fart her ali u nd e r h e r la rge sa il (or "fin" in Royal :'\a\ 'y n omen clatu re L j us t ove r h al f the sh ip was tak en up by the react o r co m pa rt me n t a nd e ngine roo m , T h e reacto r co m pa rt me n t h o used th e reactor. prima ry coolan t pi pin g, stea m ge ne ra tors. an d atte ndan t syste ms. It was not a mann ed space a n d was o n ly accessi b le if th e reacto r was sh ut d O\\'II . Passage fo re a nd aft too k p lace throug h a na rr ow sh ielded space at the top of th e reactor co m pa rt me nt. wh ich ca me to be ca lle d "the tu nn el. " With th e stea m plant came a few ben efits n o t ge ne l,llly availab le to di esel-e lectric boat sailo rs, The first \\, LS a la rge quan tity of fresh water for cooking a nd pe rso nal use. " 'a te r fix showers a nd bathing \\ , IS "e ry lim ited. ifavai lable a t all, o n d iesel-electri c su bs, T he secon d ben efit \\, IS air co nd itio n ing, Having a stea m p lant in an enclosed space deman ded so me meth od of deali ng with h eat b uild-up. but a large amou nt of available c iec rrichv allowed for m,!jOl' air-cond itioni ng pla n ts to be insta lled a nd ope rat ed . Th ese increased th e le d o f hab itability to a point not see n o n p revi ous boats.
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Nautilus ' stem. The propUls ion sha ft s were fa ired into a fixed portion of the stem plane structure. The moveable part is seen here angled down. Th e fairing around the rudd er and planes was not repea ted . Along the side above the planes are a set of small tabbed rectangles . These are sac rificial an idodes tha t help control dissimi lar metal corrosion.
NAUTILUS CLASS Design des ignator EB251A, SCB-64 Class cons ists of one ship: USS Nautilus (SSN-571) Dimension s Length 323 ft 9in.; beam 27ft 9in. Displacement (surfaced/s ubmerged) 3,533/4,092 tons Speed (surfaced/su bmerged) 23/ 23.3 knots Endurance Only limited by supplies Design te st depth See author's note Complem ent (officer/enlisted) 13/92 Armament Torpedo tubes: six Mk 50 torpedo tubes (23ft long by 21in. diameter). The tubes and fire-control systems are capable of handling various types of torpedo (Mk 14-6. Mk 16-6 . -8, Mk 37-1, -3). Service history: Laid down 14-Jun-52 Launched 21-Jan-54 Commissioned 3O-Sep-54
Decommissioned 3O-Mar-80
Final disposition Designated as Historic Ship Nautilus, and is the centerpiece
of the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, CT
Skate Class
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A second n uclear-powe re d su bma rine \\~15 already being built wh en Nautilus took to the wate r, Th e USS Seauiolf (SSN-575) was smaller a nd ini tiall y h ad a reactor syste m th at used liquid so di um ,15 a m od e ra to r an d h eat-t ra n sfer medi u m ra the r than wa ter , T his system. althoug h at tra ct ive beca use it redu ced the size of the prima ry plant . II~ deemed to o d ifficult to m aintain an d 11<15 di scarded after sh ip testin g. T he reactor pl ant 11~IS replaced with a pressurized water plant. A producti on model o f a nuclear su bma ri ne was o n th e dl~lI,;n g board at th e tim e . This, a Skat e Class, would be smalle r titan Na utilus a nd Seaiool] but in corporated so me of th e lessons learn ed from in itia l o peratio ns of Nautilus. Th ese three classes (Na u tilus, Seawolf, Ska te) he ld on to man y of th e d es ign featu res of th e di esel-ele ctri c flee t submarines. The h ull shape \\~IS sim ilar to th e Tang Chl5S to keep so me form of su rfaced seak eeping. The propulsion syste m had twin screws to p rovide redundant power - if o ne screw or one side of the e ngi ne room were to become damaged, th e sh ip could still ma neuver an d travel with th e othe r screw.
Much sma ller and somewhat more crowded than Xautilus, the Skates proved 10 he exceptional lv use fu l. T he reacto r co mpartmen t an d e ng ine rooms were sma lle r an d mo re co mpac t. Th e boats were slower th an Xuutilus b ut th ei r sub me rge d en d urance still a llowed them freedo m of opera tio n tha t di escl-elcctri cs co uld not ma tch . Th e operations co mpartme n t an d torpedo ro oms we re rea rranged to p rovid e m ore efficie ncy in co n n ing a nd co m ba t m anagemen t. Followin g th e lead o f Xa utilus ; USS Skut« tran sited sub me rge d in th e Arcti c, bu t, goi ng o ne bette r, sh e su rfaced a t th e No rt h Pole. CSS Sendragon (SS1\-:)84) co m ple ted th e transit in a reverse m anner, from th e Atlantic to th e Pacific. SKATE CLASS Des ign designator EB264A Class consists of four ships: USS Skate , USS Sargo , USS Swordfish , and USS Seadragon Dimensions Length 267ft 8in.; beam 25ft Displacement (surfaced/ submerged) 2,550/2 ,848 tons Speed (surfaced/submerged) See author's note Endurance Only limited by supp lies Des ign test depth See author's note Complement (officer/enlisted) 8176 Armament Torpedo tubes: six Mk 56 forward (23ft long by 21in. diameter) ; tw o Mk 57 aft (18ft long by 21in. diameter). The tubes and fire-control systems are capable of handling various types of tor pedo (Mk 14-6, Mk 16-6, -8, Mk 37-1 , -3), the longer torpedoes from the forwar d tubes only. Service history: USS Skate (SSN-578) USS Swordfish (SSN-579) USSsargo (SSN-583) USS5e adrag on (SSN-584)
Laid down
Launched
Commissioned
Decommissioned
21-Jul-55
l6-May-57 27-Aug-57 1O-Oct-57 16-Aug-58
23-Dec-57 15-Sep-58 l -OCt-58 5-Dec-59
12-Sep-86 2-Jun-89 26-Feb-88 12-Jun-84
25-Jan-56
21-Feb-56 20-Jun-56
All these ships have been disposed of by the SAP.
Skipjack Class
The USS Skat e becam e th e tirst ve sse l in history to surface at the North Pole. During her visit , in M arch 1959, th e crew he ld a me moria l serv ice and sc atte red the a she s of th e fam ed ex plore r
As the d esign cycle for th e Skat e Class was co m ing to a clos e and a ll th e boats of th e class we re e ithe r built or being bu ilt , th e 0.'<1\: ' was lo o king a t mak in g a no ther profound ch a nge in submarin e d esign . Back in 1900 J ohn Phillip Ho llan d in h is Design #6 , which was to beco me th e USS H olland (SS-I) , create d a hu ll form for underwater travel . It h ad a screw aft o f th e rudder, ste m p lan es , a n d a minimal superstructure . During its sea trials, Ho lland found that a submarin e with a sin g le scre w and th e rudder forward of th e screw was n earl y unmanageabl e a t slow speed
Sir Hub ert Wilk ins , who had died the previous November.
Sir Hube rt had refi tted an o Class US subm arine to e xplore unde r t he Arc tic ice in 193 1. His e xpedit ion reached the ice pack an d bri efly dove und er, proving
it wa s ind eed pos sibl e . Th e submarine he us ed , which he ha d renam ed the Nautilus, w a s scutt led in a fjord near Berg en, Norw ay, wh ere it re ma ins to
t his day.
11
12
(slow was h is o u lv real ch oice of speed ), Th is lesson was rel earn e d by th e Navy GO yea rs la te r, H owever, th e hull for m was ado p ted a nd studied in th e experime n ta l su b ma rine Albaror« a n d th e three d iese l-elect ric sub marines Barbel, Bouefish, a n d Blurbark. Th e shi ft to a sing le scre w was n o t popul a r with eyeryo ne bu t it was shown that to max im ize th e un de rwa ter speed of a submarin e with a giye n sh p, a "cylin d e r of revolu tio n" teardrop hull form with a re lat ively low leng th -to-bea m ratio was d esi rable , T he nell' class of su bm a rin e , whi ch mat ch e d a n up grad ed a nd so m ewhat la rge r n uclea r powerpla n t wi th th e n ew hull for m, was the Skipja ck Class, Here was a su b ma rine that a p proac he d wh at we know o f tod ay as nuclea r fast att ack capa bility, Th e sh o rt , "fa t" hull sh ape combined with a sm o o th ou ter su rface , made th e boa t yery fast inde ed, with a speed of over 2:; knots (it was even faste r th an th e d esign gro u p h ad h oped.) Sk ip jack also had a sma ller su perstru ct u re than th e Ska te, th us h ad less hvd rodyn ami c resistan ce even thoug h it h ad a la rge r volu m e. It was short e r th an Xautilus b ut had a m ore e ffic ie n t use of int ern al volum e. T he sail o n th e Skipja ck Class W;lS e no rm o us, T h is ga,'e it good seakeep ing ability at peri scope d e p th beca use of th e vertical separation berwee u the to p of th e sail (fro m which he r masts, pe riscopes. a n d a n te n na protruded ) and the top o f the p ressu re hull. T h e forwa rd hydro planes were moved fro m their norma l positio n near th e bow, cu tting down o n th e a mo u nt o f flow no ise a ffe cting the bow-mo u nt ed so na r an~IYs, Th e shape and smooth ness o f th e hu ll mad e th e sonar, still the ven e rable BQR-IB. mo re effec tive at a high er speed . b ut th e machine ry no ise remai ned a se rio us prob lem. The sai l had a sma ll "tu rtlebac k" that 1<111 from the lower lI~li l in g edge nearl y to th e e ngi ne- roo m hatch , T h is ho used th e e merge ncy di esel exha ust p ip in g, whi ch co u ld n 't be run through th e reacto r co m pa rtme n t. T he large sa il, thi s turtleback. and th e sho rt fat hull m ad e th e Skip jacks ,"e ry ident ifiab le , T he Skipjack Class was a lo ng-lived on e an d W;lS ye ry co m forta ble for the nell', A re lat i ,d ~' large torpedo ro om allowed for ad d itiona l cr ew be rthi ng, and the cre w a nd ofli cer messing spaces we re co m forta bly la rge ,
The USS Holland, fi rst of the commissioned submarines in the US Navy, shows the hull form adopted nearly 60 years later for efficient underwater perfonnance.
M r Morton Gertl er, a naval architec t, is shown wit h M r Carson W. Cau dle with a m o d el of t he USS Albacor e.
This mod el was te st ed at th e Da v id Tay lor Sh ip Test Fac ility an d show ed t hat the st rea ml ined
hull was t he sha pe of the future. Note th e similaritie s betwee n t his an d t he USS
Holla nd , design ed and buil t
5 0 yea rs ea rlie r.
T h e e nginee ring space s were divi d ed into the e ngi ne room an d a large a uxiliary ma ch inery space be twee n th e e ng ine room a nd reactor co mpartment. ~ Iuch o f the elec trical distri bu tio n switch gear and swi tchboa rd s, alo ng wi th the e lec tro n ics for rea ctor co n tro l an d instru men ta tio n. was situa ted in th e aux iliary machi nery space. T h is a rra ngeme llt m oved th e electri cal and e lec tron ic eq uip me n t away fro m the stca m plan t spaces prope r to allow a more co nt ro lled (d ry a nd o il-free ) a tmosp he re . thus e n ha nc ing reliabili ty. SKIPJACK CLASS Design designator EB269A Class consisted of six ships: USS Skipjack, USS Scamp , USS Scorp ion , USS Sculpin , USS Shark, and USS Snook Dimensions Length 251ft 9in.; beam 31ft 9in. Displacement (surfaced/subm erged) 3,070/3,500 tons Speed (surfaced/ submerged) See author's note Endu rance Only limited by supp lies Design test depth See author 's note Complement (officer/e nlisted) 9/7 6 Armament Torpedo tubes: six Mk 59 (23ft long by 21in. diameter). The tubes and fire-control systems were capable of handling various types of torpedo (Mk 14-6, Mk 16-6, -8, Mk 37-1, -3). Service history: Laid down
Launched
Commissioned
Decommissioned
USS Skipjack (SSN-585)
29-May-56
26-May-58
15-Apr-59
19-Apr-90
USS Scamp (SSN-588)
23-Jan-59
8-OcI -SO
5-Jun-6 1
28-Apr-88
USS Scorpion (SSN-589)
20-Aug-58
19-Dec-59
29-Jul-SO
LOST 21-May-68
USS Sculpin (SSN-590)
3-Feb-58
31-Mar-60
l-Jun-6 1
3-Aug-90
USS Shark (SSN-591)
24-Feb-58
18-Mar-80
9-Feb-61
15-Sep-90
USS Snook (SSN-592)
7-Apr-58
31-Oct-SO
24-Oct-61
16-Oct-86
All these ships have been disposed of by the S RP.
13
A Ba rbel Cl ass subma rine in dry do ck. Th e feasibility of th e hu ll shap e for mo d e m submari ne use was p roven by th e ex perimental su bmari ne the USS Albacore an d becam e th e sta ndard for all mod em nuclear submarines. No te al so th e forward hyd roplan e s which were mo ved from the bow to the sail in this cl ass.
Thresher and Permit classes
Ha lfway throug h th e Skipjack Class d esign cycle . abou t 1957. a new su bma rine d esign went to th e d rawin g hoard. It was to become th e Thresher Class. T h is was the first o f th e true fast a ttac k su b ma rines. It h ad an improved so na r co nce p t with a 16ft sp he rica l a rray in th e bow. Th e torpedo tubes we re mo ved a ft and slanted outward . T he h ull form as d esign ed was going to be slower than Skipjack becau se it used th e sa me powerplant o n a la rge r hull , so o the r cha nges were mad e to in crease speed , Th e sail was made sma ller an d thinn er with th e sac rific e o f some periscope d epth co n trolability a nd th e typ e a n d number o f se nso r masts. O ne o f th e main reasons for th e e n la rge d hull was noise quiet in g. To co m ple me n t th e in cr eased so na r capabilities, th e new' class had to be fast a nd qui et. Submarin e q uieting is an e ng inee ring problem th at is sim ple in co ncep t and extre mely dillicu lt in execu tion . Co ncep tually. so u nd co nsists o f three e leme n rs: a no ise so urce, a receiver, a nd a transmissi on path between th e so u rce a nd th e receiver, In th e case o f sub ma rine silenc ing. th e receiver is th e e ne my's so nar. T he transmission path co nsists
14
PLATE B A fundamental change in submarine shape took place, as shown here, when the hull form too k on what is known as a "body of revolution, " meaning that each hull section was a circle and the center of each circle was on the same centerline. The Barbel Class (1) was an attem pt to produce a diesel-electric fast attac k with good underwater performa nce. It still suffered from a lack of range when completely SUbmerged . The Skipjack Class (2) was far and away the fastest submari ne in the wor ld until the Los Angeles Class. Below the Skipjack is the Thresher/Perm it Class (3) which had the same power plant as Skipjack but in a slight ly larger hull. Although somewhat slower than Skipjack , it was quieter and is called by many the first true nuclear fast attack class . At the bott om is the Sturgeon Class (4). Bigger than the Thresher/Permit it had a robustnes s and versatility that set the standard for performan ce and usefulness.
1lI
..
of eH~ ryt h i n~ bet wee n the no ise ~e n eration so urce a nd the so na r - th is inc ludes th e equ ip ment foun da tio n . a ny in term ed iate struClure . th e hull. a nd the exte rnal wate r co lu m n. T he am o u n t of no ise th a t rea ches the e nemv so nar de pe nds on the amo unt o f noi se the so urce ~e nera tes. the d irectn ess a nd e ffic ie ncy o f th e struc tu re-bo rn e no ise paths. a nd th e tra nsmissibili ty of the water co lu m n. As th e e ne rn v's so nar becomes mo re e ffec tive (ab le to de tect a nd a na lvzc a lower level no ise s i ~n a l ) . it is a ble to d e tect a ~i Ye n noise so u rce level a t grea ter di stances. To d efea t th is d e tecti on ab ility. the sub ma rine m ust lowe r th e noise so u rce It~I-eI an d /or in te rru pt th e structu re-borne transmission path . Mo st o f the noise a su bma rine ge ne l
Skipjack Cta ss from the bow. Note the distance from the sail planes to the top of the sail and compare this with the photo of
Thresher. The Skipjack Ctass was much easier to handle at periscope depth than th e Th resher Class.
An air-condition ing un it is lowered into th e hull of the boat during the construction of a Permit Class submarine. The use of a ste am plant in a closed submarine hull demanded the use of significant ai r cond itioning to deal with th e he at. Note the internal hull frames in this single hull portion
16
of the submarine .
USS Thre sh e r. This pho to shows the short ne ss of the sail and th e short distanc e be tw een the sai l planes an d the top of the sa il.
co n tinge n t of shipyard e nginee rs a nd test te chni cians. Th e lo ss se nt ripples th roughout the sub ma rine co m m u n ity and not o n ly for its loss if th e re was a d esign flaw. it was bcing duplicat ed in th e o ther Thresher Class boats being built a n d plann ed. Th e boa t lay in 8,300ft of wate r off th e coast of Main e a nd was not availa ble for d et ai led in sp ecti on . What fol lowed was a se ri o us look a t how th e su b m a rine force e ns u re d quali ty o f m ainten an ce a nd mat e rial. a n d th e res ult was th e Su bSa fc Program . Eve ryt h ing tha t touch es or is co n nec te d to th e hu ll a n d every syste m or d evice is rigorously q ua lirv-conuol led a nd /or pressu re test ed through th e Su bSa fc Program . Th e class nam e was changed afte r Th reshers loss - it becam e th e Permit Class. Even thoug h th e class \I~lS lo ngc r th an th e Sk ipj ack s, it seemed to be - at least to th e au thor. wh o \I~lS sta tio ne d a board both Skipjack Class (USS Scamp) a n d Permit Class (U SS D(/("r) vessels - to be m ore cro wded a nd less efficie n tly laid o u t. Th ere were in creased a mo u nts of eq u ip me n t aboa rd an d in creased space tak en up by no ise qu ieting e ffo rts. T he to rped o ro om was re arranged an d moved aft and to the lo we r level of th e ope rations co m pa rt me n t. This move was mo tivat ed by th e placem ent of th e n ew so nar syste m . wh ich had as its ce n tra l se nso r a passive an"y o n a I6ft ste el sp here mou nted j ust o u tside the pressure hull in th e bow. Th e large a n~lY co u ld "listen" up and down through a wide arc and side to side through n earl y 270 d egree s. Its inboa rd e lec tro n ics we re a n analog systc m d esignat ed as th e BQR-GA and integrat ed wi th a se t o f Passive Un de rwate r Firccontrol Feasibility Study (PU FFS) co llinea rly aligned plan ar an-ays (BQG-4). T he co llec tio n o f so nar sensors \I~lS gc nc l~l lly ca lled th e BQQI. Th e co m p lex ity o f th e systcm a nd th at of its hydrophon e selec tio n and switch ing systc m led to a hi gh failure ra te a nd increased m aintenan ce ove r o lder, less-comp licat ed syste ms. As th e class became o lde r, th e BQQ5 wa s backfilled o n to many o f th e boats. in cre asin g th e ir so na r ca pa b ility. T he lo we r, th inn er sai l o n th e Permit Class ga ,'c re d uced d rag. bu t was o pe ra tiona lly more limited because of less space ' ()I" periscopes a n d
17
masts. Its h e igh t a lso mea nt mo re diff ic u lt seakeep ing at perisco pe dept h . T he pe riscope was sited aft of the snorkel mast. a lo cat ion that lim ited visibi litv whi le the subma rine was venti lating a n d snorke ling. T he cmergc ucy di esel ge ne ralOr was m oved forward a nd h en ce eli m inated th e d istin ctive turt leback see n o n Skipjac ks. As th e SubSafe Progra m took hold . th e space re qu ire d to implement th e ele me n ts o f the progra m in cr eased. So me po rt ions of th e syste m requ ired new eq ui pme nt a n d piping . Fo r exa m ple, a il' drye rs were re q ui re d o n th e h igh-pressu re side o f th e air com p ressors 10 ensure the :\,OOOps i a ir syste m. wh ich was used fo r. a mo ng st oth e r things , blowing ba llas t tan ks, was fre e fro m moisture whi ch co u ld form ice in valves a n d pressure re d ucers . One of th e possible problems e ncou n tere d by Th resher, proyen la te r b~' testin g sim ilarl y d esign e d systems, was that THRESHER/PERMIT CLASS Design designator SCB 166A Class co nsists of 15 ships starting with USS Thresher and ending wit h USS Haddo ck Dimensions Length 278ft 6in. (see remarks); beam 31ft 9in. Displacement (surfaced/ submerged) 3,070/3,500 tons Speed (surfaced/s ubmerged) See author's note Endurance Only limited by suppl ies Des ign test depth See author's note Complement (officer/e nlisted) 9/76 Armament Torpedo tubes: four Mk 63 (23ft long by 21in. diameter). The tubes and fire-cont rol systems are capable of handling various types of torpedo: Mk 16, Mk 37 Mod 3, Mk 48, Mk 48 ADCAP. In addition they carried the SubRoc (Submarine Rocket) and in later years the Harpoon antiship missile. Rema rks Ship class designation was changed to Permit Class after the loss of USS Thresher on April 10, 1963. There were various length s and sail heights withi n this class. SSN-593, 594, 595, 596, 603, 604, 606, 607, 612, and 621 were 278ft 6in. long, SSN-605 was 297ft 4in. long, and SSN-61 3. 614, and 615 were 292ft 3in. long. USS Jack was significantly different , having a different main prop ulsion tur bine arrangement with counter-rotating screw s, but it is included in this class . Service hist ory: USS Thresher (SSN-593)
Laid down
Launched
Commi ssioned
Decommissioned
28-May -58
9-Jul-60
3-Aug-6l
LOST 10-Apr-63
USS Permit (SSN-594)
l6-Jul-59
l-Jul-6l
29-May-62
23-Jul-9l
USS Plunger (SSN-595)
2-Mar -5O
9-Dee-6l
21-Nov-62
3-Jan-90
USS Barb (SSN-596)
9-Nov-59
l2-Feb-62
24-Aug-63
20-Dee-89
USS TuWbee (SSN-597)
26-May-58
27-Apr-60
9-Nov -60
25-Jun-88
USS Pollack (SSN-603)
l4-Mar-60
l 7-Mar-62
26-Ma y-64
l-Mar-89
USS Haddo (SSN-604)
9-Sep -60
l8-Aug-62
l6-Dee-64
l 2-Jun-9l
USS Jack (SSN-605)
l6-Sep-60
24-Apr-63
3l-Mar-67
ll -Jul-90
USS Tinosa (SSN-606)
24-Nov-59
9-Dee-6l
H-Oct-64
l5-Jan-92
USS Dace (SSN-507)
6-Jun -5O
l8-Aug-62
4-Apr-64
2-Dee-88 4-Feb-92
USS Guardfish (SSN-6l 2) l3-Feb- 6l
l5-May-65
20-Dee-66
USS Flashe r (SSN-6l 3)
22-Jun-63
22-Jul-66
l4-Sep-92
4-Apr-64
3-Nov-67
18-Apr-94
l4-Apr-6l
USS Greenling (SSN-614) l5-Aug-6l USS Gato (SSN-6l 5)
l5-Dee-61
l4-May-64
25-Jan-68
25-Apr-96
USS Haddock (SSN-62l) 24-Apr-61
2l-May-66
22-Dee-67
7-Apr-93
All these ships have been disposed of by the SRP.
18
m oisture in th e a ir te n ded to fre eze in ballast blow hull valves, This wou ld not be a problem unless th e boat n eeded to b low a sec o n d tim e soo n after th e in itia l b low, as Th resher h ad to do . In addition. th e e n tire h ig h-p ressu re e m e rge ncy ba llast ta n k blow syste m had to be redesign ed. an d th e reen gin eeri ng required the use of a new, large r p iping system an d electrica lly opera ted blow valves. En gineerin g-spa ce hydrau lics and valve placem e nt had to be red esign ed to a nt ennae with the requirement that all hull valves co uld be closed from a ce ntral locat ion (th e ma n e uyeri ng ro om ) a n d a ,'ery few local positions, So me of th e Permits were le ngt he ne d . b ut th e n ew requi rem e nts a nd n ew eq uipment ac tua lly required a ne w su b ma ri ne d esign . Sturgeon Class
T he n ew d esign . whi ch be cam e th e Sturgeon Class, h ad a hull that was 292 ft lon g. a ga in of just over 13ft, a nd th e sa il size was sign ifica n tly in creased. T he Permi ts, d ue to th eir increased length oyer the Skipjacks , were nearl y 3 kn o ts slower, T he Sturgeon Class was lon ger still an d had the sam e po\\"er plant , so was in turn nearl y 3 kn o ts slower th a n th e Pe rmi ts. However, it h ad Su bSafe fro m the sta rt a nd was also mu ch qui et er. Th e d esign benefit ed from lessons learn t fro m th e la te Pe rm its abou t e qu ip ment a rra ngemen ts. a n d Sturgeon Class vesse ls were viewed by th ei r crews to be co mfo rtable boa ts, In fac t. mo re tha n one crewma n re me m be re d an un offi cial m otto o f the class as be in g "G ive m e h eaven or a 637 ." Th ey we re co ns idere d by m ost wh o sailed them 10 be the ultima te fast attac k sub ma rines , Th ey were cap ab le. versa tile . an d co mfo rta b le a n d th ey m ade hard. lo ng d eploymen ts, It was not un kn own fo r so me to spe n d 300 d ays o ut of h ome port in a year, Underwa y times bet ween po rt ca lls co u ld be as long as 90 days a n d th ese boats co u ld load stores an d be back underway in as litt le as 24 h ou rs.
The conso les of the control ce nter for controlling the moveme nt of a Sturgeon Class boat underwater. The tw o seats are for the he lm, bow (or fairw ate r) planes, and stem plane operators. The far console is the Ballast Control Panel (BCP). The operator there controlled the trim of the submari ne and pumped w ater in and out to cont rol th e buoyancy. This picture is of t he Ship Control Center w hich was on display at the Sm ithsonian Institu tio n M useum of American History in Wa shington, DC. (Sm ithsonian Instit ut ion: National Mu seum of Ame rican History)
19
STURGEON CLASS Design de sig nator EB293A Class co nsists of 38 ships from USS Sturgeon to USS Richard B. Russell. However, the hull numbers are not sequential due to the SSBN-6 40 Class and two "one-off" exceptions . Therefore included in the class are SSN-637 , 638, 639, 646 throug h 653, 660 throug h 670, 672 through 684, 686 and 687. Dimension s Length 292ft; beam 31ft 9in. Dis placement (surfaced/submerged) 4,229/4 ,762 tons Speed (surfaced/su bme rged) See author's note Endurance Only limited by supp lies Design test depth See author's note Co mplement (officer/e nlisted) 12/95 Armament: Torpedo tub es: four Mk 67 (23ft long by 21in. diameter), angled outward from midships. Bow contained sonar spherical array. The tub es and fire-control systems were capable of handling various types of torp edo (Mk 37-3 , Mk 37 NTS, Mk 48, Mk 48 ADCAP), SubRoc, Harpoo n, and Tomahawk missiles. Service history: Laid down 10-Aug -63
Launched
Commissioned
USS Sturgeon (SSN-637)
26- Feb-66
3-Mar-67
1-Aug-94
USS Whale (SSN-638)
27-May-64
14-0ct-66
12-Oct-68
25-Jun-96 31-Mar-9 7
USS Tautog (SSN-639)
27-Jan -64
15-Apr-67
17-Aug -68
USS Grayling (SSN-646)
12-May-64
22-Jun -67
11-0 ct-69
18-Jul-97
USS Pogy (SSN-647)
4-May-64
3-Jun -67
15-May-71
11-Jun -99
USS Aspro (SSN-648)
23-Nov-64
29-Nov-67
20- Feb-69
31-Mar-95
USS Sunfish (SSN-649)
15-Jan-65
14-0ct-66
15-Mar-69
3 1-Mar-97
USS Parg o (SSN-65 0)
3- Jun-64
17-Sep-66
5-Jan-68
14-Ap r-95
USS Queenfish (SSN-651)
11-May -64
25-Feb -66
6- Dee-66
14-Ap r-92
USS Puffer (SSN-652)
8-Feb-65
30-Mar-68
9-Aug-69
12-Jul-96
USS Ray (SSN-653)
4-Jan-65
21-Jun-66
12-Ap r-67
16-Mar-93
USS Sand Lence (SSN-660)
15-Jan-65
11-No v-69
25-Sep-71
7-Aug -98
USS Lapa n (SSN-66 1)
26-Jul-65
16-Dee-66
14-Dec -67
8-Aug-92
USS Gum ard (SSN-662)
22- Dee-64
20-Ma y-67
6-Dee-68
28-Ap r-95
USS Hamm erhead (SSN-663) USS Sea Devif (SSN-664)
29- Nov-65
14-Apr-67
28-Ju n-68
5-Apr-95
12-Apr-65
5-Oct-67
30- Jan-69
16-Oct-91
USS Guitarro (SSN-665)
9-Dee-65
27-Jul-68
9-Sep-72
29-May-92
USS Hawkbill (SSN-666)
12-Sep-66
12-Apr-69
4-Feb-71
15-Mar-OO
USS Bergall (SSN-667)
16-Ap r-66
17-Feb-68
13-Jun -69
6-Jun -97 11-Apr-97
USS Spade fish (SSN-668)
21- Dee-66
15-May-68
14-Aug -69
USS Seahorse (SSN-669)
13-Aug-66
15-Jun-68
19-5ep-69
17-Aug -95
USS Finback (SSN-670)
26-Jun-67
7-Dec -68
4-Feb-70
28-Mar-97
USS Narwhal (SSN-671)
17-Jan-66
9-Sep-67
12-Jul-69
1-Jul-99
USS Pintado (SSN-672)
27-0ct-67
16-Aug-69
11-Sep-71
26-Feb-98
USS Flying Rsh (SSN-673)
30-J un-67
17-May-69
29-Apr-70
16-May- 96
USS Trepang (SSN-674)
28-0ct-67
27-Sep -69
14-Aug-70
1-Jun-99
USS Bluefish (SSN-675)
13-Mar-68
10-Jan-70
8-Jan -71
31-May-96
USS Billfish (SSN-676)
20-Sep-68
1-May-70
12-Mar-71
1-Jul -99
USS Drum (SSN-677)
20-Aug-68
23-May-70
15-Apr-72
30-0ct-95
USS Arc herfish (SSN-678)
19-Jun-69
16-Jan-7 1
17-Dee-7 1
31-Mar-98
USS Si/versides (SSN-679)
28-Nov -69
4-Jun -71
5-Ma y-72
21-Jul-94
USS William H. Bates (SSN-680)
4-Aug-69
11-Dee-71
5-May-73
11-Feb -OO
USS Batfish (SSN-68 1)
9- Feb- 70
9-0ct -7 1
1-Sep-72
17-Mar-99
USS Tunny (SSN-682)
22-May-70
10-Jun -72
26-Jan- 74
13-Mar-98
USS Parche (SSN-663)
10-Dee-70
13-Jan-73
17-Aug -74
18-Jul-05
USS Cavalla (SSN-684)
23-Ma y-70
19-Feb-72
9-Feb-73
30-Mar-98
USS L. Mendel Rivers (SSN-686)
26-J un-71
2-Jun -73
1-Feb-75
10-Ma y-01
USS Richard B. Russell (SSN-687)
19-0ct-71
12-Jan -74
16-Aug-75
24-Jun-94
All these ships have been disposed of by the SRP.
20
Decommissioned
The Sturgeons w er e able to
rot at e th eir fairwater plan e s 90 degrees and had a hardened sail top . This made it possible to br eak through a significant thickne ss of ice . The dark port ion of the sai l front is the sound-t ransparent cover over the upward- looking sona r recei ver.
Los Angeles Class
In th e la te 19fiOs it was o bvio us to n aval p la nn e rs th at th e So viets we re in th c m id st o f a su b mari n e co ns tr uc tio n program of th e ir own , o n c that in clu d e d a se rio us re q u ire m e n t for hi gh spe ed . T he tr end in US su b ma ri nes, h o weve r, see m e d to be to ward slower boa ts. Th e Sovi e t Un io n was b uild in g 1;ISI b oa ts tha t wou ld di ve d eepe r th an th e ex isting US vesse ls, h en ce a n ew d esign was n e eded th a t wo uld fu lfi ll three main o b ject ives: clive d e ep, be fast, an d hc qui et at h igh sp ee d . T h e d csign procc ss, h owever, was to h e di fficu lt. Na\'al Sca Syste ms Co mma nd (N,I\"Sca) , whi ch rep lace d BuSh ips, sta rred th e d esign cycle in 19fifi for a fast subma rine to re p lace th e Sturge o n a n d Pe rm it classes as th ey rcached thc c n d o f th ci r use fu l lives. T hi s new su b ma rin e would have to bc proficient in five m ission types. T h c\ ' were: Fo rward are a - o p era tio ns in th c wat ers close to e ne my bases. Tra iling - operations in which the bo at had to acq u ire co n tac t with an e ne mv vesse l an d fo llow it un det ected. Encmy vesse ls were to inc lude , but were no t limit ed to . e ne my ba llistic m issile sub ma ri nes. Direct support of battle gro ups - ope rat ion s ,LS pa rt of a d efe nsive scre e n. Atta cks o n c nc my sub m a rine s a nd su rface sh ips. Sun r illancc - .spccial 0pcl~ l!i o1l.S (SEAL Icam deplovmen t). Il~li n i n g e tc, T he new d esign would no t simp ly be a n up grad e fro m th c existing Stu rge o n. it wou ld he a wh o le ne w sub m a rine with a new, more ca pa b le p owerplant . US Na" l1 nu clear powcrplan ts a re dcsign at ed by a lett e rv'uumber co mbina tion. First is a letter S, D, o r A. T he le tte r S means a su bma rine plant , D is for surf ace craft such as destroyers and cru isers, and A is fo r a ircra ft ca rriers. Th e nu mber S!a J'lS wit h I an d procced s upward with newer p lan ts, a nd thc final lett er, C. \\', or G is fill' the man ufact ure r Co m bustio n Engine ering, \\'estingh ou se. and Gen era l Elertric respe ct ivelv The Skipjacks, Pe rm its. and Stu rgeons used a n exce llen t d esign tha t
21
Th e USS Col um bia w as th e penu lt imat e Los Angel es Class submarine to be buil t and the last "slide r" - tha t is, she slid down th e inc lin ed building w ays into th e wa ter like countless ships before her.
All US subm a rines built after her are built in lev el building fac iliti es and floated into a graving dock for launch.
22
became a true workhorse, the S5\\' plant. :'\,I\'5ca wan ted to marry a su bmari ne version of th e more powerful DIG with a new front e nd, Another o p tio n would be an up-powered SSG natural circu lation p lant tha t was be ing proven on USS Na n ohal. Th c Na \:' had to follow a new se t of ru les abo ut sel ecting sh ip design. Robert McNamara W,LS the n ew Secre tary of Defe nse an d h is business background at Ford led him to institu te a co m p lex design process ca lled CO N FO R~ I (Co nce p t Formulation ). This syste m ca lled for a d eta iled study of all possible co m binatio ns of ex isting and fu ture tec h nologies a nd needs. Suc h d esign stud ies to ok tim e and cos t money, Also , th e CON FO R~ I stu d ies were in addi tio n to th e standa rd e ngineeri ng work that had to bc don e j ust to writ e th e specifica tio ns for th e new sub ma ri ne d esign . The CON FO R.M p ro cess ca me a t a tim e when it seemed impe rat ive th at th e Un ited States produce a fast sub ma ri ne design an d build th em qui ckly, so the two requirements were in co n flict. Th e act ua l work sta rte d with a p re-d esign tra de-off study a nd th e CONFO RJ\ I study bcgan in lat e 1968. Trade-off studies assess th e best balan ce of c ngine power / ship size/a n namen t fo r th e most effic ien tly balan ced d esign . A co m ple tely new all-digita l so nar a nd fire-control syste m \\';IS spec ifie d in 196G a nd would have to be included, A new propulsion p lant would have to go thro ug h the CONFO RJ\ 1 p ro ccss - it co u ld not sim p ly be chose n by the Nuclea r Propulsion D ire ctora te - a nd th e p ro cess had to be co m ple ted in its e ntirety befo re a n ew sub ma ri ne design spccifica tio n co uld be m i tten , T he new su bma ri ne design becam e bogged d own in ad m inistra tio n , but :-'IcNam a ra subse q ue n tly left and th e ne w Secretary of Defen se . Clark Cliffo rd , scra p pe d th e CONFO RJ\ I syste m altoge ther, Fre sh d esign specifica tio ns rapidly e merged . The new boats would be 360ft long wi th a beam of 33ft. T he reactor plant, newly design ated SliGo had su ffic ien t sh p to give a dcsign speed in excess of 30 kn ots, wh ich \\'; \S faster tha n th e Skip jacks. T hese boats, whic h were n early as large as World \\'a r II
An early Los Ange les Class. Th e darker portion in the foreground is the fiberglass sonar dome. The lighter part is the smooth hull reftecting ambient tigh t and the darker upper deck has grit·laden non-skid paint. The light circular object is the moo ring line prop erly flemished down. The two masts raised highest are the BRA-34 mu ltipurpose antennae.
The stem con e of a fast attack submarine is prep ared to be lift ed off the tr ansporter. Prot ruding to th e right is the fixed portion of th e ste m pl an es . At the left is th e open ing for the stern tub e through whi ch th e prope ller sha ft will exte nd.
light cru isers, would be named after US cities under th e umbrella of th e Los Angel es Class, Th e Los Angel es Class is qu ie te r at spe ed tha n any ot he r su bma rine to d at e , a nd the S6G powerpla nt h as fulfi lle d th e d es ign speed of more th an 30 kn o ts, Th e so na r sphere is placed well fo rwa rd a n d the d ome wra p ped a ro u n d it is of so u n d-tra nspare n t fib erglass, Th e so nar's inboa rd e lect ro n ics a re all di gital with th e \ lk 117 fi re-cont ro l syste m , As th e first o f th e class were n earin g co m p le tio n a n d reach in g th e fleet , th e int egratio n of th e sensors a n d fir e-control systems reach ed a poi nt where th ey co u ld be in corporated into seve ral co m mo n co nsoles linked by a lo ca l net work, a n d whose fun ct ion was d ict at ed by th e co m mo n UYK-7 co m p u te r so ftware a n d hardware , T h is syste m was ca lled th e BSY,I, Lat er versio ns o f this co ncep t were ca lle d th e Co m ba t Co nt ro l Syste m (CCS) Mk I and ~ , Although th e Tomahawk cru ise mi ssile was to rpedo-t ube ca pa ble, it was d ecid ed to mak e a majo r modificati o n to the class d esign and mount I ~ vertical laun ch tubes in the bows o f th e rem ainde r o f th e class, start ing with SSN-7 19, In ad d itio n , the fa irwa ter plan es were rel o cat ed to the bow - th e plan es in th e sa il were too la rge to rot at e 90 d egr ees to a llow for under-ice operat ions. Fo r grou pi ng p llIvoses, th ere a re thre e m ain varia n ts of the Los Angeles Class, Th e fi rst gro u p a re th e Los AIIK pl p.\ (SSN-6SS) to Honolulu (SS:'\-6 IS ) whi ch are th e origina l d esign with o n ly min o r varia tio ns . Pnniidm rr (SSN-6 19) through Xnv/)()rt Nru is (SS:'\-750) have sail pl an es a nd vert ical laun ch tu bes (no te th at hull numbers 7~ (i th rough 749 were res erved for th e O h io Class ballisti c mi ssile su b marines ) a n d co m p rise th e seco nd g ro u p ing , T he SIIII .1 1111 11 (SS:'\-75 1) th rough th e en d o f th e class CI/I')'PIIIII' (SS:'\-77:\), whi ch are ca lled th e Los Angeles Impro ved or 6SS I , h ad bow p la nes a n d vert ical laun ch tubes,
23
C: INTERIOR LAYOUT OF A LOS ANGELES CLASS SUBMARINE
The Los Ange les Class is divided into three general areas. First are the fore and aft ballast tanks and free flood areas which are outside the pressure hull. These areas also provide the outer hull shape . In addition the forward area holds the sonar sphere and on some submarines the vertical launch tubes for Tomahawk missiles. Inside the pressure hull, the submarine is di vided into the other two general areas. Forward of the midships watertight bulkhead (the only one in the boat), are the operational cente rs, torpedo room , crew and officer quarters and sto wage spaces. Aft are the reactor compartment and the engine room which comprise the nuclear propulsion plant.
24
r
Sonar spherical array
13 14 15 16
Bow planes
17 Propulsion mach inery
Torpedo tubes
18 After ballast tanks 19 Stern planes
1 Rudder
6 Vertical Launch System
2 Nuclear reactor
7 Tomahawk missile
3 Cont rol room 4 Weapons loading hatch
5 Electronic ec uipment space
8 9 10 11 12
Forward ballast tank
Torpedo roo m
Berthing Deck galley Crew mess Engine room
25
LOS ANGELES CLASS Class consists 62 ships, USS Lo s A ng eles through USS Cheyenne Dimensions Length 360ft; beam 33ft Displacement (surfaced/submerged) 6,000/6,900 tons Speed (surfaced/su bmerged) See author 's note Endurance Only limited by supplies Design test depth See author's note Complement (officer/e nlisted) 121115 Armament Torpedo tubes: four Mk 67 (23ft long by 21in. diameter), angled outward from midships. Bow contai ns sonar spherical array. The tube s and fire-control systems are capable of handling various types of torped o (Mk 37-3, Mk 37, Mk 48, Mk 48 ADCAP), SubRoc , Harpoon, and Tomahawk missiles. From SSN-6 19 on, each submarine had a nest of 12 Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes for the Tomahawk cruise missile. Service history: USS Los Ange les (SSN-688)
Laid down 8-Jan-72
Launched 6-Apr-74
USS Baton Rouge (SSN-689)
18-Nov-72
USS Philadelph ia (SSN-690) USS Memph is (SSN-691)
12-Aug-72
USS Omaha (SSN-692)
Commissioned
Decommissioned
26-Apr-75
13·Nov-76 25-Jun-77
13-Jan-95
19-0 ct-74
25-Jun-77
23-Jun- 73 27-Jan-73
3-Apr-76 21- Feb-76
21/17fl7 11-Mar-78
USS Cincinnati (SSN-693)
6-Apr-74
19-Feb-77
10-Jun-78
USS Groton (SSN-694) USS Birmingham (SSN-695)
3-Aug- 73 26-Apr-75
9-0ct-76 29-0ct-77
8-Jul-78
29-Ju l-96
USS New York City (SSN-696)
18-Jun-77
22-Dee-97 30-Apr-97
USS Indianapo lis (SSN-697)
15-Dee-73 19-0ct -74
16-Dee-78 3-Mar-79
30-Jul-77
5-Jan-80
22-Dee-98
USS Bremerton (SSN·698) USS Jacksonville (SSN-699)
8-May-76 21-Feb-76
22-Jul-78 18-Nov-78
28-Ma r-81 16-May -81
USS Dallas (SSN-700) USS La Jolla (SSN-701)
9-0ct-76
28-Ap r-79
18-Jul-81
11-Aug-79
24-0ct-81
USS Phoenix (SSN-702)
16-0ct-76 30-Jul-77
USS Boston (SSN-703)
11-Aug- 78
8-Dee-79 19-Apr-80
19-Dee-81 30-Jan-82
USS Baltimore (SSN-704)
21-May- 79
13-Dec -80
24-Jul -82
USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN-705) USS Albequerque (SSN-706)
4-Sap-79 27-Dee -79
25-Apr-81 13-Mar-82
8-Jan-83
USS Portsmouth (SSN-707)
8-May-80
18-Sep-82
21-May -83 1-0ct-83
USS Minneapolis·St. Paul (SSN-708)
30-Jan-81 24-Jul -81
19-Mar-83
10-Mar-84 21-Ju l-84
26-Ma y-77
27-Aug-83 21-Jan-84 27-0ct-79
19-Jan-85 24-Apr-81
17-Aug-78 29-Jan-79 1-Aug- 79
16-Aug-80
6-Ma r-82
21-Mar-81 31-Oct-81
25-Sep-82
25-Jan-80
8-Ma y-82
USS Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-709) USS Augusta (SSN-71O) USS San Francisco (SSN-711) USS Atlanta (SSN-712) USS Houston (SSN-713) USS Norfo lk (SSN-714) USS Buffalo (SSN-715) USS Salt Lake City (SSN-716)
26-Aug-80 31-Mar-81
29-Jul-98 19-No v-99 10-Jul-98
18-Aug-05
16-Dee-99
21-May-83 5-No v-83
16-0 ct-82
12-May-84
25-Oct-06
30-Apr-83 24-Sep-83
17-Nov -83 6-Ju l-85
1-Nov-06
4-Aug-84
27-Jul-85
USS Pittsburgh (SSN-720)
14-Oct-82 15-Apr-83
8- Dee-84
23-Nov-85
USS Chicago (SSN-721)
5-Jan-83
27-Sap-86
USS Key West (SSN-722) USS Oklahoma City (SSN-723)
6-Jul-83
13-0 ct-84 20-Jul-85
USS Olymp ia (SSN-717) USS Honolulu (SSN-718) USS Providence (SSN-719)
26
1-Apr-82
5-0ct-95 10-Jun-78
10-Nov-81
4-Jan -84 16-Sap-84
USS Louisville (SSN-724) USS Helena (SSN-725)
28-Mar-85
USS Newport News (SSN-750) USS San Juan (SSN-751)
3-Mar-84 16-Aug-85
USS Pasadena (SSN-752) USS Albany (SSN-753)
20-May-86
USS Topeka (SSN-754) USS Miami (SSN-755)
22-Apr-85 13-May-86 24-0ct-86
2-No v-85 14-Dee-85 28-Jun -86 15-Mar-86 6-Dee-86 12-Sep-87
12-Sep-87 9-Ju l-88 8-Nov -86 11-Jul-87 3-Jun-89 6-Aug -88
13-Jun -87
11-Feb-89 7-Apr-90
23-Jan-88 12-Nov-88
30-Jun-90
21-Oct-88
r Laid down
La unched
USS Scrant on (SSN-756) USS Alexandria (SSN-757)
29-Aug-86 19-Jun-87
3-Jul-89 23-Jun-90
USS Ashville (SSN-758)
9-Jan-87
28-0ct-89
28-Sep-91
USS Jefferson City (SSN-759) USS Annapo lis (SSN-760)
21-Sep-87
17-Aug-90
15-Jun-88
28-Feb-92 ll -Apr-92
USS Springfie ld (SSN-761)
28-0 ct-88 28-Apr-89
18-May-91 9-No v-91
USS Columbus (SSN-762) USS Santa Fe (SSN-763) USS Boise (SSN-764) USS Montpelier (SSN-765)
25-May-91 25-Aug-88 19-May-89
1-Aug-92 12-Dec-9 2 23- Mar-91
7-No v-92 16-Sep-94 6-Nov-93
3-0ct-92
2-Mar-90
USS Hartford (SSN-768) USS Toledo (SSN-769)
27-Apr-92 8-Apr-91
3-Apr-92 4-Dec-94
USS Tucson (SSN-770) USS Columbia (SSN-771) USS Cheyenne (SSN-773)
4-Dec-92 24-Ju l-93 8-Jan-94 13-Mar-93
7-Jan-90
10-Dec-94
28-Aug-93
24-Feb-95
20-Sep-91
19-Mar-94
9-Feb-93
24-Sep-94 17-Sep-94
9-Sep-95 9-0ct-95
16-Apr-92 6-0ct-92
1-Apr-95
Deco mmissioned
29-Jun-91
23-Aug-91
USS Charlotte (SSN-766) USS Hampton (SSN-767)
USS Greenville (SSN-772)
Comm issioned 26-Jan-91
13-Feb-96 29-Jul -96
Those without decommissioningdates are, as of this writing, stillin active service.
Los Angeles Class fast attack submarine USS Alexandria is submerg ed after sUrfacing through two feet of ice during
ICEX-0 7. a US Navy and Royal Navy exercise conducted on and unde r a drifting ice floe about 18 0 nautica l miles off th e north
coa st of Alaska.
The USS Seawotf (SSN-705) unde rw ay on the surface. proceeding out of New London
Seawolf Class
on it s first sea trials. Lead ship of what wou ld become a 30·ship
T his class was d esign e d a n d bu ilt 10 co u n te r th e th reat of th e Soviet navy's n ew attack su b ma rin es, suc h as th e Alfa and Akula. Th e fight, if it ever took place. would h a p p e n in the d eep wat ers well away from la n d masses, thus th e d esign was for a "b lue-wate r" syste m. T h e 30-boat Seawolf Class was p lanned as a follow-on to th e Los An ge les Class. Larger. faster. a nd q u iet er than a ny of th e preced ing fast attack classes, th e Se awo lf spo rted e igh t 21-in . to rpe do tubes. a n e xte nsive in tegrated sonar/fire-co ntro l su ite (C CS Mk 2 ) , a n d a redesign ed powerplant co m p le te with a sh ro uded propulsor../u st as th e Sea wolf was u n d e r co nstruc tio n, th e Sovie t U n io n ca me a pa rt and th e world ch a nged . T h e n eed for a n ex te nsive blu e-water submarin e for ce was see n as bei ng over, a n d th e 30 sh ips o f th e Se awolf for ce becam e o n ly three . Give n h u ll n u mbers om o f seque n ce, SSN-2 1, -22, a nd -23, th e class be cam e a testin g g ro u n d for n ew co nce p ts and n ew eq u ip me n t.
cla ss, she exceeded all des ign expectations but proved to be too large and too expensive for a changing world .
27
Th e Seawolf Class exceeded all ex pectatio ns. albe it a t a tim e when su ch a n ex pe nsive a nd ca pa b le bo at was co nsidered to be a n e X ll~I"aga nce by those hold in g th e budget ary purse strings . Th e up graded re actor pia III and a pumpjet in cr eased th e effic ie ncy of the propulsion syste m. Th e silenc ing \I~IS a lso "e ry effic ie n t. These two qu aliti es co m b ined to mak e th e boat "ery quiet at a h igh underwa ter speed. Aside fro m th e USS Snnoo lf; th e USS Con nrrtir ut was co m p le ted as a sta nda rd Sea wolf a nd th e third of th e class. th e USS fillllll)" Carter: \I~IS ex te n ded by nearl y 100ft and modified to become a multimission spec ial operations sub marine.
A Se a waif class being prepared to move to the graving dock.
After the majority of the submarin e is built, it is rolled out of the enclosed construction building and onto a barge that sits in a graving dock. The water is then pumped out of the dock until the barge re sts on the bottom. When the boat is ready to launch, th e dock and barge are th en flood ed , and the boat
SEAWOLF CLASS
floats free for th e first time.
Class cons ists of three ships, USS Seawolf, USS Connecticut , USS Jimmy Carter Dimensions Length 360ft ; beam 40ft ; USS Jimmy Carter length 453ft Displacement (surfaced/submerged) 6,000/6,900 tons Speed (surfaced/ submerged) See author's note Endurance Only limited by supp lies Design test depth See author's note Complement (officer/enlisted) 12/115 Armament Torpedo tubes: eight torpedo tubes (23ft long by 21in. in diameter). With its exceptionally large torpedo room the boat could carry large numbers of each of the following : Mk 48 ADCAP torpedo, the Harpoon antiship missile, the Tomahawk cruis e missile , and Mk 60 CAPTOR (Encapsulated Torpedo) mines.
Virginia Class
28
A sea rc h sta rted in the ca rlv 1990s for h ow to kee p th e Seawolf Class ca pa b ilities yet have a less ex pe ns ive sub ma rine . T he Un ited States submari ne for ce was up aga inst several prob le ms , :\Ian y. even in the naval co m m u n ity. S,I\\' no fu rt he r use for a large number of submarines, Th e Stu rgeon Class an d ea rly Los Angel es Class boa ts were reac hi ng the e n d o f th eir useful lives an d ha rd ch o ices h ad to be made whet her to up grade th ese boat s in ex pe nsive yard ove rha uls or to d ecom mission
OPPOSITE A Virg in ia Cl as s i n the const ruct ion building at Newport News. The tarp covers protect th e fiberglass sonar dome that comprises the bow of the sub. Note th e op en ing in th e front of th e sa il. This houses t he upward ·looking sonar rec eiv er.
ABOVE USS Virginia m oved out
of doors at Groto n, Conn ec ticut, August 5, 2003 for the first time in preparation for her christening. Note the bulk of the ship, like an icebe rg, is mostly underwater.
th cm. T he ;\''''")" chose th e la tte r, T he su bma rin e force was d rop pin g rap id ly fro m a hi gh of nea rly 120 su bm a rines towar d a n um ber neare r :;0 . a figurc that in cluded th e I (j O hio Class ba llistic m issile subma rin es . A new d esig n was u nd e rt a ke n th at re su lted in a sign ificant cha ng c in the way sub mari nes in the US ;\',1\")" were b ui lt a nd o perated. Two of the d rivi ng forc es be h ind th is changc were the con tin ui ng adva nces in co m pute r tech n ol ogy and th e need to re d uce the crew o f a su bmari n e. Com p uters we re ge tting be tte r, sma ller, an d more reliable, A versa tile co mput cr net work was to be cente r of th e new sub ma rine 's e lectron ics d esign . An o u tgrowth of th is co nce p t was that th e su bma rine 's co n tro l tec hnology \\~IS re des igned as a "fly by wi re ' co m p u te r-assisted syste m . T h is syste m re d uc e d the nu mber o f cre w activelv parti cip ating in th e helm . plan es, ballastin g. a nd trim of th e boat . and h en ce th e sh ip co n trol part y \\~IS re d uced li'OIII six to three. Given that the submari n e norm ally o perated in a three-watch section dai ly rotat io n , thc savings in p e rso n n el from th is ch a nge wa s nin e sailo rs in th e crew, T his new su bma rine \\~IS to become th e Virginia Class. T he first sh ip of th e class m arked a n ew ge n crat ion of sub ma r ine d esig n . co n struc tio n, a n d o pera tio n . Its se a tr ia ls were e xtrao rd in a ry in that. for the fi rst time , there were no m a jo r d efici en cies not ed lor co rrec tion , T h e e n tire vesse l was
29
d e sig n e d using ex te n sive comp u te r visua lization a n d a dvanced co m p u ter ai ded d esig n (CAD). SeawolfClass had le d the \\"ay in thi s new d es ign a n d build syste m . bu t the Virginia Class proved th at th e syste m wo rked o n a la rge sca le . Th e co ns truct ion m eth od achieved sig n ifican t savings in cos t an d manning. an d th e advanced e nginee ring o f th e reac to r plallt meant a grea t d1i c i en c~ ' in fuel lo ading a n d use. Th ese su b m a rines will never h ave to b e re fueled - th e re ac to r co re will last th e life of th e sh ip . Todav th e S fast at tack sub ma rine fleet co ns ists o f th e Los An gel es Class , wh ich is being replaced by Virgini a Class boa ts as th e forme r reach th e ir e n d of th eir useful lives, a n d two Sea wolf Class (the USS J illl lll ), Carta being a sp ecia l o pe ra tio ns boat ) . The forc e is more versatile a n d m ort' capable th an ever, T hey a re "a lways th e re , n ever see n. " VIRGINIA CLASS Class is to consist of 30 ships, and the hull numbers start with SSN-774 and will proceed to SSN-804. Dimensions Length 377ft; beam 34ft Displacement (surfaced/ submerged) 6,800n .300 tons Speed (surfaced/ submerged) See author's note Endurance Only limited by supplies Design test depth See author's note Complement (officer/enlisted) 12/1 15 Armament Weapons suite consists of 12 VLS tubes and four 21-in. torpedo tubes with the capacity for 16 Tomahawk missiles and up to 26 Mk 48 ADCAP torpedoes . The ship is also equipped to carry the Harpoon antiship missile and Mk 60 CAPTOR mines, There is an integral lockout chamb er that can host the SEAL Delivery System and SEAL teams for special operations, Sensor and weapons control is via the Command and Control Systems Mo dule (CCSM), which consists of an open architecture grouping of common display and cont rol modules and a modification of the CCS Mk 2 combat system. Electronic countermeasures include the WLY-1 acoustic countermeasure and the BLO-10 electronic surveillance system. The sonar system for the Virginia Class consists of the BOO-10 act ive and passive spherical array with the lowfrequency conformal array in the bow dome. The ship is also fitted with the thick line towed array (TB-29). the thin line towed array, and a wide aperture flank array. Service history (at time of writing): USS Virginia (SSN-774) USS Texas (SSN-77S) USS Hawaii (SSN-776) USS New Hampsh ire (SSN-777)
Laid do wn
Launched
Sep-99 Jul-02
Aug-03
Aug -04
Jun-06
Apr-OS
Comm issioned Oct-04 Sep -06
May-04
USS New Mexico (SSN-778)
30
PLATE D The most mode rn of the US nuclear fast attack submarines continue the hull form which provides most efficient underwater performance with in the const raints of the engineering. habitability , weapons and sensor requirements . Small changes in the oute r form can be seen in these three classes, In the Los Angeles Class (1) the sail (fin) is farther aft than is optimal due to the requirement to have the periscopes penetrate directly through the hull to the control room. Electronic -optical (optronic) periscopes which don't use the long optical tube hull penetration have since enabled designers to place the sail (fin) where it will give the most optimal hydrodynamic perfor mance rather than having to be directly over the contro l room . The Seawoll class (2) was to be a large quiet "blue water " attack submar ine to counter the perceived Soviet deep diving fast subma rine threat. The open specially shaped screw has given way to the more efficient shrouded propulsor. Seen at the bottom is the Virginia Class (3), which combines the need for a quiet high-speed submarine wit h the versatility required by today 's global military pictu re,
Col
..
A Virginia Class und erway on trials . Exte nding fr om the top of th e sa il a re tw o BRA ·34 ante nnae, a sno rke l mast , and a mul t ipu rpo se ESM anten na. Aft of th e sa il is th e op en hatch to the ope ration s compartmen t , wi t h th e ma n handing do wn th e last of the items topsid e. He will then drop down and sea l th e hatch, compl eting th e topsid e
"Rig for Dive ."
FAST ATTACK SUBMARINE SENSORS
32
Subma rin e syste ms d o not d evelop a n d evolve in a vacu u m. In m ost cases nd vances in th e techno logy o f on e system im pacts on each o f th e o the r syste ms in th e boat. Th e su b ma rine is an in teg ra te d w'eapons plat form th at d epends o n the ca pa b ilities o f all its technolog ies, As so na rs becam e more p owerful a nd were ab le to an a lyze a wider spec tru m o f n o ise . fo r exa m p le. th e requi rem ent for su bma rine sile nc ing gre \\'. Equally. as th e ca pabilities o f the o n board co m pu te r syste ms gre w it becam e possibl e to a na lyze n oise faste r a n d m o re acc u ra tely, It became poss ib le to co m p u te th e paths th at n oise rook th rough th e wat er, It was fo u n d th at th e re were so un d cha n nels in whi ch noi se travel ed re la tively u nch anged, Th ere were also a reas where so un d path s curved d e ep a n d ca me back up to th e su rface. were refl ect ed. curved d eep. a nd reap peare d (t hese becam e kn own as cOll\'ergence zon es), Predi ctin g th ese path s a nd zo nes in ex isting ocea n co n d itio ns becam e an im po rta nt part of the so na r's task , Th e increase in co m pu ter power also drove ad vances in Elect ronic Su rve illance Measures (ES:\I) se nsors as th ey became mo re able to ana lyze a wide r elec tron ic spec tnt m with grea ter speed an d detail. As electron ics devices became sma ller an d m ore ca pa ble. an te n nae a nd m asts co u ld h ave co m bine d fu nc tio ns, Fo r exa mple. as far back as World War II sim p le radar anten nae were mounted in th e upper head of periscopes, T he peri scopes have evolved to ta ke on mo re an d m ore fu nc tio ns and a n in cr easin g nu mber of antennae are mounted in the ir upper e nds, \\'eapons also d rove fi re-control syste m an d so nar developmen t. As th e fire-control systems became mo re ca pa ble. the torpedo in turn becam e "sma rte r," The ea rly Mk 14 torped o co uld be co m pa re d with a n air-launc he d "d um b bom b" o r "iro n bo m b," T he Xlk ~ 7 . h owever, had a hyd ro pho ne in its nose and could see k ou t its targe t as it got close r. making it mo re like ly to ac h ieve hits. In addit ion. it was wire gu ided ,
Sonar co nsoles on USS Thresher. This set of active/passive sonar inboard electronics co mprised
th e BQS -6/BQA-3 sonar. The active sonar console is in th e middle with the passi ve on
the left and the BQA-3 graph ic indicator on the right . The man in the photo , Sonarman First Class R. E. Steinel, was aboard
Thre sher wh en it was lost .
As co m p u te rs a nd so na r systems became sm alle r. a co m p u te r co uld be p lll into th « rorpcd« so rh.u rhr'oug-h a " 'ire-g-llidall ce s~ 'sr em rhc- onboard fire-con trol co m pu te r cou ld talk directly to the torpedo. There \\"as a spool of thin wire co n nect ing th e to rp ed o with the torped o tube. an d th e wire was used to se nd a signal to the to rp edo o nce it \\"as laun clu -d . T he co u rse of the to rpe do was alte red as need ed if upd ated information showed the exi sting li re-ce n t 1'01 solut ion \ \,IS in e rro r or the target ha d made so me ra d iral m an euve r, In add itio n. the torpedo cou ld be progra m me d with the acoust ic signature of the se lected target an d beco m e a "li re an d fo rget " \\"eapon - th e ~[ k 41' ADCA.P (ad va nced ca pa bility) is suc h a torpedo , T herefore , in the discussio n of the techno logies below, o ne should view the ite ms e\n h; ng as an e nt ire gro u p ra ther tha n individual systems , \ r h e n su bme rged a su bma rine must rely o n se nso rs to naviga te , loca te targe ts, p ros ecute an a ttac k. co m m u n icate, perfo rm surveillanc e a n d acco m plish anv ot her assig ne d tas ks, For co nve n ie nce these se nsors may be g-roupe d int o th e fi lllo\\"in g ca tego ries: so nar , e lec tro n ic su rve illance, ra dar, navigati o n , co mm u n ica tio ns , an d o ptical. Sonar
Th e BOR -7 sys tem of sonar consoles.
Th e e lec trica l signa l o ut p u t of th e hydrophone ca n be p ro cessed in several wavs, Th e sim plest is to look a t the signal with resp ect to lime. as through a n oscilloscope . a process ca lled tim e se ries a na lysis, It is. h o wever, more useful to loo k at th e in te nsity level at a particul ar fre q ue ncy, To d o th is th e signal is passed through a se t o f filte rs th at o n ly allow throug h the frequency of int erest. This m ethod allows th e opel, lto r to listen fo r a parti cul ar noise - for exam p le . th e kn own fre q ue ncy of a part icular piece of machinery in an e nemy sh ip . Th e selection of filte rs to se lec t no ise signa ls is used in a n a na log syste m . A digital syste m ca n sam p le a noise sign al man y times pe r second an d co uve rt eac h sa m p le into a n umber wh ich ca n be plu gged into a se t of eq ua tio ns to d eri ve more informat ion fro m th e signa l faste r an d m ore acc u rat ely th an an a na log syste m . The level of th e signal is stored as a number th at ca n be processed by a co m p ute l~ T he mathematica l process ge nerally used to perform th e analysis is a Fourier Transfo rm , a nd early co m p uters performed thi s fu ncti on usin g software a nd what is ca lled a Fast Fo uri er Transform (FIT). As co m pu te rs evo lved , th e processin g also evolved int o be ing hard wi re d in iruegratcd circu its ca lled d igita l sign al pro cessors (DSP). T h e hydrophone is a sim p le devi ce th at liste ns "a ll arou n d. " Wh en multiple hyd roph ones a re pl aced toge ther and lin ked wi th e lec trica l d evices ca lle d d e lay lin es. th e an"y ca n di scrim inat e in the d irection it listens, so m e th ing ge nel
33
\'ery g-e n e l~1 1 d escri p tio n of the so nar types as rh ev evo lved throug- h the various fast attack sub mari nes. T h e Xautilus up throug-h the Sk ip jacks had a form o f the BQR-4 a nd BQ 5-7 syste m. This was a syste m th at use d e lect ro n ic bea m fo rming throug-h swi tc hes a nd ana logfilters to transmit ac tive and rece ive pass ive infonuat iou. T he in fo rmat ion \\~LS di splayed o n e lec tro n ic scree ns a nd o n scrolling paper plots. Tracking in form ation W;LS fed d irectl y to th e fire-con trol syste m in th e form of healing to the target. In th e Perm it Class severa l so nar an~IYs were co m bined a nd the system \\~LS genel~l lIy d esignat ecI the BQQ I, th e second "Q" meaning "co m bined " or "special." The adve n t of co m p u te rs ca pa ble of perform ing th e di l-,rital filtering' o f th e noise signal meant the signal could he a na lvzed faster a nd with more resolution. Th e Sturg-eo ns received th e BQQ3 (wh ich \\~LS backfiued to th e Permits) - it wa s esse n tia lly a so na r system that not only used all-digit al lI~l ckin g and filtering. hut featured the BQR-20 sp ectrum ana lyzer, which co uld display th e noise sig-nal in a n X-Y grap h display, th e noi se level o n th e vert ica l axis an d th e frequen cies on th e horizontal ax is. This system \\~LS co u pled with a library of ex isting- spectra l plo ts o f known sig-na ls of int erest (read this to mean known targ-et signatures). In th e early days so na r d epended on th e cars and kn owledge of th e ope "llor to d iscriminat e th e noise o f a target fro m all th e other noise in the o cean . The ad vances in so nar syste ms were ge ne"llI)' direct ed a t both ex trac ting more information from th e noise and quantifving th e noise so it wa s not so d ependent on th e o pe"IlOl: T he a bility to analyze th e level (lo ud ness) of th e noise at each of man)' d iscrete frequen cies mean t th at th e so und p roduced b)' a n ex te rn al source (suc h ;LS a target ship ) co u ld he q uan tified ;LS a specific n oise signature. As the syste m became more acc u ra te and fast er, new a na lytical methods were introduced, suc h ;LS Doppl er ana lysis. Doppler is the frequen cy sh ift in a moving obj ect hi g-h el' if it is closing, lower if it is m ovin g ;1\\<1)'. As th e hydrophon e a mlys became larger and the technology of hydrophon es ad va nced , th e accm~lCY o f th e bearing to th e tal'get improved. The result W,\S a n in cr ease in th e ac cu"lcy of Ta rge t Mot ion Analysis (T MA). Tl\I A is vi tal to th e "all passive so nar" a p p roach to th e fire-control probl em a nd a llows a m ore acc u ra te fire -control so lutio n . All th e syste ms d escri bed imp ro ve th e ability of th e sub ma ri ne to det ect a target ea rl)' an d a t long " mge, acc urate ly identify th e target , separat e its sig na ture from th ose contacts th at ma)' not be hostile, a nd d et ermin e what th e target is doing in real tim e . So me o f th e so na r a n
34
Spherical Array - This an~IY is lo cat ed in sid e th e bow so na r dom e . It co ns ists o f a ste el sp here a bou t 16ft in di am e te r in th e Pe rm it Class to 24 ft in th e Virg in ia Class . On th e o u tside of th e sp he re is a close ly packed co llec tio n o f hydroph on es, eac h pointed o u t fro m the ce nte r so each hydrophon e listen s in a d ifferent di rection . Conformal Array - Here a set of re la rivelv widely spaced hyd ro ph ones
Th e BQQ·5 int egrat ed console. This consol e , along w ith several other identical on e s, constitute th e ent ire sonar sui te, a nd was standard e quipment on
Los Ang eles Class and wa s backfitted onto some Sturgeon
Class . (Author's photograph : Submarine Force Library and Museum)
a re mo unt ed inside th e bow dom e a n d ge ne rally conform to th e sha pe o f the d ome cu rve. It is d esign ed fo r d et e ctin g low-fre q ue ncy no ise. Wide Aperture Array - Lo cat ed in th ree p lac es a lo ng each sid e of th e sub m a rine a re pla nar a rrays. T h ese are used to ac h ieve rapid pas sive ra ng ing to a targe t. Towed Array Sonar - A set of hydrophon es in a lin ear array is towed on th e e nd of a cab le, wh ich ca n be u nreeled to a length of ove r I ,OOOfi. T h is a n~IY is the re for e be h ind th e turb ule nt area cr eated by the submarin e 's hull and prop ulsio n. T h ere are two typ es of towed a n~IY in use. Th e TB-29 is called th e thin-lin e towed anay a nd the T B-16 the thi ck-line towe d amI)'. Spot Hydrophones - Sing le hydro p ho nes are sited at various places aro un d th e h ull in free flo od spaces an d ballast tanks. Th ese mon itor th e n o ise create d by m achine ry in sid e th e hull and a re use d to d et erm in e th e am bie nt n oi se level arou n d th e sh ip . Sail Front Array - In thi s case th ere is a n active and passive so nar a n~IY se t (BQS-IS a n d Min e a n d Icc Det e cti on Active Son ar, MIDAS) m ounted o n the front of th e sail a n d und e r the fo refo o t. The se a n~IYs a re used fo r lo oking upward a nd for under-ice a n d m in efi eld navi gat io n . Threat Detection Array - At vari ous poin ts o n th e sh ip sma ll a n~IYs are mounted, specifically tu ne d to det ect th e noise of th re ats suc h as torp edo es. T he se are co llectively kn own as th e \\'LR-l th rough -9 a nd the \\1X ·I acoustic int e rce pt syste ms Electronic surveillance
One of th e m ost useful tasks perform ed by fast a tta ck sub ma rines d uring th e Co ld \\'ar was th at of e lectron ic su rveilla nce. This co ns isted of usin g a var iety of m ast-m oun ted ante n na e co up led with a syste m tha t co u ld a na lyze the e lectron ic signa ls be in g rece ived , Th e ES~ I loo ked a t th e electro magne tic spectru m in m u ch the sa me way a so na r system look ed a t th e n oi se fie ld in th e wat e r, Early syste ms used ana log filters to di scriminat e fre q ue nc ies. So m e a n te nn ae were m oved into th e to ps of perisco pes. As di gi tal syste ms became sta ndard , co mp u ter-d riven analysis syste ms took over. T he ca pabi lities o f each of th e syste ms, h owever, are closely h eld secrets, Radar
Fast attac k sub mari nes GUTy a radar syste m n ot unlike th at ca rried by man y co m m e rcial vesse ls of a sim ilar size. It is ge net
Seve ra l systems are used to de termi n e the sh ip's pos itio n accurate ly T hese have cha nged dur ing the evolut io n of the nuclear fast attack su bma ri ne . On board Nautilus. navi ga tion \\~IS by star sigh t, su n lin es, O m n i, LOtan (both using shore-based ra dio sta tio ns) , an d d ead re cko n ing - good e no ugh for the tim e , b ut not good e no ug h for the tasks ah ead. T he Shi ps Inertial Naviga tio n Syste m (SINS) \\~IS developed for the accurate position kee ping needed for ballistic missile subma rin es, an d its tech n ology \\~1S modified to fit in fast attacks. The first sate llite navi ga tion syste m used th e
35
time signal of passi ng navi gat io n satel lites . T he sig na l co uld be q uicklv received bv sticking np a n an te n na. 511\5 II~IS furt he r d own sized bv usin g laser dn g b'ynls. a nd increased co m p ute r pOl\"t'r a llowed m an y of th e large ca binets to be e lim ina te d . Todav, the na vigatio n svste ms co nsist of specialized in e rtial navi ga tio n co up led wi th th e Globa l Pos itio n ing System (G PS) . The sub mari ne fo rce is cha nging 10 the Electronic Chart Displ ay In fo rm a tion Syste m (EC D!S) . which will elim ina te th e need for paper cha rt navi ga tio n. Communications
Secu re radio co m m u n ica tio n is vital for a fast attack. Its tech nology can be inferred. but sec u rity class ificatio n mak es it se rio usly diffi cult to d iscu ss acc u ra te ly, a nd justly so . Th e syste ms have evolved fro m h igh-sp eed e ncrypt ed telet ype t ra n smi ssions to d igi tal bu rsts to co m ms using orb iting sa te llites. For a lo ng time. th e Extr e mel y LOll" Fre qu en cy (ELF) co m m u n ica tio n fro m g ialll an ten nae worked n~I Y well . T he su b ma rine co uld re ce ive this d ata a t a rela tively shallow depth - a buoyant wire II
Pa rt of the Mk 113 fire-controt system. Th is hyb rid analogI digital system replaced th e Mk 101 system that was the mainstay during th e latter part of World War II and into th e lat e 19505. Th e system provided solutions for th e torpedo shoot and wa s also used to fire the
Periscopes
Th e \ 'irgin ia Class has. as sta ndard eq u ip me n t, th e non-pen etrat in g perisco pe , wh ich is so lely elec tro n ic in its ima ge ac q u isitio n . T he periscope d oes no t pen ell ~ll e the p ressu re h ull , thus simplifyi ng int e rio r d esign o f th e o perating spa ces becau se th e locati on of th e co n tro l ro om is no longe r defin ed by th e sco pes. T h is nell" d evice ca n acq uire image dat a in a wide r ra n ge of frequencies th an th e h um an eye a nd se nds th is d ata to co m pu ter m emory fo r revi ew,
THE FIRE-CONTROL SYSTEM AND WEAPONS
36
A su b mari ne fi re-cont ro l syste m is a gro u pi ng o f eq u ip me n t th at is tasked or design ed to soh 'e a co m plex relat ive m o tio n proh le m . T h e id ea is to fire a torpedo o r m issile that will in tersect with the pa th of a target at the exac t tim e th e ta rge t reaches a parti cula r spot. Th e p robl e m is mathe matica l in natu re . with a se t of known va riabl es a nd a set o f u nk nown va ri abl es. T he prob lem m ust be so lved in real tim e. The va riables ca n be fu rth er di vi d ed byth ree influen ces - those bel onging to your sh ip (ca lled "own sh ip"). those bel on gin g to th e lI"eapon . in m ost cases a to rped o , a nd those bel on l-,>i n g to the ta rge t. 0\111 sh ip var i a bles are all kn own and co nsist of po sition , co urse and spee d (wh ich come from th e o n board b'Y Tosco pe a nd pitomet er log ). and
SubRoc mis sil e. (Author's photograph: Submarine Forc e Lib rary and Museum)
r Loading a SubRoc Missile. The missile is bei ng slid at hw artships to ali gn it wit h a torpe do tube on a Pe rmit Class sub marine. Note the restricted spac e in wh ich to handle and conduct ma inte na nce on th e wea pons. SubRo c w as a submarine-launched rocket tha t wa s ca pable of ca rry ing a nuclear wa rhea d. It s use was lim ited and it was phased out and is no lon ger on sub marin es.
The SubRoc was the first and only subm ar in e-launched long-range nuclear- arm ed antisubma rine mi ssile eve r de p loyed by t he US Navy, An en emy subm arin e had virtu ally no cha nce of esca ping a SubRoc , especially sinc e its sonar could not detect th e mis sile in th e a ir.
d epth (fro m o nhoard depth ga uges), Th e weapo n 's variables are also kn own a nd co nsist of th e weapon 's speed , a ny turns th at m ay be p rogrammed int o th e weapon , a nd its running d epth. Th e va ri ables belonging to th e target are mostlv u nknown and must be det e rm ined by var i ous mean s. The meth od most familiar to th e p ubl ic - th e use o f a peri scope to spot and tra ck a target - wen t by th e wayside afte r \ vorld War II. Thereafter, so nar becam e th e p rim ary m cans ofsu p plyiug the ta rgc t information th at would e nable the fire-co n trol s~'ste m to mak e th c target's unknowns into kn own s, A lirc-eontrol syste m ge nera llv works by making a p redi ction and co rrec tio n so lu tio n . Th e own sh ip 's info rm atio n and th at o f the torpedo a re co ntin uously fed int o th e fire-cont ro l co m p ute r, ,L~ is th e informati on from th e so na r about th e target 's bearin g. Th e tar get's sp eed, range. a nd depth a re approximated from info rm at ion suc h as th e target's ca pa bilities a nd its screw speed. The fire-cont ro l co m p u tc r th en predicts what th e bearing will be a t some futu re tim e , correc ting th at predictio n with new informati on . The prediction is co m p u ted over an d ove r ,LS fast as possible until the p redicted bearing march es the actual bea ling. At thi s point th e fire-cont ro l syste m alerts th e opera tors th at a solution had bce n reach ed , an d th e \\'ca po n ca n bc laun ch ed. As the nuclear fast attac k sub ma ri ne evolved in e ngineeri ng and tec h no logy, so did th e fire-con tro l system. Nautilus used a s~'stcm not un like th at used on World War II flee t submari nes. It was a n elec tro- mechan ica l systcm th at ap plied a co m plex system of sync ros , se rvos . gc ali ng , and cams to so lve th e re lat ive mot ion p roblem . This syste m wa s re latively slow and had difficu lty keepin g up wi th th e in creased sp eed of th e submari ne and its supposed targets. Through the ea rlv 19(iOs th e systems becam c mo re e lect rical an d less mech ani cal , with in cre ased use o f hardwi red a na log co m p u te rs. As ad vances in the fire-co n tro l syste m occu rre d . the n ew s~'s te ms were in sta lled o n su b ma rines heing built. a nd backfiued whe re possib le o n to o lde r boats. Th e :\Ik 113 was a hyb rid syste m tha t h ad no t o u lv the a na log cle men ts h ut a lso a h ardwi red di gi ta l co m p u tc r. Balli sti c missi le sub ma rines m ad e usc o f th e :\Ik 84 di gital compu tcr for mi ssile firin g. a nd th a t syste m's ca pabilities were ca r rie d over to the fast a ttack sub ma rine's xu, 113 system . As thc pO\\'e r of p ro gra m m abl e d igita l com p u ters in cre ased whil e th e ir size d ecreased , they to ok ove r mo re
37
38
of the ma the ma tics fro m th e e lec u-o-mec h.m ica l a nd a n;t!og systems, By the time the Los An gd es Class was into its full -up b u ild cvcle , the new ~ I k 117, a n a ll-d igita l progra mmabl e lire-co n tro l syste m, was int ro duced a n d first in stall ed o n th e USS Dallas (SSN-700) , It was backfin ed o n m ost existing su b ma rines a nd becam e th e standa rd system until ne arl y th e e nd o f Ihe Lo s An gel es Class ' bu ild cycle. T he :> Ik 117 sr.s re m unde rwcn r a sig u ifica n: upgrade with th e ado p tio n of th e Over T he Ho rizo n -1 ~l rge t i n g (0 '1'11-'1') th at would be used I, " ' th e Harpoo n a n tish ip mis sile a n d th e To mah awk c ru ise m issile . T h e O T H-T su bs titu ted ra d io flash m essages for on bo ard sen sors in su p p lying in form ation o n th e target to th e fire -cont rol syste m . About the sam e tim e th e ship 's son ar syste ms cha nged fro m ana log to di git al co m p u ting with th e in sta lla tion of th e BQQ-5 son ar system . Bec ause th e so n a r a n d fire-con trol systems we re now bot h fu lly digit a l there was a d esi gn effort to co m b ine th e syste ms into a n illl egrat ed so n ar/ fire-co ntro l syste m . Th e weapons sui te 1, )1' fast attac k subm arines is listed in the table lx-low: Weapon designator
Type
Mk 14 Mod 3
Torpedo 4,50G-9,OOOyd 35- 50
Mk 16 Mod 1-8
Torpedo
Mk27 Mk 37 Mods 1,3 Mk45 Mk48
Range
Speed (kts)
Warhead 6681b TPX
Appl icability Remarks (Class) Nautilus to Skipjack WWII mainstay torpedo, in service until late 1970s Nautilus to Skipjack Used NAVOLfuel (hydrogen peroxide). wrthdrawn 1978 Nautilus to Permit Electric (storage battery) propulsion, replaced by Mk 37 Nautilus to Homing and wire guided. Also in NT Mk37E Los Angeles
40
960lb TPX
Torpedo 6,OOOyd
40
900lb TPX
Torpedo 8,000 18,OOOyd Torpedo 30,000 40,OOOyd Torpedo 30,000 40,OOOyd
Various
330lb HBX-3
Various
Nuclear Capable
Skate to Sturgeon
In service 1957 to 1976, called ASTOR
Various
800lb HBX-3
Permit to Los Angeles
11,OOOyd
Mk48ADCAP
Torpedo 30,000 40,OOOyd
Various
800lb HBX-3
Permrt to Virginia
SubRoc UUM-44
Rocket
30nm
NJA
Nuclear Capable
Permrt to Los Angeles
Wire guided, homing and pattern running, Uses ono monopropellant Wire guided, homing and pattern running, Uses ono monopropellant, built to counter the deep diving Soviet submarines. ASW weapon prior to advent of Mk-48 torpedo
Harpoon (UGM-84A1CJ Antiship Missile
75nm
600
4BBIb WDU-18
Sturgeon to Virginia
Submarine version of a versatile
Tomahawk BGM· l09B/C
Cruise Missile
250 -l,350nm
500
700l ,OOOlb
Sturgeon to Virginia
Special operations
SEAL Teams
NJA
NJA
NJA
Sturgeon to Virginia
standoff antiship weapon. Modem multipurpose weapon. Speed and range is warhead dependent Descendent from UDT teams of WWII.
P L AT E E The nuc lear fast attack submarine is fitted with a variety of w eapons from torpedoes to miss iles. At the top is a Mark 37 Mod 3 torpedo, w hic h was an antisubmarine and anti-escort weapon. It was wire guided and had an acou sti c hom ing feature . It evolved into the Mark 48 ADCAP that has become the mainstay torpedo in the US submarine fleet. Not on ly wi re gUided and fast, it has enough computing power aboard and enough of a soph isticated acoustic homing (passive and active) feature to be a "fire and forget" w eapon. The white SubRoc between the two was an interim weapon to coun te r the threat of large Soviet submarine numbers. It was nuclear capable but is no longer carried . The Tomaha wk cruise missile ca n be launched from torpedo tu bes or on the submarines so equipped with the VLS , With terrain following and GPS navigation systems, a range of over l ,200nm , and a warhead of over 500lb of high explosive, it is an extremely formidable stand-off w eapon. Belo w that is a po rtrayal of the Harpoo n ant iship miss ile as it breaks the surface and heads off to its assig ned target. This view is o ften the first indication an enem y has that there is a US fast att ack submarine in the area.
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HISTORY AND OPERATIONAL USE A word is uc cvssa ry here about Adm iral Hyman Rickove r, H is name has beco m e syno m -mo us wit h the U n ite d States nava l nuc lear powe r progl~mL In f;1C1. it is co m mo n ly be lieved th at he personal ly designed the n uclear prop ulsio n pla n ts. T he ad m iral was a brillia nt e ng ineer. b ut m ore tha n tha t he was also a brilliant manager. He saw that in o rder to bui ld a nd maintai n a safe a nd e ffective nucl ea r p ropulsio n svstern in the 1\';1\;'. certain things had to happen o uts ide the realm o f actual system design . Pe rceiving th at th ere were inh e rent d an gers in the use or n uclea r reacto rs. he set in mo tio n changes in the \\'a~- the su bma rine n;I\; - (a nd la te r on the surface fleet ) d id bu sin ess. Flee t su bmarine systems were simple e no ngh th at o pe ra tio ns a nd mainten an ce were don e o n th e bas is O r"CtJl'P0 I~lte knowledg« .' with min im al use or techn ica l d ocu mcu uuion . T he se nior petty officers supe rvised th is maintena n ce a nd passed on th eir ex pe rtise to th ei r j u n io rs. The wo rst th at co u ld h appen if a n e rro r was mad e was so me d e ranged eq ui p me n t or less th an optima l o peratio ns. However, the n uclear reac to r mad e the "wo rst case co nd itio n" much wo rse - the co ncep t or a n acc ide nt took o n a wh o le ne\\' mean ing. To CO li Iller the d an ger. Ad m ira l Rickover se t in motion a str ict regim en or o peratio n a nd main te na nc e . Do cumen ta tion was created th at set fo rth h ow the plan t was to be o pe rated a nd how ma in ten an ce was to be performed. Th is d ocumentati on was to be followed p recisely. Tech ni ca l tra in ing was co d ified an d in te nsified . Nuc lear powerpl au t o pe rators (co llo q uially ca lled "n ucs" - p ron oun ced nooks) had train in g o n th e ac tua l powerplants after their ini tial tec h n ica l trainin g as mach in ists. elec tricians. a nd so on. T he tra in ing was in tense and tended to weed (JI lt all but th e m ost d edica ted a nd ca pa ble o pel~l to rs _ In ad d itio n . Ad m ira l Rickover ex te nded the reach o f thi s quest 1'01' excelle nce to th e sh ipyards th at built the subs a n d th e co n rrartors a nd vendors th at su pplie d ma teri als fo r th e construct io n a nd ma inte na nce o f th e boats. His re q uireme n ts were wri tten in to th e spec ificatio ns a nd cont racts, O n ly those who could m ee t the specs d id b usiness with th e 1':;1\;'. T h is mean t th a t that th e re was fu ll accou u ta bility from the ven dor wh o su pp lied th e parts through to th e o perato r wh o used th e parts a nd eve rvwhere in bet ween. T h at th e nucl ear p ropu lsion plan ts in US submari nes h ave suc h a good safe ty reco rd a nd are pe rce ived by the ge nel~\ 1 publi c to be sale is th e legacv or "T he Ad m ira l." What did fast attacks do?
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It 's April 2. I99 \, a nd it's dark o uts id e . In the co n tro l roo m of th e USS l'ittsbllrgh (SS1\'-720) . h owever, it's b lue . red. a m ber. an d gree n. Th e blue is fro m the ligh ts tha t during the day wo uld be whi te. but wh ich n ow a re rigged fell' n igh t an d cast a rc laiiv e lv d im b lue aura over eve rvt h iug. T he othe r co lors co me from ind ica tor lights. so nar d ispl ays. a nd com p u ter screens, T he crew is at battle sta tio ns , T hey have bee n to ba tt le stat ions nea rly dail v for the past mo nt h ,
In order to allow personnel to pass through the reactor compartment safely, a narrow passage was part of the design of all fast attacks. The t unne l was shielded against the types of radiation expected from the reactor and its attendant systems, thus allowing a safe transit through th e compartment.
This is one of the Los Angeles Class that has bow planes instead of sail planes, and
it sports a 12-tube VLS f rom which Tomahawk missiles ar e fired . The sail is also hardened to be able to punch through the Arctic ice.
Los Angeles Class boat in dry dock. Prop er maintenance and repair is vital if a submarine is to keep its operational com mit ments. All bases have ei the r access to naval shipyards w it h dry docks and/or flo ating dry docks, such as are shown he r e. With th e boat completely out of th e water, work on th e underside and on hull valv es can be accomplished .
M ode rn submarines are built specifica lly to travel completely subm erged - their round hulls w ith no rolling chocks and the ir low bridges make th em mi se rable in any sign ificant sea way. This photo is of a Skipjack Class boa t, which h ad th e highest of all the last att ack sails , trying to mak e a high· speed surfa ce ru n.
T he boat is deep in the dark confines of the Red Sea . HO\H~\Oer. this day. the ba ilie stations wo u ld be di ffere n t. In stead of being prac tice a nd train ing . wh a t " 'as to h appen would be real. Th e re was a ce rtai n tensio n in th e a ir and a lack of so me of th e bante r th a t m igh t be presen t during practi ce runs . T he o ffice r su pervising th e Iire-co ruro l stat io ns m akes a re p ort to th e ca p ta in th at the re q uire d targetin g pack age has bee n e n te re d in to the To m ah awk mi ssiles tha t res ide in th e la un ch tu bes a t th e forward e nd o f the boat. Th e ca p tai n ac knowledges th is informa tio n the n o rders th e boat to proceed to laun ch dep th. Th e so na r su pe rviso r ca lls o u t th e ch anges in the co n tac ts held by th e so nar svste m. H e e nsu res th e surface o f th e wat e r is clea r o f a ny intrusive sh ips an d th at n o h ostil e su bma rines a re lurkin g . In a manne r sim ila r to th at seen in th e movi es , th e ca p ta in ca lls o u t, "Firi ng point procedures." Pro cedure m anuals a re alre ady o pe n to the proper pa ges a n d checko ff sh eet s are a t h and . Th e co nt ro l-room pe rsonn el do all th e thin gs th at are listed. Th e tu bes a re ready. th e mi ssiles a re ready. th e sh ip's position is proper. a nd the cre w is prepared . Th e ca p ta in orders "Tube o ne . SHOOT." Buttons are pressed an d th e boat ghoes a slight shudder. Th e fire-co n tro l syste m su pe rviso r a n no u nces. "Xlissile away. tube on e." In th e ni ght sky above th e sub me rged su b ma rine . th e miss ile breaks th e surf ace , its booster ig n ites. a nd th e ca lm wat ers a re lit with a n ee rie light. T h e m issile a rcs awav a nd h eads for its in te nd ed target - downt own Baghdad 's Iraq i co m ma nd-an d-co nt ro l ce nter. Operation Desert Sh ield h as just become Desert Storm a n d th e a ir war has begun. Th e missiles were part of th e initial effo rt to sile nce th e Iraq i air d efense. It is n ot th e o n ly tim e th at Tomahawks have sud de n ly a n d withou t warn in g burst from a quie t ocea n a n d h eaded off for a distant targe t. One of th e adva n tages o f a su bm a rine is tha t it ca n lu rk unseen o ff th e coast a n d reach out over 1.200 miles to pll! a warh ead on a target. It h as be en said th at th e attack laun ch ed by th e USS Pittsburgh and th e CSS Loui sv ille o n th at April m orning was singu la rlv su ccessfu l. Th e above d escription is a n approximation because th e actua l reco rd s are clas sified. T he ope ra tio na l logs for all US 1\'a \oy nuclear fast a ttack submarines are kept on th e ship. or if th e ship is d ecommissioned a t th e National Ar ch ives and Reco rd s Administratio n (NARA.). In any case . th ese lo gs a re classifi ed a n d un obta in abl e for th e gene ra l research er. So me tidbi ts o f in fo rm a tio n h ave become publ ic. h oweve r, but th e evide nce , a lth o ug h from repu table so u rces . is a necd o ta l for th e most part. Wh at is evide nt, though , is th e import ance o f th e ro le p layed by th e fast a ttack su b ma rine in th e Co ld \\'ar. Afte r World War II th e C nit ed Stat es and its a llies h ad to keep close tabs o n the Soviet navy and lea rn abo u t th e e n viro ns of th e Baren ts and No rth Pacific a reas . Starting in 19-!9. sub marines of th e US 1\',\\;, (an d presumab ly o thers) ven tu re d into these a reas to co nd uc t ocean og ra ph ic resear ch to learn abo ut everyth ing from sonar co nd itio ns to th e abil ity to com m u n ica te by radi o in the far north. At first th ese o pe ra tions were ca rried out by di esel-electri c subs. T hey se t up earlv-
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war n ing "bar rie r patrols" a nd watched fill' a possi ble "brea kou t" of the Soviet n'l\} around th e Xort h Ca pe a nd down through the G ree n land. Iceland . U n ited Kingdom (GIU K) ga ps in the Atlan tic a nd o u t aro u nd the Kirul es a nd d own past Tshi ma Stra its in th e Pacific. As th e nu clear fas: attac k subm arin es came on lin e thev took over th ese tasks, maintain in g; a co n tiu uo us p resen ce o uts ide all the Sovie t naval ports, The su rve illa nce took o n more a nd mo re rigorous tasks as th e abilities of th e boats we re test ed and advan ced, Ac o us tic a n d el e ctroni c sign atures were tak en and recorded. deploym en t tim es and patt e rns were o bse rved. eve n ph o tos of th e undersid es of Sovie t naval vessels were tak en a nd vesse ls fo llowed. Th ese ac tio ns were rolled out on a con tin uous basis. 24 hours a day. everv dav, For the last fou r d ecad es of th e 20th ce n tury and into the present ce nt u ry, th e fast attack sub ma rine h as kept a non-stop wat ch , After th e co lla pse o f th e So vie t Un io n severa l high-ranking Soviet naval o fficers have sta ted tha t thi s co nt in uo us presen ce of sile n t, unobserved submarines \ I<\S a sign ifica n t rea son for th e e nd of th e com m u n ist regime , It is a ve ry real fact th at the in visib le p resence o f fast a ttac k sub mari nes figures hig hly in th e milita ry thinkin g of nearly e\'(~ ry counlIy', espe cially as those submarin es G ill lau nch h igh-explosive weapons th at have a range of o ver 1,000 mi les and a im ing syste m s tha t ca n pick whi ch floor o f a bu ildi ng to h it. This a bility "~IS prm'en seve ra l tim es before a nd durin g th e Desert Storm battle and in th e co n flicts of post-9/ II , In thi s world of new typ es of co n flict. th e standard vi ew o f a subma rine - its periscope sticking up attacking a co nw)y of e nemy sh ips - is as d at ed as sh ips of th e lin e m eeting in a varda rm -to-vardan n figh t. T he role of th e mod ern submarine in to rlav's world is be ing debat ed by naval ex pe rts a ll ove r th e world an d th ejury is o u t.
ABOVE A f ast attack submarine on the surface provid es littl e in the way of freebo ard or a saf e deck to work upon. Th e sail doe sn't stic k up very far and in a mod erate seawa y is wet. To surface and attempt any useful work such as a rescue at sea is difficul t at best and highly da ng erous,
BELOW Lo s Angetes Ctass subma rine s can be quickly adapted to dock the Deep Subm erg en ce Rescue Vess el (DSRV) and ca rry it to the sce ne of a submarine in distress. Here t he USS La Jolla (SSN-70 1) has been fitted with the rescue vehict e Mystic (DSRV-l) f or submarine reseue exe rcises.
Rescue operations
Som e littl e-kn own a nd unusual eve n ts th at h ave becom e publi c p re sent a d ifferen t face o f th e fast a ttac k su b ma rine, First to se t the sce ne, A fast attack sub m arine is a t h om e in th e d eep, It is ro u n dbottom ed vesse l with good lon gitudin al sta b ility, hut "ro lls like a drunken pig" wh en o n th e surface o n a ny
,I
PLATE F One of the more interesting tasks assigned to nuclear fast attack submarines during the Cold War was following a Soviet warship , many times a submarine , to acqu ire information as to its acoustic signature and its operational methods , This task . called "trailing" meant many days of intense concentration by the trailing submarine 's crew, Shown here is a Sturgeon Class US submari ne follOWing a Soviet Victo r III which has just made a sharp turn to port , This maneuver was performed at random intervals so the submarine co uld check the area directly behind it in an area called the "baffles," This area is masked from the ship 's sonar by not only the sonar's position (in the bow) but by the turbulence set up by the submarine 's screw, The maneuver is called "clearing the baffles" but has been popularized in boo ks and movies as the "crazy Ivan" maneuver,
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seawav, The on lv sa,'ing grace is that they have one hatc h open to the bri dge a nd take littl e water, if any. in to the inte rio r, But the time they spe nd on the surface is m in imal and . in ge nera l. submari ne rs have litt le time to o b tain "sea legs..' Two fast a ttac k sub marines. ho wever, have pe r formed exe m plary rescu es a t sea in severe sto rms , O n Jn ly 8 . 19 72. th e USS Barb (SSN-59G). a lo ng side in Apra Ha rb or. Gua m . a n d n e arlv rea dy to ge t und e rway. rece ived a n "o pe ra tio nal im me d iate" message , A B-52 bomber. ca ll-sign Co ba lt 2. had go ne down at sea some 300 miles from Gua m. All sh ips were to p ro ceed to th e a rea to effect a rescue. Th e re were two su bma rines th a t co u ld respond qu ickly. One. th e USS GIII'I/{ml (SSl'\-6G2). was underway rransitiug from j ap an an d was nea rin g Gua m . Th e Barb was th e o the r. With in an hour Barb was underw ay an d just o u tside th e harbor it su bme rge d to make best possible sp eed to th e crash ar ea. T h ing s were qui et below whil e th e submarine sped to the sce ne. As it drew closer Co m ma nder J ergens. cap tain o f th e BmiJ. slowly brough t th e boat fro m th e d epths toward th e su rface. The crew had rescu e eq uip me n t a t the ready in the co n tro l room an d had re viewed th e resc ue plan th ev we re to im pleme n t. As they cam e to ward th e su rface the boa t started to ro ll more a nd more. A sto rm had reach ed typh oon stre ng th. fo rcing all th e possibl e su rface-s h ip rescu ers to run for co ver lest they a lso needed rescu e . GIIl'llrm / was still too far away. so Barb became the 1'...52 crewme n 's o n ly ho pe. Te n d egr ees rollin g eac h way became 20 th en 30 an d grew more as th e bo at su rfaced , The ca p ta in tr ied to lind a co u rse th at would both close o n th e raft a n d minimize the ro lling. Heading into th e sea "~LS no t a n o p tio n beca use th e bridge , o n ly 15ft off the wate r in a calm sea. was forced under when the boa t ran under an o ncoming wave. An o rb itin g aircra ft dropped othe r ra ft s a nd flares to direct th e su b ma rine to th e su rvivors. Inside the boat th e crewme n . not used to th e rough weathe r, were sick, th rown abo u t, a nd gene l~l l h- m iserable, but th eir though ts were not o nly o n th eir own safety but th e resc ue of th eir fe llows ad rift in th e massive storm ,Just a fter e ight in th e mo rning th e b ridge was aga in mann ed a nd o the r membe rs of th e rescu e team Iigged life lin es o n th e fairwate r plan es. " 'ith the raft being blown neare r a nd nearer,Jerge ns mad e an upwind ap proac h a nd shotlines were fire d to the survivo rs, However, th ese thin lin es b rok e agai n a nd aga in, Ch ief He int z, o n the
The Los Angeles Class fast attack submarine USS Dallas (SSN 700) heads to sea following a bri ef port visit . Dalfas is th e first Los Angeles Class submarine to have a dry deck shelter. Dry dec k shelters provlde spec ially configured nuclearpowered submari nes with a g reater c apability of deploying Speci al Operations Forces.
PLATE G One of the tasks performed by nuclear fast attacks is one they are ill equipped for. However, when called upon , they will race to a scene to attempt a surface rescue of those in " peril on the sea." One such rescue was performed by the USS Scamp (SSN-588). In the cold North Atlantic the boat answered the call to rescue sailors in distress, She surfaced in the middle of the storm to try to help, Being round bottomed and short , the Skipjack Class subma rine is ill suited for surface operations and the sailors inside are not used to rough seas, The submarine 's crew fastened everything inside down and prepared for a rough ride. Surfacing near the Irteraft she tried to get a line over. The seas were slamming against the sail, one wave tearing off the access doo r over the sail planes. Finally one of the crewme n from the sinking Panamanian freighter was rescued . Unfortunately he was the only one to survive.
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bridge with the ca p tai n and the officer of the d eck. volunt ee red to swim to th e ra ft to assist in th e rescue, Be twee n Hei nt z and Pett y Officer Spau ldi ng (who was o ne of the mo re muscu lar o f the Hurl,"s cre w) . a heavie r lin e was put ac ross a nd the ac tua l rescu e start ed. One o f th e airme n had bro ke n h is a n n in th e e ject io n. a nd was first to be hauled up , Spa uld ing held o n to th e resc ue safet y line a nd as th e boat ro lled one \\'ay pu lled it in qui ckly, As the boa t ro lled th e o th er his stro ng arms plucked th e a irma n from the wat er like a fish o n a lin e , Soon all th e cre w were d eposited in the co nt ro l room a nd ca rried d own to th e crew's m ess. where th e co rpsm an awaited to d eal with inju ries and a ny o ther problems, Gu rnn nl had n ow arrived o n the sce ne an d wa s co m me nc ing a resc ue att e m p t o n th e p lan e 's ca ptain. \\'110 was in a not her ral]. T h e 70-m i le- pe l ~h o u r winds a nd :~O ft-p l us seas we re p l a~in g havoc with h er a tte m p t to get in positio n , Finally. afte r hou rs of bein g vectored 1)\' a ircra ft to th e ot h er raft, Gurnanl plucked the last su rvi vor fro m the sea , So in ad d itio n to th e surveilla nce, tra il i ng, a nd m yriad o the r o pe ra tio ns ove r th e 50-yea r h istory of th e nucl ea r fast attack, rescue at sea ca n be add ed to th e list of acco m p lish me nts,
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Where did they all go?
During the rescue by USS
" 'h e n a su bmarine reac hes th e e nd of its useful life. it is d ecommissioned in a for ma l ce re mo ny, Th e nati onal e nsign a nd co m m issio n ing pe nna n t a re ta ke n d own a nd th e crew d epa rts the sh ip , T he n co m es th e process know n as th e Su bm a rin e Recyclin g Pro g ram (SRP). T h e boa t is p laced in a dry d o ck a nd th e rea cto r co re is re m oved . T he e n tire rea cto r co m pa rt men t is th en cu t o u t int act. T he co re is tra nsport ed to th e N;I\Y's ra dioact ive waste storage facilitv in Id a ho a nd th e reacto r co m pa rt men t is sea led a n d barg ed to a storage facility in Han fo rd . Washingt o n. T h e sh ip is th en strip ped . All useable pa rls such as elec tro n ics a nd hab itability items a re stored for immedi at e re use. Wiring a n d cables a re pulled o u t to recycle for th e ir co p per. Hull a n d p ipin g steel is cu t up for re use, T h is stee l. a lo ng with o the r m et al str uct u res an d p ip ing . is o f a high quali ty a n d is much value d . All th e pa rts a nd m ate rial th a t ca n be recycled or sa lva ged in any way are se pa ra te d , sorted. a n d sh ipped o ff to th e a p pro pri a te facility, T h e subm a rine is th en slo wly tak e n a pa rt unti l not hi ng is left but th e rec o rd s a n d th e m e m o ries. In some cases. h owever, pa rts a re p re se rved in m e m o ria ls a n d m useums. Sa il struc tu res in pa rti cul a r a re so ug h t a fte r as parts of m use u m co m p le xes . In Gro ton . CT. fo r exa m p le . as a part o f th e Na\'a l Sub ma rine Mu se um is the sa il o f th e USS GI'OIgl' II'lI.Ih illgloll. th e first ball ist ic missile su bma rin e. Fast att a ck sub marines o f th e US Na\'y have a lon g a n d p roud ca reer. T hey co n tin ue to be sailed by h ighl y p ro fe ssion al m e n who see th eirjo b as vita l in th e ma inte n a nce of p eace a nd th e lynch p in o f th e Un ite d Stat es ' glo ba l nava l stre ng th . Always ready. a lways th ere . n ever see n .
Scamp, the doors that lead from the inside of the sail to the sail planes were tom completely off by the fury of the waves.
This photo, taken in the early 19905, shows the reactor compartment storage trench in Hanford, WA. This will be the final resting place for submarine reactor compartments unt il the radioactivity level drops far enough to allow the metal to
be re c yc led . That will be a long time from now . Th is trench is now nearly full.
A Los Angel es Class subma ri ne w it h a dry deck shelter on th e aft e r deck. This serve d as a loc kout chamber for SEAL s and was accessed from insi de the boat through the operations compart ment hatch. T he shelter c o uld hous e t he SEAL team equipment and a SEAL de livery vehicle .
BIBLIOGRAPHY For a n ove rview o f th c nuclear submarin e a n d its pe opl e: Gillcrist, Dan . Pouvr Sh iji: n il' Tra nsition 10 Nurlea rPmoer ill the Submarine FOITI' As Told Il)' Th ose 1\7/0 Did II, il.lnivers e. Lin coln , NE (2006) Rockwel l, Th eodore , Th e Rickouer Fff l'{'l: H tno 0 111' M II II ,\III/It' ll f)iff n Nw '. il.lni vers e , Lin coln . 1\E (2002)
u.s.
Navy SEALs co n du c t a fast-rope exe rcise tr om the cargo door of an HH·60 "Se a ha w k" assigned to Helicopter Ant i· Submarine Squadron Seven on the hull of the fast attack submarin e USS Hampton in AU9ust 1998.
For so me of what was don e: Sontag. Sh errv, C h risto p he r Drew Ann ette Lawren ce Dre w. Hl i lld M a ll :r Bluj]: The Untold SIOI)' ofA //Inil'll/l S ubmarine E r/lio llagl', Public Affairs , 1\CIl' York ( 1998) We il ~ Ga ry E, and Walt er.J. BO~l Je . Rising Tide: nil' Untold SIOI)" of IIII' R ussia n Subma rines Th at Fought th« Cold II¥II~ Basic Books, New York ( 2 00~) On th e technical side: friedman . No rma n , Xaual l nstitutr Guide 10 II(IIM .vllvlI /lI'm/loli ,\ ysln lls, 1\m,11 Institu te Press. Annapolis. ~ID ( 1989) Friedman . Norman , a nd j am es L. Ch ristley, U.S, Submari nes Sin er 1945: All IIIlIslmll'll Desig n H istory, 1\al<11 Institute Press, An na polis. ~ID ( 1994) Polmar, Xo rmau . a nd K..J. Moo re, Cold Il f/r Su bma rines: n II'Dl'si,!.,"" IIl1d Construction of and Smnet Submarines, / 945- 2{)()I,
u.s.
Brassev's, \\'ashington , DC (2004)
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