Harder, Darter, Trigger, Trout: Always in and never out.
It was 1945, the war was just over and most of the Naval Submarine
Force was wanting to go home and be done with the boats. There was an
air of contentment that the force had won the war by strangling the
sea lanes around Japan and causing the downfall of the Empire. That
was certainly unarguable. There was a sense of well being in that the
American fleet submarine was as good as a submarine needed to be for
all those who would challenge the US Navy. That unfortunately was
soon to change. The fleet submarine was obsolete and even though it
would exist for another 20 years, it was as useful in the new
submarine world as a biplane was at the beginning of World War II.
Useful enough, if the opponent had only the same thing.
The fleet boat had a problem. It was slow. Fast enough on the
surface, when submerged it could do nearly six knots but only for an
hour. That meant it could run for a distance of only six nautical
miles. At a slower speed, say three knots, it could run for maybe 10
hours, a distance of thirty nautical miles. A destroyer could easily
circle above it for days. With the advances in sonars the surface
ships had, the fleet boat could be killed with an ease the Japanese
Imperial Navy could only dream of. The lone fleet boat could still
harass a convoy or kill a few escorts, but the newly organized fast
surface battle groups were a threat to be reckoned with. Fortunately,
the US Navy was the only force that possessed fast surface battle
groups.
The trigger that started the revolution in submarine design and
construction was a German submarine designated as the Type XXI.
Nearly 60 feet shorter than the Tench-class American submarine, the
Type XXI had two things the US boat needed. The first was high
underwater speed and the second was a snorkel. The boat was being
built in 1944 and 1945 in a Germany which was being heavily bombed
and overrun by Allied forces. In January 1945, the German
shipbuilding industry was making a Type XXI operational every 28
hours. There weren't enough crews and the training time required
meant that very few if any Type XXI's made offensive patrols in the
Atlantic or North Sea. When the war ended, many of the boats were
trashed, but many were taken by the allied powers for study and use.
What we found while testing the U-2513 and U-3008 was shocking. The
Type XXI could dive to nearly 650 feet, had a crew of only 57, had a
6-tube bow nest and a decent reload capacity and most shocking off
all, she was really fast. In a state three sea, the boat could out
run a destroyer by heading into the sea and remaining submerged. The
boat could snorkel 10,000 miles at 12 knots. The boat could hit 15
knots in short sprints and could maintain over 6 knots for nearly 40
hours at 300 feet. That meant the Type XXI could outrun the active
sonar tracking ability and the fire control systems of most US ASW
vessels. The German boat was also quieter at 6 knots than a
Tench-class was at 2 knots.
These submarines could clearly attack a fast battle group with
some good chance of success and might even take out a carrier. The
Soviet Navy took nearly fifteen of these boats back to the homeland
after the war. We had a problem. We needed a new submarine. One
question that needed answering was whether only one design was needed
or separate designs for separate missions. In August 1945 Commodore
Merrill Comstock was ordered by CNO to conduct a study of WWII
submarine experience. A questionnaire was circulated among submarine
officers soliciting their views on submarine speed, depth, and other
issues. The outcome of the General Board and Submarine Officer's
conference was that a single design new attack submarine would be
built starting in 1946 and that other existing vessels would be
converted for specialized uses. The new design was formally started
in February 1946.
The designers called for a streamlined ship with few
appendages. The bridge and masting support structure was to be
enclosed in a light faired structure which would become known as the
sail. The old fleet boat open shears mast support structure
contributed over 50% of the total resistance at high speed. All
things that didn't have to stick out were made either flush or
retractable (capstan, towing fairleads, cleats and the safety track),
the deck guns were done away with in all forms. The resulting hull
form was more efficient than the XXI. The circular section hull was
chosen over the more radical figure 8 form of the German boat. The
pressure hull was two feet wider than a Tench but one hundred feet
shorter. To save space, a radical new engine was adopted.
The General Motors company had built a new lightweight compact
engine that ran at a high speed. It was quite a bit different than
the 16-268 and 16-278 the submarine crews were used to. Instead of
the crankshaft being horizontal and the cylinders being arranged in
two rows of eight each, this engine had a vertical crankshaft and the
cylinders were arranged like a radial aircraft engine. These were the
GM 16-338 "pancake" engines. The engine was a mere 13.5
feet from the base of the generator to the top of the air intake
filter and 4 feet wide. It was a two cycle engine which developed
1090 bhp at 1600 rpm. On the top was an air intake then four layers
of four cylinders each. Each cylinder had a six inch bore and a six
and one half inch stroke. On the bottom of the crank shaft was an
Elliot generator which developed 817 kW at a maximum of 710 volts DC.
The whole engine, all up and loaded with fuel and oil weighed just
over eight tons. Being just over 4 feet wide, the designers could
pack four engines in an engine room only 22 feet long. This dropped
one entire engine room from the submarine design.
More space and weight was saved by the elimination of four 21 inch
diameter by 22 foot long torpedo tubes and the requirement for
additional torpedo stowage of the long Mk 14, 16, and 18 torpedo in
an after torpedo room. The initial design called for no aft at all.
The submarine officers however, lobbied hard for retention of the aft
tube nest but settled for two tubes of 21" and a length of 15
feet. These would take the Mk-27 and the planned Mk 37 torpedo and
were to be used as countermeasures weapons. Countermeasures were
fired at pursuing ASW ships or other pursuing submarines. These tubes
were new, they were simpler and were designed for swim out type
torpedoes.
The tubes forward were all new. Instead of using a pulse of air
behind the torpedo to push it out, the new tubes used a slug of
water. There was a piston which had air on one side and water on the
other. It worked kind of like a hypodermic needle. The piston was
moved all the way aft with the forward end of the cylinder filling
with water from the sea. The sea valve, called the barn door on some
ships, was closed. To fire a torpedo, the tube was prepared as normal
then when the firing signal was given, high pressure air was ported
to the aft end of the piston. This pressurized the water in the
piston. A slide valve with ports around the torpedo tube opened to
allow the water from the piston to enter the aft end of the tube.
This high pressure water forced the torpedo out. No air bubble and no
poppet valving arrangement was needed.
In October 1946, the design was finalized and two boats ordered.
The first was to be USS Tang (SS-563) and was to be built at
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. The second was to be USS Trigger
and was contracted to Groton in the Electric Boat yard. The boats
were to become the Tang Class. The class was to be built at a length
of 268 feet and a beam of 25 feet. With 2850 shaft horsepower on each
of two shafts, the boat could do 17.5 knots at 700 feet. (at the one
hour rate) or snorkel 10,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.
The next fiscal year (FY47) two more boats were ordered. They were
to become USS Wahoo and USS Trout, (SS-565 and 566).
Wahoo went to Portsmouth and Trout went to EB. The next
set were split the same way the next year and were the USS Gudgeon
and USS Harder (SS-567 and 568). The construction went well
and boats were delivered on time. Trigger was delivered first.
However, when the boats started to operate, there were problems. The
engines they didn't work well.
Several reasons have been given for the failure of the pancake
engine in submarine use. It was undoubtedly a combination of effects.
The engines were supposedly to use a special lubricating oil. The
Navy supposedly insisted on standard diesel lubricating oil and that
adversely affected the bearings. This may have been the case or it
may have been the lightness of the internal structures of the
engines. They did leak oil into the generators and from information
gained from people who worked on them, they were a real maintenance
problem in the confined space of the engine room. They may have run
into the same problem that the supercharged Fairbanks Morse engines
had when the boats in which they were installed were converted to
snorkel boats. The turbocharger casing flexed slightly when the
pressure in the boat changed quickly thus causing blower failures.
The housing was stiffened and the problem was minimized. When
snorkeling it is possible that flexures in the hull, engine frame,
and/or mounting foundation exacerbated by the lightness of
construction contributed to the bearing issues. Whatever the reasons
the engines made advocates out of some and enemies of others. The
Navy decided in 1956 to replace all the engines with the smaller,
lightweight version of the 10-cylinder Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston
engine. The boats had to be lengthened some 9 feet in the engine room
to make enough space for the new engines, only three of which could
be installed. Thus in 1957/58 each of the first four boats were
stretched to 277 feet. Gudgeon and Harder were built to
a length of 277 feet and with the FM engines as initial installation.
In 1967, some of the boats got an additional 15 (some sources say 18)
foot section added to receive the PUFFS installation and to give
added room. These boats were the 563, 565, 567 (all the Portsmouth
boats) and the 568.
At the same time as these boats were being built and used, the
Guppy program was taking off. Other than the deeper depth capability
of the Tangs, the Guppies were nearly as good and a whole lot
cheaper. The nuclear propulsion plant in the Skipjack shaped hull
made a quantum leap in submarine capabilities. The nuclear powered
submarine proved to be the path followed by the Navy.
Even though the Tang-class was seemingly left in the dust, it took
its place alongside the Guppies performing the arduous duties of
maintaining the watch on the Soviet fleet and training our Naval ASW
forces and those of our allies. That is not to say the class wasn't
worked hard. For example Tang was based in Pearl Harbor and in
the period from July 1956 to 1972 she deployed seven times to the
Western Pacific to operate with units of the Seventh Fleet or alone
in areas assigned by the fleet commands. Each deployment lasted 6 to
7 months. That meant a deployment on average, once every 20 months
(which does not take into consideration overhauls and other
operations). During the Viet Nam War, she aided US Naval forces in
and around the South China Sea and earned four battle stars. During
the same period, she made trips from Pearl Harbor to the Northwest US
and Canada to operate from the Naval Torpedo Station at Keyport,
Washington as far west as the Aleutians. From 1972 to 1978 she
operated in UNITAS XV with our South American allies and numerous
deployments for training exercises. Tang was decommissioned
and transferred to the Turkish Navy, renamed the Piri Reis
(S-343): first as a lease arrangement in 1980, then purchased
outright in 1987, decommissioned from the Turkish Navy on 13 August,
2004, now a Submarine Museum in Izmir Turkey.
Trigger, actually the first of the Tangs to see service,
was initially home ported in New London. She made trips at and under
the edge of the ice pack in conjunction with USS Nautilus (SSN-571)
in 1957. She made a couple of Northern and Northern European trips to
keep watch on the Kola Peninsula and to assist our allies in training
their ASW forces. In 1959, she changed home port to Charleston and
from that port made three Med trips until 1968 when she went into the
shipyard for modernization and a hull lengthening. The newly
overhauled Trigger changed home port to San Diego and operated
out of Bangor Washington on several occasions as a MK 48 torpedo test
ship. In 1972, she made her first WesPac from October of that year to
March of 1973. Then in July of 1973, she was decommissioned and
transferred to Italy where she served as the Livio Piomarta
(S-515) until the Italian Navy put her out of commission and
then she was scrapped.
Gudgeon was attached to SubRon 1 in Pearl initially where
she reported in July 1953. In the next four years she made two
WesPacs and had local ops. She took part in secret operations which
are rumored to have included close monitoring of the Soviet port of
Vladivostok. Taking on the flag of ComSubPac, Gudgeon sailed from
Pearl Harbor on 8 July 1957. In the next 8 months, she operated with
forces out of Yokosuka, Japan, Subic, transited through the Indian
Ocean, and visited ports in Africa. The boat transited the Atlantic
then after a trip of 25,000 miles, reentered Pearl again on 21
February 1958 becoming the first US submarine to circumnavigate the
globe. More Wespacs were made in 1959, 1961 and 1963 after which she
entered Mare Island Naval Shipyard to undergo the lengthing process
mentioned above. Gudgeon served in the Pacific until she was
decommissioned. Then in 1983, she was transferred by lease to Turkey
and renamed the Hizir Reis (S-342). She was purchased
in 1987. Decomissioned in 2003 now a submarine museum in the city of
Izmit Turkey.
Harder operated out of New London after her commissioning.
She made an historic test of the ability of a submarine to transit on
the snorkel by making the trip from New London to the Bahamas
snorkeling. In 1959, she participated in SUBICEX where the cruised
some 280 miles under the Arctic Ice pack. Harder changed home
port to Charleston late in 1959 and operated out of that port on Med
trips, and extensive ASW operating exercises in the Atlantic and
Caribbean. In 1967 the boat was modernized and lengthened. Harder
was sold to Italy where she served as the Romeo Romei (S-516)
until the Italian Navy put her out of commission and she was then
scrapped.
Wahoo joined the Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor in 1953. Her
first WesPac was in 1954 then the next year she started her second.
After extensive local ops and a short overhaul at the Pearl Harbor
Naval Shipyard, she started another WesPac in October 1957 which
included a visit to Tahiti. In 1959 she headed out again. From then
until she changed home ports in June of 1971, Wahoo continued
to meet commitments in the local area, western pacific and made
extensive trips to the war zone off Vietnam where she earned three
battle stars. It was during her involvement in the Viet Nam War where
she performed patrol, insertion and extraction operations and other
more sensitive work that application was made for the awarding of the
War Patrol Pin for this service. The application as well as those by
other boats who served at the time in combat was met with stubborn
resistance on the part of Submarine Force veterans of WW II, many of
whom were in senior positions, who reminded the applicants that
unless the boat sank enemy shipping, it was not a successful patrol
and didn't deserve a patrol pin. Thus none of the submarine crews of
the force which made patrols during that conflict, some of which were
longer and as arduous as World War II patrols were able to earn war
patrol pins. Nor did boats that did similar service during the Korean
war. The same situation is seen in the awarding of strategic
deterrent patrol recognition to those who made Regulus
patrols.Wahoo was placed out of commission in 1980 and
remained in Philadelphia at the shipyard in storage until the early
1990's when she was sold out for scrapping. All that remained at that
time was a gutted hulk as most of the parts had been used to supply
spares for the other boats in foreign service.
Trout has had the longest, if not always active, service
career. Operating out of New London after her commissioning in 1952,
Trout operated extensively with NATO units from the North
Atlantic to the Caribbean. At one time she sailed under the ice for
some 268 miles setting a record that was later bested by Harder.
In 1959 she was assigned to SubRon 4 in Charleston where she
underwent BuShips Shock tests. After an overhaul in 1963, Trout
operated out of Charleston in local operations and three Med
deployments. In 1970 the boat's home port was changed to San Diego
where she made two WesPacs, one in 1972 and again in 1975. Her home
port was changed to Philadelphia in 1976. She, along with Wahoo,
was slated to be transferred to the Iranian Navy in 1979. Extensive
overhauls were performed on both ships and Iranian crews underwent
training in both Philadelphia and New London. When the Shah of Iran
was replaced in 1979, the deal was put off and finally canceled. The
boats, Trout and Wahoo were put in storage. Wahoo
was used for parts replacement for other ships, Trout remained
in Philadelphia in storage until 1994. In that year, she was taken
out of storage and preparations were made to use the boat as a radio
controlled test platform. As such, the boat would have been a
controllable submerged target for our submarines to practice
anti-submarine exercises against a quiet diesel submarine. It would
also be used as a target to insure the ADCAP would perform against
this type target as it is our mainstay torpedo. For some time Trout
was at Pier two in Newport, RI but was then towed to Key West. Trout
was later towed to Philadelphia placed on the donation list for
historic ships later removed from the list sold for scrap towed to
Galveston and scrapped in 2008.
These boats rendered exemplary service. They spent as much if not
more time at sea as did their contemporaries, either diesel or nuc.
The appellation that is the title of this piece is absolutely untrue.
The operations these boats performed are the stuff of legends, but
under the cloak of Cold War secrecy and the cloud of World War II
prejudices, they go unrecognized. There are unsubstantiated rumors of
one or more of the boats penetrating harbors and rivers to gather
intelligence and of hold-downs by foreign ships in and out of
international waters. The boats made war patrols in combat and
classified situations for which they and their crews have not
received the proper recognition. As times change and the operations
of the Cold War and Vietnam are declassified, researchers will be
able to document the service of this class.
By the way, USS Darter (SS-576) is in a class of its own
and, although a direct descendant of the Tang-class, is different.
The reason for its inclusion in the rhyme used as the title is
because she looked like a Tang, operated like a Tang and rhymed. She
was sunk as a target by USS Tautog (SSN-639) off Hawaii.
These boat's hull designs formed an important milestone in the
transition from the submersible warships of the pre-nuclear age to
the fully submerged high speed hull designs of today. It also a
transition from the requirements for submarine tactics up to the
middle of the 20th to the tactics of the latter half of
the century which included the “blue water submarine vs submarine”
tactics. The general form design served well for the Tang Class
boats but also can be seen in the Nautilus, Seawolf, and Skate Class.
The design of the engineering spaces can be seen in the Regulus
missile submarines Grayback and Growler. The hull form stern seen in
the Skate Class is also seen in the missile boat Halibut.
In the above narration the ship histories have been condensed from
Dictionary Of Naval Fighting Ships which can be found at
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs.html .
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