By Captain Brayton Harris, USN (Retired)
1580
The first published prescription for a submarine came from the pen of
WILLIAM BOURNE, an English innkeeper and scientific dilettante. Bourne
first offered a lucid description of why a ship floats by displacing
its weight of water -- and then described a mechanism by which:
"It
is possible to make a Ship or Boate that may goe under the water unto
the bottome, and so to come up again at your pleasure. [If] Any
magnitude of body that is in the water . . . having alwaies but one
weight, may be made bigger or lesser, then it Shall swimme when you
would, and sinke when you list . . . ."
In other words, decrease the volume to make the boat heavier than the
weight of the water it displaces, and it will sink. Make it lighter, by
increasing the volume, and it will rise. He wrote of watertight joints
of leather, and a screw mechanism to wind the volume-changing
"thing" in and out. Bourne was describing a principle, not a
plan for a submarine, and offered no illustration.
Some
years later, this drawing purported to be Bourne's scheme:
leather-wrapped pads which can be screwed in toward the centerline to
create a flooded chamber, and screwed out to expel the water and seal
the opening.
However,
Bourne wrote of expanding and contracting structures, not flooding
chambers and submarines built in England in 1729 and France in 1863
conformed with his idea exactly.
1623
Dutchman CORNELIUS DREBBEL, hired in 1603 as "court inventor"
for James I of England, built what seems to have been the first working
submarine. According to accounts, some of which may have been written by
people who actually saw the submarine, it was a decked-over rowboat,
propelled by twelve oarsmen, which made a submerged journey down the
Thames River at a depth of about fifteen feet.
There are no credible illustrations of Drebbel's boat, and no credible
explanations of how it worked. Best guess: the boat was designed to have
almost-neutral buoyancy, floating just awash, with a downward-sloping
foredeck to act as a sort of diving plane. The boat would be driven
under the surface by forward momentum . . . just as are most modern
submarines. When the rowers stopped rowing, the boat would slowly rise.
Reports that Drebbel's patron, James I, witnessed a demonstration, may
be true. Reports that James I took an underwater ride are most unlikely.
1634
French priest MARIN MERSENNE theorized that a submarine should be made
of copper, cylindrical in shape to better withstand pressure and with
pointed ends both for streamlining and to permit reversing course
without having to turn around. Pressure? For every foot of depth, water
pressure increases about half a pound per square inch (PSI).
1653
The 72-foot-long "Rotterdam Boat," designed by a Frenchman
(named DE SON) was probably the first underwater vessel specifically
built (by the Belgians) to attack an enemy (the English Navy). This
almost submarine a semi-submerged ram was supposed to sneak up
unobserved and punch a hole in an enemy ship. The designer boasted that
it could cross the English Channel and back in a day, and sink a hundred
ships along the way.
The
"Rotterdam Boat." Propulsion: a spring-driven clock-work
device to turn a central paddle wheel. The device was so underpowered
that, when the boat was launched, it went literally nowhere.
1680
There is no evidence that Italian GIOVANNI BORELLI ever built a
submarine, but this illustration continues to appear in books and
magazines in several variations as if were a real boat,
sometimes erroneously linked with Drebbel's or Symons's (below) efforts.
Borelli did understand the basic principle of volume vs weight
(displacement), but he illustrated a totally impractical ballast system
by which weight would be increased or diminished by allowing a bank of
goat-skin bags to fill with water, then by squeezing the water out to
rise again.
1696
DENIS PAPIN, a professor of mathematics built two submarines. He used an
air pump to balance internal pressure with external water pressure, thus
controlling buoyancy through the in-and-out flow of water into the hull.
Propulsion: sails on the surface, oars underwater.
Papin featured "certain holes" through which the operator
might "touch enemy vessels and ruin them in sundry ways."
Papin
tested his first boat, but his patron lost interest and the second boat
was never finished. Illustrations of this submarine look like a steam
kettle. Papin was also the inventor of the pressure cooker. An engraver
might have confused the two, or this may have been a joke or Papin's
attempt at secrecy.
1729
English house-carpenter NATHANIEL SYMONS created a one-man
expanding/contracting sinking boat no locomotion as a sort of
public entertainment. Sealed up inside, in front of a crowd of
spectators, he cranked the two parts of his telescopic hull together,
spent forty-five minutes underwater, then expanded the hull, rose to the
surface, and passed the hat. One man gave him a coin.
1773
Wagon-maker J.
DAY, another Englishman, built a small submarine with detachable ballast
stones, hung around the outside with ring bolts, which could be released
from inside. This worked quite well in shallow water. Encouraged by a
professional gambler, he built a bigger boat: they would take bets on
how long he could remain underwater, further out in the deep-water
harbor.
Surrounded by ships filled with bettors, they hung some stones; the boat
wallowed awash, but would not go under. They hung some more stones. The
boat sank like a rock and would have collapsed long before the
ballast could be released.
1776
Yale graduate DAVID BUSHNELL (75) built the first submarine to
actually make an attack on an enemy warship. Dubbed the
"Turtle" because it resembled a sea-turtle floating vertically
in the water, it was operated by Sergeant Ezra Lee.
The scheme: be towed into the vicinity of the target; open a
foot-operated valve to let in enough water to sink, close the valve;
move in under the enemy by cranking the two propellers one for
forward and one for vertical movement turned by foot treadle
"like a spinning wheel;" drill into the hull to attach a
150-pound keg of gunpowder with a clockwork detonator; crank to get
away; operate a foot-pump to get the water out of the hull and thus
re-surface.
In early-morning darkness on September 7, 1776, "Turtle" made
an attack on a British ship in New York harbor, probably HMS Eagle. The
drill may have hit an iron strap it would not penetrate the hull.
(Contrary to most reports, the Eagle of 1776 had not been fitted with a
copper-sheathed bottom.) Lee became disoriented, soon bobbed to the
surface and was spotted by a lookout. He managed to get away.
"Turtle," as drawn in 1875 from the best information the
artist could gather.
There are several important errors. It shows ballast tanks when there
were none; it shows an Archimedes screw (helical) for locomotion instead
of the propeller like the "arms of a wind mill" or a
"pair of oars"described by Bushnell and others.
It also shows -- but this we may forgive -- the operator wearing a
rather foppish late 19th-century outfit.
1797
ROBERT FULTON, a marginal American artist but increasingly successful
inventor living in Paris, offered to build a submarine to be used
against France's British enemy: "a Mechanical Nautlius. A Machine
which flatters me with much hope of being Able to Annihilate their
Navy." He would build and operate the machine at his own expense,
and would expect payment for each British ship destroyed.
He predicted that, "Should some vessels of war be destroyed by
means so novel, so hidden and so incalculable the confidence of the
seamen will vanish and the fleet rendered useless from the moment of the
first terror."
1800
After protracted delays and several changes in government, Fulton was
encouraged enough to build the submarine he called "Nautilus."
He made a number of successful dives, to depths of 25 feet and for times
as long as six hours (ventilation provided by a tube to the surface).
"Nautilus" was essentially an elongated "Turtle"
with a larger propellor and mast and sail for use on the surface. In
trials, "Nautilus" achieved a maximum sustained underwater
speed of four knots. Fulton (given the rank of rear admiral) made
several attempts to attack English ships which saw him coming and
moved out of the way. Relationships with the French government
deteriorated; a new Minister of Marine is reported to have said,
"Go, sir. Your invention is fine for the Algerians or corsairs, but
be advised that France has not yet abandoned the Ocean."
Fulton broke up "Nautilus" and sold the metal for scrap. He
proposed but, most reports to the contrary, never built an
improved version. The name "Nautilus" was immortalized by
Jules Verne in his 1870 novel, "20,000 Leagues under the Sea"
and was given to several U. S. Navy boats including the world's
first nuclear-powered submarine, the 1954 USS Nautilus.
This most commonly-reproduced "Nautilus" was drawn two years
before the submarine was built; Fulton added a deck and made a number of
un-documented changes in the finished product. Illustrations which show
"Nautilus" with the hull-form and sail rig of a surface
sailboat represent the never-buil "improved" version.
Fulton
also attached the name "torpedo" to that maritime weapon we
now call a mine. Fulton's torpedoes were meant to be towed into
position, either by a submerged boat or a surface rowboat. When the
French passed on the submarine, he offered so sell torpedoes to the
English; he demonstrated their utility by sinking an anchored ship with
a torpedo towed into place by a rowboat.
In 1867, English engineer Robert Whitehead developed a self-propelled
mine, which he called the "automobile torpedo" -- the true
ancestor of the modern submarine-launched torpedo.
1812-1815
There were at least two submarines reported during the War of 1812, to
one of which a British admiral attached the by then-generic name
"Turtle." There is no truth to the assertion that Bushnell
"returned to the charge" in the War of 1812; by that time,
Bushnell, whose family had not heard from him for more than 25 years,
was in his 70s and living under an assumed name in Georgia.
The other is preserved in the notebooks of Samuel Colt, a design
attributed to SILAS CLOWDEN HALSEY: "lost in New London harbor in
an effort to blow up a British 74." Of this, nothing else is known.
.
The drawing shows the operator with one hand on a tiller, the other on a
crank to turn the propeller and drill bit. A technical "Turtle"
clone: there is a "water cock" and a "force pump" at
the bottom of the boat and an "air tube to shove up when at the
surface of the water." A "torpedo" is attached by a line to
the drill.
1815
Englishman THOMAS JOHNSTONE may or may not have participated in
Fulton's efforts on behalf of the French and may or may not have
been hired to build a 100-foot-long submarine to be used in a planned
rescue of Napoleon Bonaparte from exile on the island of Elba. Whatever
the facts of the case Napoleon died before the (possible) submarine
was finished.
1850
The German port
of Kiel was under blockade by the Danish Navy, and Prussian army corporal
WILHELM BAUER persuaded a shipbuilder to construct his design for a
blockade-breaking submarine which he called "Brandtaucher,"
(Incendiary Diver). The boat was made of riveted sheet iron, about the
size and shape of a small sperm whale; propulsion, by a two-man-power
treadmill which drove a propeller. A third crewmember steered. Buoyancy
was controlled by ballast tanks, and trim was adjusted by moving a sliding
weight along an iron rod.
On its first appearance, Brandtaucher was sufficiently threatening to
cause the blockading force to move further out to sea. On a subsequent
submerged run, the sliding weight slid too far forward and the boat
plunged to the bottom, getting stuck in the mud at 60 feet. Water pressure
was too great to allow Bauer and his two companions to open the hatch,
and, with water seeping in through the damaged hull, they had to wait
until incoming water had raised the internal pressure to match that
outside. After an unimaginable six hours in the claustrophobic
darkness -- they opened the hatch and were swept aloft in a bubble of
escaping air.
"Brandtaucher" was recovered in 1887 and is now on display in
Dresden.
1852
Indiana
shoemaker LODNER D. PHILLIPS built at least two submarines. The first
collapsed at a depth of twenty feet. The second achieved hand-cranked
underwater speeds of four knots and depths to 100 feet; Phillips offered
to sell it to the U. S. Navy. The response: "No authority is known to
this Bureau to purchase a submarine boat . . . the boats used by the Navy
go on not under the water."During
the Civil War, Phillips again offered his services to the U. S. Navy,
again, without success.
Phillips was granted an 1852 patent for a "Steering Submarine
Propller." The innovation: steering, as well as up-and-down movement,
was controlled by a hand-cranked propeller on a swivel joint.
1855
WILHELM BAUER built the 52-foot "Diable Marin" (Sea Devil) for
Russia; this submarine made as many as 134 dives, the most spectacular of
which was in celebration of the coronation of Tsar Alexander II. The boat
took sixteen men underwater, four of whom made up a brass band whose
underwater rendition of the national anthem clearly could be heard by
observers on the surface.
1859
French designer BRUTUS DE VILLEROI built a 33-foot-long treasure-hunting
submarine for a Philadelphia financier. The target: the 1780 wreck of the
British warship De Braak, lost near the mouth of the Delaware River. The
method: divers, operating out of an airlock. The boat made at least one
three-hour dive to twenty feet; no other details known.
1861
Early in the Civil War, the Confederate Government authorized citizens to
operate armed warships as "privateers." A New Orleans consortium
headed by cotton broker HORACE L. HUNLEY was approved for the operation of
"Pioneer," a 20-foot long three-man submarine (one to steer, two
to crank the propeller) designed and built by JAMES MCCLINTOCK .
In a March 1862 demonstration on Lake Pontchartrain, a submerged
"Pioneer" sank a barge with a towed floating torpedo. In April,
1862, the U. S. Navy captured New Orleans, and "Pioneer" was
scuttled by its builders. Soon discovered, the boat eventually was sold
for scrap in 1868.
A Civil War-era submarine -- which was long thought to be
"Pioneer," but is not -- was discovered and raised in 1878 and
is on display at the Louisiana State Museum. True origin? A mystery.
1861
VILLEROI obtained a contract from the U. S. Navy for a larger submarine:
the 46-foot-long "Alligator." Propulsion: originally sixteen
oarsmen with hinged, self-feathering oars; improved, a three-foot diameter
hand-cranked propeller. Weapon: an explosive charge to be set against an
enemy hull by a diver.
"Alligator" was placed in service on June 13, 1862 the first
submarine in the U. S. Navy, all reports to the contrary notwithstanding.
Towed South from Philadelphia for operations in the James River, the boat
proved to be too large to hide and support divers in the relatively
shallow water. It foundered and sank in a storm, 1863, while being towed
to a potential operating area off South Carolina.
1862
Confederate Army officer Captain FRANCIS D. LEE created the low-freeboard
steamboat known as a "David" (as in, David versus Goliath).
Weapon: a spar torpedo (an explosive the end of a long pole), or directly
ram an enemy. Built by the Southern Torpedo Boat Company in Charleston as
a profit-making venture (substantial bounties were being offered to anyone
who could sink a blockading Union warship), they seemed like a good idea
at the time but had little success.
1863
Hunley's New Orleans consortium shifted operations to Mobile, Alabama, and
built a second, slightly-improved submarine which may have been called
"American Diver." McClintock spent some time and money trying to
replace hand-cranking with some sort of electrical motor, but without
success. This submarine sank in rough weather in Mobile Bay; the crew was
rescued.
Sketch made by McClintock in 1872, which may represent the features of
"American Diver."
1863
Hunley's consortium built a third, larger, submarine -- about 40 feet
long. Crew: possibly nine, eight to crank the propeller and at least one
to steer and operate the sea cocks and hand-pumps to control water level
in the ballast tanks.
These drawings were made, sometime after the Civil War, from information
provided by W. A. Alexander -- one of the original (and suriving)
builders. The cross-section (above) clearly shows the tight working space
inside.
This
submarine was sent to Charleston, to try to break the Federal blockade.
Almost immediately, it, too, sank -- possibly twice, swamped by the wake
of a passing steamer, with the loss of some crewmembers. Confederate
Commanding General P. G. T. Beauregard became disenchanted but Horace
Hunley persuaded him to allow "one more try" under his --
Hunley's -- personal supervision. The boat sank again, killing Hunley and
the crew.
It
was found, and raised -- and two members of the original team who had not
been aboard harassed Beauregard often enough that , after "many
refusals and much discussion," he agreed to allow one more attempt --
but not as a submarine. The boat -- now named CSS H. L. Hunley in honor of
her spiritual father -- was to be armed with a spar torpedo and operate
awash, as a David.
CSS H. L. HUNLEY, recovered after a fatal accident and awaiting a
"go-no go" decision by Charleston-area commanding General P. G.
T. Beauregard, CSA.
1863
A group of Northern speculators formed the American Submarine Company, to
take advantage of a vote in the U. S. Congress to approve the use of
privateers. However, when President Abraham Lincoln declined to accept the
authority, construction of this consortium's submarine the
"Intelligent Whale" languished. The boat was not completed
until 1866, long after the end of the war. The then-ostensible owner, O.
S. HALSTEAD, made several efforts over several years to sell it to the
government; the U. S. Navy held formal acceptance trials in 1872. The
"Intelligent Whale" failed. Halstead was murdered, probably by
the jealous ex-lover of his mistress.
"Intelligent Whale" is now an exhibit at the Militia Museum in
New Jersey. It should not under any circumstances be regarded as a
serious contender in the submarine sweepstakes.
1863
A French team of CHARLES BURN and SIMON BOURGEOIS launched "Le
Plongeur" (The Diver) 140 feet long, 20 feet wide, displacing 400
tons. Power: engines run by 180 psi compressed air stored in tanks
throughout the boat. Method of operation: fill ballast tanks just enough
to achieve neutral buoyancy, then make adjustments with cylinders that
could be run in and out of the hull to vary the volume Bourne's
concept. The boat was too unstable; the movement of a crew member could
send her into radical gyrations.
1864
On February 17,
after months of training and operational delays, the spar-torpedo-armed
CSS H. L. Hunley attacked USS Housatonic which became the first
warship ever sunk by a submarine. However, Hunley disappeared with all
hands, not to be found until 1995, about 1000 yards from the scene of
action. Best speculation on the fate of Hunley: with hatches open for
desperately-needed ventilation, the boat was swamped by the wake of a
steamer rushing to the aid of Housatonic. Hunley was recovered in the
summer of 2000, and is now in the process of conservation and study.
1864
WILHELM BAUER proposed that submarines be powered by a visionary but
not yet practical internal combustion engine. Overall, he was to spend
twenty-five years developing (or at least, proposing) submarines on behalf
of six nations Germany, Austria, England, the United States, Russia,
France. His plebeian origin and autocratic style not to mention his
lowly army rank were a serious handicap in dealing with the
aristocratic brethren who ran most of the navies of the day. Essentially
ignored by his native Germany in his lifetime, Bauer became a posthumous
hero in the Nazi era.
1869
The U. S. Navy
began manufacturing, under license, the WHITEHEAD torpedo, for use by
surface ships and, especially, a new class: the torpedo boat. This spawned
development of another new class, the torpedo boat destroyer. Some navies
flirted with yet another class, the destroyer of torpedo boat destroyers.
Whatever: surface launched torpedoes had marginal military effectiveness,
and found their true home underwater.
1870
French novelist JULES VERNE brought submarines to full public
consciousness with "Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea." A
submarine-wielding despot Captain Nemo uses his
"Nautilus" to sink, among others, the then-fictional USS Abraham
Lincoln. Verne's research was impeccable: he even computed the
compressibility of seawater "0" for most purposes as
.0000436 for each 32-feet of depth.
1870
A submarine built by German FREDERICH OTTO VOGEL sank on trials.
1874
Recent Irish emigre and Patterson, NJ, schoolteacher JOHN PHILLIP HOLLAND
submitted a submarine design to the Secretary of the Navy, who passed the
paperwork to a subordinate. No one would willingly go underwater in such a
craft, that officer suggested, and, even if the idea had merit, he warned
Holland, "to put anything through Washington was uphill work."
Holland's first design: a 15.5 foot-long one man boat with a foot-operated
treadle to drive not only the propeller, but also to control the
one-cubic-foot ballast tank and discharge "used" air.
1878
HOLLAND found sponsorship with the Fenians, a group of Irish
revolutionaries, looking for a way to harass the British Navy. He built a
small prototype submarine, "Holland No. 1" to test out his
theories including the use of a gasoline engine. The trial was
successful enough to encourage building a larger, more warlike, boat.
1879
Anglican Reverend GEORGE W. GARRETT tested the steam-powered "Resurgam:"
steam for a boiler for surface operations, steam stored in pressurized
tanks for submerged operations. The boat passed initial trials, but sank
while under tow (rediscovered in 1996). Out of funds but not undeterred,
Garrett took his ideas to a wealthy Swedish arms manufacturer, THORSTEN
NORDENFELDT.
1881
HOLLAND launched the "Fenian Ram" 31 feet long, armed with a
ram bow and an air-power cannon. Tests continued for two years, to depths
of sixty feet for as long as one hour. Surface and submerged speeds were
about the same, 9 knots.
However, the Fenians became increasingly frustrated with Holland's delays,
and, faced with some internal legal squabbles, stole their own boat and
hid it in a shed in New Haven, CT, where it remained for thirty-five
years. Holland had nothing more to do with the Fenians; the boat was
eventually donated to the city of Patterson, where it is now on display in
West Side Park.
1883
HOLLAND and several investors formed the Nautilus Submarine Boat Company,
hoping to sell a submarine to the French, then at war in Indochina. The
company prototype, dubbed the "Zalinski Boat" after one of the
investors, was launched in 1885. Too heavy for the launching ways, the
boat smashed into some pilings and was badly damaged. Repaired, she made
some token trial runs but the French war had ended and the company went
bankrupt.
1885
French designer
CLAUDE GOUBET built a battery-operated submarine, too awkward and unstable
to be successful. He followed up in 1889 with "Goubet II"
also small, electric, and not effective.
1885
American JOSIAH
H. L. TUCK demonstrated "Peacemaker" powered by a chemical
(fireless) boiler; 1500 pounds of caustic soda provided five hours
endurance. Tuck's inventing days ended when relatives noting that he
had squandered most of a significant fortune had him committed to an
asylum for the insane.
1885
"Nordenfeldt I" 64 feet, armed with one external torpedo
tube was launched. Powered by steam on the surface -- and
"accumulated" steam while submerged.
It took as long as twelve hours to generate enough steam for submerged
operations and about thirty minutes to dive. Once underwater, sudden
changes in speed or direction triggered in the words of a U. S. Navy
intelligence report "dangerous and eccentric movements."
However, good public relations overcame bad design: Nordenfeldt always
demonstrated his boats before a stellar crowd of crowned heads, and
Nordenfeldt's submarines were regarded as the world standard.
The Greek Navy took delivery of "Nordenfeldt I" in 1886, and
seems to have done nothing with it. Bitter rival Turkish Navy ordered two
of the larger "Nordenfeldt II" boats 100 feet with two
torpedo tubes. When a torpedo was fired on a test dive, the first boat
tipped backwards and sank, stern first, to the bottom. The second Turkish
boat was left unfinished.
The
1887 "Nordenfeldt III" 123 feet, rated to a depth of 100
feet and with an advertised surface speed of 14 knots was sold to
Russia, but ran aground en route. The Russians refused to accept delivery;
the boat was scrapped.
1887
The U. S. Navy announced an open competition for a submarine torpedo boat,
with a $2 million incentive. The specifications were based on presumed
Nordenfeldt-level capabilities and presumed a steam-powerplant of 1000
horsepower.
Bidders included Nordenfeldt, Tuck, and Holland. Holland's design won, but
because of contracting complications, the award was withdrawn.
The competition was re-opened a year later, Holland was again the winner
but a new Secretary of the Navy diverted the $2 million to surface
ships. Nordenfeldt lost interest in submarines; Tuck went into the asylum;
Holland got a job as a draftsman, earning $4 a day.
1888
GUSTAVE ZEDE
built "Gymnote" for the French Navy a 60-foot,
battery-powered boat capable of 8 knots on the surface but limited by the
lack of any method for recharging the batteries while at sea. Her naval
service was largely limited to experimentation.
1889
Spaniard ISAAC
PERAL's "Peral" successfully fired three Whitehead torpedoes
while on trials, but internal politics kept the Spanish Navy from pursuing
the project.
1893
With a new Administration in office, the U. S. Congress appropriated
$200,000 for an "experimental submarine" and the Navy announced
a new competition. There were three bidders: Holland, GEORGE C. BAKER, and
SIMON LAKE.
Holland and Lake submitted proposals; the politically well- connected
Baker actually had a submarine, which he was demonstrating on Lake
Michigan. A novel feature: a clutch between the steam engine and an
electric motor allowed the motor to function as a dynamo, to recharge the
batteries for submerged running. A troubling feature: a pair of
amidships-mounted propellers that swivelled up or forward, through a
clumsy period of transition.
When Holland's design once again won the competition, Baker complained to
his friends in Washington. The whole business seems to have been put on
"hold."
The scheme that Simon Lake submitted included a set of wheels by which the
boat could run along the bottom. He tested this theory in 1894 with small
wooden "test vehicle" dubbed "Argonaut Jr." and
financed by relatives. Public demonstrations brought in enough money to
build a larger boat, "Argonaut I." See photo, below.
1895
Holland took a
leaf from the Nordenfeldt playbook in this case, good public relations
to overcome political intransigence and let it be known that he was
entertaining offers from foreign navies. On March 3, the John P. Holland
Torpedo Boat Company was awarded $200,000 to build an 85-foot, 15 knot,
steam-powered submarine to be called "Plunger."
Holland was only somewhat pleased he didn't like the imposition of a
steam engine, as well some changes the Navy insisted upon: the Navy knew
what it wanted, but didn't know what it was doing. Congress was thrilled,
and immediately authorized two more submarines of the Plunger type at
$175,000 each.
Simon Lake's prominently-wheeled "Argonaut I" coincidentally
under construction in the same graving dock as Holland's
"Plunger." This boat used a gasoline engine for both surface and
submerged running (drawing air from the surface through breathing tubes),
"Plunger," launched in 1897, failed before ever leaving the
dock. The temperature in the fireroom reached 137 degrees at only 2/3
rated output. As one of Holland's employees was later to testify,
"They forced us to put steam in the "Plunger" against Mr.
Holland's advice. When we . . . put the steam on, we found it was so hot
we could not live in her." (In what must be an unwitting irony, the
first U. S. Navy submarine with built-in air conditioning was the 1935
SS-179, "Plunger.")
1897
Even before "Plunger" had failed, Holland began construction of
a new, smaller (54 feet), slower (7 knots), gasoline-powered boat,
"Holland VI." Armament: one dynamite gun (air-launched 222-pound
projectile with seven loads) and a Whitehead torpedo (three loads). Crew:
six men. Habitability: included a toilet, to support operations as long as
forty hours. Holland began a series of public demonstrations.
New York Times, May 17, 1897: ". . . the Holland, the little cigar-sharped
vessel owned by her inventor, which may or may not play an important part
in the navies of the world in the years to come, was launched from Nixon's
shipyard this morning,"
1898
The impending Spanish-American War intruded on Holland's efforts to sell
his new boat to the Navy, although Theodore Roosevelt at the time,
Assistant Secretary of the Navy told his boss, "I think that the
Holland submarine boat should be purchased." The war begun, Holland
offered to go to Cuba and sink the Spanish fleet if, upon being
successful, the Navy would buy his boat. The Navy properly was horrified
at the thought of a private citizen using a private warship to sink
foreign ships; times had changed since Bushnell and "Turtle" and
the days of the privateers.
In September, SIMON LAKE'S 36-foot "Argonaut I" made an
open-ocean passage from Norfolk, VA, to Sandy Hook, NJ, prompting Jules
Verne to send Lake a cable: "The conspicuous success of submarine
navigation in the United States will push on under-water navigation all
over the world . . . . The next war may be largely a contest between
submarine boats."
By November, with the war ended, the Navy held an "official"
trial of "Holland VI." There were some problems; Holland did not
have enough money to fix them, so he joined forces with another
manufacturer to form the Electric Boat Company. He was designated Chief
Engineer.
Holland VI, as pictured in the December, 1898 Scientific American.
1898
The French fielded the 148-foot, 266-ton "Gustav Zede" named
for the recently-deceased designer. On maneuvers, the submarine
"torpedoed" an anchored battleship, to the consternation of
some, and pride among other, French naval officers.
The success of "Zede" prompted an international competition for
a submarine with a surface range of 100 miles and a submerged range of 10
miles. There were twenty-nine entries; the winner was MAXIME LAUBEUF'S
"Narval," 188-feet, 136-tons, which began life with steam power
that soon enough was switched to a diesel engine.
1899
A modified "Holland VI" passed the Navy trials; the company made
a formal offer to sell the boat to the Navy, and moved it down from New
York to Washington, DC to enhance the PR effort with some demonstrations
for members of Congress.
Simon Lake's "Argonaut I" was enlarged, improved, and
redesignated "Argonaut II."
1900
On April 11, the U. S. Navy bought "Holland VI" for $150,000 and
changed the name to USS Holland. The boat had cost $236,615 to build, but
the company viewed it as a loss-leader. The Navy ordered another
submarine.
Congress held hearings. One admiral testified: "The Holland boats are
interesting novelties which appeal to the non-professional mind, which is
apt to invest them with remarkable properties they do not possess."
However, Admiral George Dewey the senior officer of the Navy noted
that if the Spanish had had two submarines at Manila, he could not have
captured and held the city. Besides, he said, "Those craft moving
underwater would wear people out." In August, Congress ordered six
more Holland submarines.
USS Holland in drydock.
1900
By October, the British had five Hollands on order, but not until senior
naval leadership had wrestled with a moral dilemma: they, like many others
through the years, believed that covert warfare was, basically, illegal.
Gentlemen fought each other face to face, wearing easily recognized
uniforms. The Navy agreed to proceed with caution, primarily to "test
the value of the submarine as a weapon in the hands of our enemies."
However; Rear Admiral A. K. Wilson assured himself of a certain
immortality by declaring that the submarine was "underhand, unfair,
and damned UnEnglish." The government, he wrote, should "treat
all submarines as pirates in wartime . . . and hang all crews."
1901
President of France Emil Loubet became the first chief executive to go for
a submerged ride, aboard "Gustav Zede." He did so in full formal
dress, frock coat an all. Three months later, on maneuvers three hundred
miles from her base, "Zede" put a practice torpedo into the side
of the moving battleship "Charles Martel" to the reported
"general stupefaction" of those aboard the battleship.
Submarines had become so popular in France that the newspaper Le Matin had
launched a public fund-raising drive to build submarines for the Navy:
"Francais" launched in 1901 and "Algerien" launched in
1902.
1902
Spanish submarine designer RAIMONDO LORENZO D'EQUEVILLEY, looking for
work, was rebuffed by the German Navy; Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz was on
record, "The submarine is, at present, of no great value in war at
sea. We have no money to waste on experimental vessels." D'Equevilley
took his plans to the Krupp Germania shipyard, which built the 40-foot
"Forelle" (Trout) on speculation. Powered only by electricity
and without an underway recharging system, like the French "Gymnote"
"Forelle" was not a practical warship. However, Kaiser
Wilhelm II was impressed and his brother, an admiral, took a ride.
D'Equevilley turned his hand to marketing, publishing a book (in Germany)
in which he traced the history of submarines. "As exaggerated as it
may sound," he wrote, "who knows whether the appearance of
undersea boats may put an end to naval battles." Krupp worked on a
larger, improved design the "Karp" class powered by
gasoline engine on the surface, with an onboard battery recharging system.
Russia ordered three. The German Navy ordered one, but asked for a
kerosene rather than gasoline engine.
1904
On their first fleet maneuvers, the five British Hollands were assigned to
defend Portsmouth and managed to "torpedo" four warships. Of
this, Admiral John Arbuthnot (Baron) Fisher known as "Jacky"
in a profession which cherished nicknames almost as much as tradition
wrote, "It is astounding to me, perfectly astounding, how the very
best amongst us fail to realize the vast impending revolution in Naval
warfare and Naval strategy that the submarine will accomplish!"
On a more somber note: "A-1" first of a brand-new British
designed class of improved Hollands was run over by an unwitting
passenger ship, and sank with the loss of all hands. "A-1" was
salvaged and put back in service.
The British Holland "No. 3," in service from 1902 to 1912.
1904
Holland, squeezed out of management and increasingly ignored, resigned
from Electric Boat and formed John P. Holland's Submarine Boat Company. He
sold plans for two larger, improved submarines, to be built in Japan under
the supervision of a Holland associate; one achieved a remarkable
underwater speed of 16 knots, about twice that of the five earlier model
Hollands in Japan.
Holland solicited business from around the world, but quickly discovered
that all of his patents were controlled by Electric Boat a fact of
which the company made certain that all potential customers were aware. He
tried to interest the U. S. Navy in a new, fast hull design; tested in an
experimental tank at the Washington navy Yard, it promised submerged
speeds as high as 22 knots. The Navy offered the opinion that it would be
too hazardous for submarines to go faster than 6 knots underwater.
He was sued by Electric Boat for breach of contract, for unethical
conduct, and even for using the name "Holland." The suits were
eventually dismissed by the courts, but Holland's business never
recovered.
1904
Simon Lake, blocked from competing for submarine contracts, challenged
what had become a monopoly business for Electric Boat. He won, and the
Navy agreed that the next procurement would be through an open
competition. Lake planned to enter "Protector," launched in
1902, as a template for a new class of submarines. Electric Boat planned
to enter "Fulton," a company-financed prototype of an
"improved" Holland.
However, Lake was desperately short of cash, and grabbed the opportunity
to sell "Protector" to Russia, just then at war with Japan (and
took orders for five more). Thus, as the only entrant, "Fulton"
won the design competition, leading to continued orders from the U. S.
Navy but within a month, in an amazing display of impartiality,
"Fulton," too, was en route to new owners in Russia.
Impartiality? Only a few months earlier, Electric Boat had received a
contract to deliver five Hollands to Japan.
Lake's "Protector," taken out of the competition and sold to
Russia in a desperate bid for cash.
"Fulton," about to be loaded on a barge to begin its journey to
Russia.
1905
Theodore Roosevelt became the first U. S. president to take a submerged
ride in the A-1 "Plunger" (not the unfinished steamboat, but
a later Holland model. The first "Plunger" became a training
target for Navy divers). He was so impressed with the hazards and
hardships of the duty that he instituted submarine pay for crew members.
1906
U-1, the first German "U-Boat" (for unterzeeboot), was launched.
This modified "Karp" was 139 feet long, displaced 239 tons, had
a surface speed of 11 knots, a submerged speed of 9 knots, and a range of
two thousand miles. It was joined in 1908 by a twin, U-2. By this time,
the French had a submarine force of sixty boats, the British almost as
many. Germany finally took notice.
1909
Simon Lake received his first U. S. Navy contract. However, Simon Lake was
an inveterate tinkerer, unable to keep his hands off a design even when a
boat was almost finished. The first submarine he managed to sell to the U.
S. Navy "Seal," laid down in February 1909 was delivered
two years, five months and fifteen days late.
Virtually obsolete by the time she entered service, Simon Lake's
"Seal" nonetheless set a depth record, 256 feet, in 1914. The
Lake Torpedo Boat Company had some World War I contracts, but went out of
business in 1924.
1910
British doctrine held that submarines were limited to harbor operations;
of course, but the people who wrote the doctrine had not been paying
attention. The question could be, operations in whose harbor? In the
annual fleet maneuvers, the first of the new "D" class
"torpedoed" two cruisers as they left port 500 miles from
the submarine's home base.
The British D-1, 1908-1918. Note the marked shift from the Holland
porpoise-like hull shape to that of a surface ship a shift common in
all navies of the day. It was an acknowledgment that submarines would
spend most of their lives on the surface and needed sea-keeping qualities
not found in a streamlined "underwater" hull.
1911
The U. S. Navy purchased a set of plans from the Italian designer Laurenti.
It was not a happy move. While the Laurentis had some advanced features,
they were difficult to build and awkward in service.
Laurenti G-4, the 26th U. S. submarine, at the Cramp shipyard in
Philadelphia one year after launching, one year before commissioning
1911
Thanks in large part to the efforts of a 26-year old Navy lieutenant,
Chester Nimitz who by this time had commanded three U. S. submarines
the obnoxious and dangerous gasoline engine was replaced by diesels,
beginning with Nimitz' fourth submarine command, "Skipjack."
1912
Lieutenant Nimitz addressed the Naval War College on "Defensive and
Offensive tactics of Submarines." A highlight: he offered an
innovative method for forcing enemy ships into submarine-patrolled waters:
"drop numerous poles, properly weighted to float upright in the
water, and painted to look like a submarine's periscope."
1912
In the annual fleet maneuvers, two British submarines slipped into a
theoretically-safe fleet anchorage and "torpedoed" three ships.
A staff evaluation warned that enemy submarines might prove a serious
menace to the fleet. The Navy Board scoffed.
1912
Germany began to get serious about submarines with the "30s"
series U-31 to U-41. These diesel-powered boats displaced 685 tons,
carried six torpedoes and one 88mm deck gun, had a surface speed of 16.4
knots, submerged 9.7 knots and a maximum range of 7,800 miles at 8
knots.
1914
On the eve of World War I, the art of submarine warfare was barely a dozen
years old, and no nation had submarine-qualified officers serving at the
senior staff level. Ancient prejudice against submarines remained: they
represented an unethical form of warfare, and they did not "fit"
in the classic, balanced structure of a navy where battleships were
king. No nation had developed any method for detecting submarines, or
attacking them if found.
Global scorecard: professional intransigence aside, and thanks largely to
the efforts of Admiral Fisher, Great Britain had the world's largest
submarine fleet; Germany, with a late start, had the most capable.
Great Britain: seventy-four in service, thirty-one under construction,
fourteen projected.
France: sixty-two boats in service, nine under construction.
Russia, forty-eight boats (five Hollands and eight Lakes, the rest from
Britain, France and Germany).
Germany: twenty-eight in service, seventeen under construction.
United States, thirty in service, ten under construction; Italy,
twenty-one in service, seven under construction; Japan, thirteen and
three; Austria, six and two.
Excluding freelance designers, adventurers and Civil War experience, the
submarine safety record was surprisingly good. The U. S. Navy had one
accident, two men killed. The German Navy, one accident with three men
killed. Japan and Italy had each lost a submarine, each with a crew of
fourteen. At the other end of the scale, Great Britain: eight accidents,
seventy-nine killed; France, eleven accidents, fifty-seven killed; Russia,
five accidents, seventy killed.
1914
In June, British Admiral Percy Scott wrote letters to the editors of two
newspapers. In one, he said "as the motor has driven the horse from
the road, so has the submarine driven the battleship from the sea."
In the other: "Submarines and aeroplanes have entirely revolutionized
naval warfare; no fleet can hide from the aeroplane eye, and the submarine
can deliver a deadly attack even in broad daylight." He called for
more submarines, and no more battleships.
He was loudly attacked from all sides, both by other senior naval
officers, by the government, and by the conservative press. In summary:
his theory was "a fantastic dream."
By August, Great Britain and Germany were at war.
On September 5, U-21 sank the British cruiser "Pathfinder" with
one torpedo. From weapon launch to sunk took three minutes. There were
nine survivors of a crew of 268. A week later, the British had their turn
when E.9 sank the German light cruiser "Hela" with two
torpedoes.
Then, on September 22, 1914, one virtually prehistoric German submarine,
U-9, sank three British cruisers. On the same day. Within slightly more
than 90 minutes. A month later, U-17 became the first submarine to sink a
merchantman. A month after that, U-18 penetrated the British fleet
anchorage at Scapa Flow; although she did no direct damage and was
captured, the effect upon the British Navy was electric: this one small
boat forced the most powerful battle fleet in the world to shift to a base
on the other side of Scotland.
The face of naval warfare was, indeed, changed forever.
1914
The skipper of a British destroyer found himself sitting above a U-boat he
could see, but not touch. "What we need," a staff officer mused,
"is some sort of bomb to drop in the water." Thus began
development of the depth charge, which claimed its first victim in March
1916. However, overall, these depth charges were not very effective unless
exploding quite close to the U-boat; say, about the length of your living
room. The main benefit was psychological.
1915
The British blockade began to have a telling effect, and Germany vowed to
mount a counter-blockade, using submarines. However, the German Navy had
to wrestle with a serious ethical and legal dilemma. Under international
law, a warship could stop and search a merchantman; if found to be
carrying contraband cargo for an enemy, the ship could be captured and a
"prize crew" set aboard to sail her to an appropriate harbor.
Under some circumstances, the ship could be sunk, provided that the crew
had been allowed to take to the lifeboats first.
A submarine did not carry enough sailors to make up prize crews, so the
only option was to sink the merchant ship. For this purpose, submarines
were equipped with deck guns. However, if the submarine came to the
surface to give fair warning, she herself became vulnerable to attack (by
ramming, by concealed guns, by warships rushing to the rescue).
German policy went through several cycles: play by the rules for a time,
but in February, in retaliation for the indiscriminate damage of the
blockade, she opted for "unrestricted submarine warfare." The
legal requirement for "fair notice" was met, at least in theory,
by setting specifically-designated war zones, within which all vessels
were subject to attack without warning.
With only 35 active U-boats, Germany began sinking British merchant ships
faster than they could be built, and got very serious about submarines.
Several accelerated construction programs were launched; one was for
smaller, less capable boats which were nonetheless well-suited to
operations close to home. These were dubbed the UB-Class..
In this post-war
photo, a French boat is on the left. Next, a German late-model coastal
boat UB-133, and an early model UB-24.
1915
In May, U-20 sank the civilian passenger liner "Lusitania,"
killing 1198 men, women and children. Germany did not want to provoke the
United States, and under pressure of international public opinion, backed
off for a while. In February 1916, unrestricted operations were
resumed, but were cancelled in April after a controversial attack on a
civilian ferry boat. Nonetheless, the U-boats were by then taking out
about 300,000 tons of shipping a month.
1915
The British discovered that torpedoes were routinely running under their
targets; they finally realized that the explosive warhead weighed forty
pounds more than the peacetime practice head upon which torpedo depth
settings had been based. They were not the only nation and this was
not the only war in which serious problems with the design and
operation of torpedoes would impede progress. See below.
1916
Germany created the ultimate World War I U-boat: a true long-range
submarine cruiser. Boats of the UA class were 230 feet long, about 1500
tons with a speed of 15.3 knots on the surface, and a range of 12,630
miles at 8 knots. Armament: Twin 150 mm (5.9 inch) deck guns, 1,000 rounds
of ammunition, nineteen torpedoes, manned by a crew of 56 with room for
twenty more.
Forty-seven UA boats were ordered, but only nine made it into service
before the November 1918 armistice.
One of the first of the UA-class was built as a blockade-breaking civilian
cargo submarine operated by the North German Lloyd Line.
"Deutschland" had a cargo capacity of 700 tons (small if
compared with surface ships, but equal to that of seven 1990-era C-5A
airplanes). She engaged in high-value trans-Atlantic commerce, submerging
to avoid British patrols; on her first trip, she carried dyestuff and
gemstones to America, nickel, tin and rubber (much of it stored outside
the pressure hull) back to Germany.
The cargo-carrying submarine "Deutschland" at New London, CT, in
November, 1916, on one of her two "civilian" visits to the
United States; three months later she had been converted and sent to war
as U-153.
1916
Toward the end of the year, the situation in Germany was getting
desperate. The typical daily food ration was "five slices of bread,
half a small cutlet, half a tumbler of milk, two thimblefuls of fat, a few
potatoes, and an egg cup of sugar."
"If we were to starve like rats in a trap," wrote one German
citizen, "then surely it was our sacred right to cut off the enemy's
supplies as well."
1917
In February, the German government announced total unrestricted submarine
warfare. A note to the U. S. government affirmed that "England is
using her naval power for a criminal attempt to force Germany into
submission by starvation," and warned that Germany was now compelled
to use "all the weapons which are at its disposal." The German
government knew that this would most likely bring America into the war,
but predicted that Britain would be forced to the peace table before
American forces could have much effect.
Also in February, in one of those strange parallels in which history
occasionally delights, another Housatonic was sunk by an enemy submarine
in this case, an American merchantman; the attacker survived.
Great Britain had the worlds largest merchant fleet, almost half of the
world total, but British shipbuilding capacity was only about 650,000 tons
a year. By March, U-boats were sinking almost 600,000 tons a month and
Great Britain was down to a six-week food supply.
The U. S. entered the war in April.
1917
There was one time-honored method for protecting merchant ships from enemy
attack: convoy, dating back almost to the dawn of ocean commerce. However,
the British Navy resisted: there were too many ships coming and going,
2500 a week, and port facilities were already strained; bringing in the
glut of a convoy would create chaos. The convoy would become a huge target
for the U-boats. Convoy might be all right for military auxiliaries such
as troopships, but merchant crews did not have the skills necessary to
keep in convoy formation, and many did not speak English. Most merchant
ships were fast enough to outrun a U-boat. Besides, and perhaps most
significant, warships should be out looking for the enemy, not herding
bunch of merchantmen. The Navy was trained for offense, not defense. To be
aggressive, not passive.
The counter arguments: most of the traffic was made up of small coasters
and ferries; there were only about 140 trans-ocean ships arriving each
week, spread across a number of ports. A U-boat could only make one attack
before the escorts would force it to break off and hide the larger the
convoy, the more ships home free. A merchant might outrun one U-boat
right into the arms of another. Crews could be trained. The goal was to
curtail sinkings, not make naval officers feel good.
By late spring, the situation was grave enough that the Navy finally
agreed to a trial of convoy. And never looked back. Of 83,959 ships in
convoys from then to the end of the war, only 257 were sunk by U-boats.
During the same period, 2,616 independent sailers were sunk. The main
benefit of convoy: it forced the U-boats to attack, submerged, which meant
that they already had to be in attack position if a convoy happened to
sail past.
Convoys with air patrol were the safest of all because the submariners
knew that, even if they carried out an attack, the aircraft could
determine their approximate location by tracing back down the visible
torpedo track. However, the carrying capacity of most aircraft of the day
was too limited for heavy weapons. Many could not even carry a radio set.
1917
Six UA boats
were deployed to the East Coast of the United States, where they laid
mines and sank 174 ships mostly smaller vessels without radios which
could neither be warned or give warning. The UA- boats proved that a
submarine could operate 3000 miles from home base, but did not have any
impact on the movement of troops and supplies to Europe.
Twelve American submarines took up station off Ireland and in the Azores.
They had nil effect on the war, but learned a lot about wartime
operations. (The primary wartime contribution of the U. S. Navy was
anti-submarine patrol providing 80 percent of all trans-Atlantic
convoy escorts.) One clear lesson: the dive time of the American boats was
too slow; for the L-class, it averaged 2 minutes 23 seconds. A small UB
could be fully under in 27 seconds.
Most navies adopted an alpha-numeric system for identifying submarines,
referring to the class and the series within the class: A-1, L-5, and so
forth. The U. S. Navy added names to some (but not all); in the 1920s, the
scheme had reached S-51 (the 162nd U. S. submarine). Thenceforth, a
different system was followed: U. S. submarines carried a hull number and
name (usually that of some sea creature), i.e. SS-163,
"Barracuda." The British system: A.5, E.6. Germany did not
differentiate class, only type: all hull numbers began with U-, with type
distinctions such as UA, UB, UC.
Shown
here, U.S. Navy L-class boats, stationed in English waters in 1917. The
prominent "AL" identifier was to avoid confusion with boats of
the British L class.
1917
"Pattern"
camouflage was designed to confuse a U-boat's visual fire-control systems
making it difficult to judge range, size, speed, and course. This
practice continued into World War II, when more sophisticated systems were
introduced.
Submarines themselves employed more natural schemes of camouflage,
typically to blend in with operating conditions: white for arctic waters,
different shades of gray for different parts of the world. Eventually, all
navies adopted some version of the U. S. Navy's "haze gray" for
surface ships, black for submarines.
The American troopship Louisville in full-dress. For the record, not one
soldier was killed by U-boat while being transported always in convoy
either across the Atlantic or across the English Channel.
1917
One vulnerability constantly exploited by the Allies and not fully
appreciated by the Germans: radio intercepts. The Germans knew their
transmissions could be overheard and U-boat locations pin-pointed by
direction finders, but didn't seem to care: they assumed the U-boats would
be long gone before any attackers could arrive on the scene. They didn't
realize that by knowing where the U-boats were operating, the Allies often
could re-route convoys out of harm's way.
1917
Great Britain
introduced the steam-powered K-CLASS. These huge boats at 338 feet and
1883 tons, three times the size of any other in the fleet were built
in response to intelligence reports that Germany was building a 22-knot
submarine. The reports were in error.
So were the K-boats. They took eleven minutes to dive; temperatures in the
boiler room then reached 160 degrees F, and in the engine room, 90 degrees
F, although, since the engines were not running, no one needed to be in
those spaces while submerged. Naval planners were not concerned about the
excessive dive time they assumed that the submarine crews would see
the masts of approaching ships well before the enemy could spot them.
Naval planners seem not to have noticed the introduction of the airplane
and airship to the equation.
1918
The development
of submarine-locating devices began early in the war with hydrophones (a
directional microphone in the water) to listen for the sounds of
propellers, and, too late to be of much use in this war, an echo-ranging
system (the British dubbed it ASDIC which apparently stands for
nothing in particular but now known universally as SONAR, which stands
for "Sound Navigation and Ranging.") By sending out an audible
"ping" and measuring the echo return, an operator can determine
the range and bearing of a submarine.
1918
By summer, much of Germany was in rebellion, and the government began to
move toward armistice. In October, the surface navy refused to go to sea
for one last suicidal battle. The U-boat navy remained loyal; U-135 was
even on alert to attack a renegade German battleship. Last kill: UB-50
sank the British battleship Britannia two days before the November 11
armistice.
SCORECARD: Germany started the war with 26 operational boats and added
390. At war's end, 171 new boats were in the water and another 148 were
under construction. Wartime losses: 173. Mines took out at least 48; depth
charges claimed 30; gunfire, 20; ramming 19; submarines 17; accident, 19;
unknown, 19; aircraft 1.
In
the meantime, U-boats had sunk more than 4,000 ships, more than 11 million
tons fully one-fourth of the world's total supply. In essence,
unrestricted submarine warfare almost won the war for Germany. But Germany
lost the war because of unrestricted submarine warfare.
A
paradox? No, a matter of timing. If the U. S. had not entered the war in
1917, Germany likely would have been able to force a peace agreement. But
the U-boat operations directly and specifically brought America into the
conflict.
Virulent
wartime propaganda to the contrary, there was only one verified U-boat
atrocity during the war: the sinking of the hospital ship Llandovery
Castle by U-86 and the skipper's attempt to hide the evidence by
machine-gunning the survivors in the water. He missed a few. Post-war, he
fled the country to avoid a 1921 war crimes trial; two of his officers
were tried and convicted as accessories. They did not remain too long in
jail, somehow managing to "escape" their German guards within a
few months.
1919
UC-97 became perhaps the only German submarine to be sunk within the
continental United States. One of five U-boats turned over to the U. S.
Navy for post-war study, she toured the Great Lakes as part of a Victory
Bond drive, and was sunk (on purpose) in Lake Michigan a few miles east of
Chicago.
Post-war,
the U. S. Navy began applying lessons-learned from operations and from
a study of the captured U-boats toward new submarine designs. Whereas
the operating areas for the European powers were primarily close to home,
the primary operating area for the U. S. Navy was the Pacific Ocean. Thus,
the Navy needed a boat with good sea-keeping qualities, exceptional range,
high reliability, and a reasonable level of habitability.
1919
Japan, emboldened by their surprise victory over the Russian colossus in
1905 and their successful role in providing escort services in World War
I, began planning for an eventual showdown with the nation they viewed as
their major and logical adversary: the United States. As one of the World
War I allies, Japan received seven of the surrendered U-boats but went a
bit beyond mere "examination." Japan imported some 800 German
technicians, engineers and naval officers to teach them how to design and
build submarines.
1919
Several unfinished K-boats were converted from steam to diesel power. One,
designated M.1, was fitted with a 12-inch naval rifle. In theory, the gun
could be fired while submerged; in practice, the boat had to surface after
each shot to reload the gun. M.1 sank after a collision in 1925.
Another,
designated M.2, was turned into a submarine aircraft carrier. M.2 sank
when the hangar door was opened by mistake while the boat was still
partially submerged.
The big gun gone underwater: the British M.1.
1919
The Treaty of Versailles blocked the German Navy from submarines, and
limited the number of officers to 1500. One of those was U-boat-skipper
Karl Doenitz. He was assigned as commanding officer of a torpedo boat
a submarine on the surface, if you will. He began developing submarine
tactics for the next war.
In secret, Germany acquired a Dutch shipbuilding company which designed
submarines ostensibly for sale to international customers but which also
were prototypes for the next class of German U-boats. In fact, 1931 sea
trials for three boats sold to the Finnish Navy were conducted by German
crews.
1923
Most major
navies have tried to use submarines as aircraft carriers never with
much success. Here, S-1 (the 105th U. S. submarine) was equipped with an
on-deck hangar and the Martin MS-1 seaplane. Wishful thinking; the MS-1
had to be disassembled to fit in the hangar and put together again before
flight, forcing the submarine to remain exposed for too long. In addition,
launching and recovery were virtually impossible in the open ocean.
1925
British tested
the 3,000 ton X.1. armed with four 5.2 inch guns and six 21-inch torpedo
tubes. This was an attempt to build an underwater cruiser. It was not
successful, and was scrapped.
1925
U. S. submarine S-51 was rammed by a steamer and sunk in 130 feet of
water.
Two
years later, S-4 was rammed by a Cost Guard cutter. There was no way that
any survivors might have been rescued, and these accidents led to the
development of the McCann submarine rescue chamber and an increase in
the submarine hazardous duty pay instituted by T. Roosevelt in 1905.
1927
Another "Nautilus" the 168th American submarine, laid down
in 1927 was another effort at putting big guns on submarines; in this
case, twin 6-inch. "Nautilus" offered at least one improvement
of the British and French efforts: these guns could independently be
trained and aimed. However, the shells were too heavy for safe handling
and the V-class boat was too cumbersome for operations as an attack
submarine. "Nautilus" was converted into a seaplane filling
station and amphibious support ship for World War II.
1932
Japanese submarine designers moved out from under the shadow of the
Germans, and, on their own, focused on three basic classes: the I-boats,
most of them about the same size as the German U-cruisers; the RO coastal
boats, about the same size as the German Type VII (see below) but not as
capable; and the HA-series of midget submarines, in many variations.
The Japanese were more serious about submarine aircraft carriers than any
other navy: they built their first, the 2,243 ton, 320-foot I-5, in 1932.
It was equipped with one floatplane. In the next 12 years, they built 28
more, in ever-increasing sizes.
1932
The German
government approved the clandestine construction of sixteen new U-boats.
1935
March 16, German Chancellor Adolph Hitler renounced the Treaty of
Versailles. A few weeks later, the first of a new series, U-1, entered
service.
1935
Captain Doenitz defined his fundamental concepts for the next conflict:
"Tonnage War" and "Wolf Pack." The first replicated
World War I experience sink ships faster than they could be replaced,
for a long enough period, and you could strangle an island nation like
Britain.
The
second teams of seven or eight boats, attacking on the surface, at
night; submerge to escape; re-surface and speed ahead to get in position
for the next night's attack. The 15-knot surface speed of the U-boats was
almost twice that of an average convoy, and equal to that of most
anti-submarine escorts.
As
with World War I, Germany developed several classes of U-boat: typical
were the coastal boats (Type II), long range boats (Type IX), and
jack-of-all-trades boats (Type VII), which became the mainstay of the
fleet: more than 700 completed in six variations, A through F by
the end of the war. Typical displacement (surface) about 760 tons, length
220 feet, range 8,700 miles with a functional endurance of seven or eight
weeks without refueling. Dive time: 20 seconds to a maximum safe depth of
650 feet.
A Type VIIC U-boat the mainstay of the German World War II submarine
fleet being welcomed on return from war patrol.
1938
An experimental 140-foot, 213 ton Japanese HA boat topped 21 knots
submerged. The Japanese also developed the world's most effective torpedo:
the "Long Lance. " The MK95 submarine version had a 900 pound
warhead, wakeless oxygen-fueled turbine, range five miles at 49 knots.
Contemporary U. S. Navy torpedoes had half the warhead and half the range
when they were working. See below.
1939
While on sea trials, the brand-new
U. S. Navy SS-192 "Squalus" sank in 240 feet of water; an
incompletely-closed valve caused flooding in the engine room. Twenty-six
men were killed in the flooded section; there were thirty-three survivors.
All were safely brought to the surface in four round-trips of the McCann
submarine rescue chamber.
"Squalus" was salvaged, renamed "Sailfish," and served
to the end of World War II.
Salvage operations above "Squalus," with two heavy-lift pontoons
about to be sunk and lashed to the hull.
1939
Ten days after the "Squalus" disaster, a junior officer opened
the inner door of a flooded torpedo tube and inadvertently sank the
British submarine "Thetis." A few men got out through an escape
hatch; ninety-nine were lost.
The
British developed an on-board escape system, whereby sailors waiting their
turn to go out through a pressure-modulated airlock (and chest-deep in
water) would be able to breath through individual oxygen masks,
permanently stored in the fore and aft torpedo rooms.
The
British also developed positive interlocks to prevent a recurrence,
salvaged the boat and put it back in service, renamed
"Thunderbolt." She was lost in combat in 1943.
1939
At the beginning of the year, Hitler told Doenitz that he was planning for
a war six years in the future; accordingly, Doenitz developed plans for
the construction of a U-boat fleet of 300 Type VII boats. This would allow
100 on station, 100 in transit and 100 in training or under repair.
However, Germany moved into Czechoslovakia in March and Poland in
September. On the 3rd, the British issued an ultimatum: get out of Poland.
You have two hours to make up your mind. The Germans did not respond.
World War II began.
Germany
then had 57 U-boats in service, only 38 of which could be considered
"sea-going." For the time being, it would be enough.
1939
The U-boat
war started under "prize rules." But not for long. On the first
day, U-30 sank the liner "Athenia" without warning; 122 of 1,100
passengers were killed, including 28 Americans. To their credit, the
German High Command was stunned, although they tried to pretend that the
sinking was caused by a time bomb planted by the British to inflame public
opinion against Germany. As late as January 1940, Minister of Propaganda
Joseph Goebbels was ordering his staff "to continue running the
"Athenia" propaganda . . . bearing in mind the fundamental
principle of all propaganda, i.e. the repetition of effective
arguments." The German public did not learn the true story until
after the war.
Toward
the end of September, the High Command authorized "seizure or sinking
without exception" for merchant ships trying to radio for help when
ordered to stop. A week later, U-boats were instructed to sink without
warning any ship sailing without lights. The commanders were instructed to
enter a note in the log that the sinking was "due to possible
confusion with a warship or auxiliary cruiser."
By
November, all pretense had been withdrawn with Standing Order No. 154:
"Rescue no one and take no one aboard . . . Care only for your own
boat and strive to achieve the next success as soon as possible! We must
be hard in this war."
1939
Dr. Ross Gunn of
the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory suggested that "fission
chambers" using an isotope of uranium, U-235, could be used to power
submarines. In a "Saturday Evening Post" article a year later, a
science writer noted that one pound of U-235 has the equivalent energy of
5 million pounds of coal: "A five pound lump of only 10 to 50 percent
purity would be sufficient to drive ocean liners and submarines back and
forth across the seven seas without refueling for months."
1940
German
scientist Helmuth Walter demonstrated a prototype for the first true
submarine a boat which in theory could operate submerged for an
indefinite period, unlimited by battery capacity or the need for
atmospheric oxygen. V.80 was powered by the decomposition of
highly-concentrated (95 percent) hydrogen peroxide, H2O2, known as
Perhydrol. In essence: when the chemical breaks down, it releases
superheated steam to drive a turbine, along with oxygen to support
conventional combustion or for respiration by the crew.
The
hull-shape of V.80 was optimized for submerged operations, and the boat
indeed demonstrated exceptional speed 28 knots submerged. It also
demonstrated exceptionally high fuel consumption, 25 times that of a
diesel engine, at exceptional cost. According to one source, one 6.5 hour
trial run consumed $200,000 dollars worth of Perhydrol.
The
design showed great promise. However, Hitler thought his war was won, and
plans for the production of a series of Walter boats were put in limbo.
The 1943
experimental 250-ton Type Wa-201 Walter boat, U-792, which hit 25 knots,
submerged, on sea trials.
Research
continued. Perhaps eight, in several variations, 250 and 300 tons, were
put into service, 1943-44
The Type Wa-201 Walter boat, U-793, here partially dismantled at the end
of the war.
Collapsible hydrogen peroxide storage bags being removed from the 300-ton
Type XVIIB Walter boat U-1407 after the war. With the type of storage
outside th pressure hull, fuel could be consumed without appreciable
change in trim seawater simply replaced the depleted volume.
1940
U. S. Navy
ran depth-charge tests against an operational submarine (for most of the
test, moored underwater without crew). They found that 300 pounds of TNT
was not very effective; the explosive charge was doubled to 600 pounds.
1940
In June, France signed an armistice with Germany, and soon three French
bases gave U-boats more convenient access to the open ocean. The eighteen
months between July 1940 and December 1941 were known, to the German
submarine force, as "the happy time." The score seemed limited
only by endurance and weapons loading.
1940
U-boat operations were directed by long-range radio from fleet
headquarters in Germany. The Germans assumed that the traffic would be
intercepted, but didn't care, they were encoding all messages. However,
even coded intercepts were useful; many individual boats could be
identified by their unique radio signature. Even if a firm position could
not be established, an analyst could determine when a boat should be
headed home along one of several reasonably predictable routes.
1940
Italy joined Germany in June, bringing 105 submarines to the Mediterranean
theater. They do not seem to have had much impact.
1940
In ramping up in anticipation of war or, put more delicately,
considering the at-the-time overwhelming public support for continued
neutrality, as a "just in case" prudent measure U. S.
submarine production jumped from six or seven a year through the mid-1930s
to seventy-one for FY1941.
The
Navy settled on SS-212, "Gato," laid down in October, 1940, as
the template: 312 feet, 1,825 tons, range 11,400 miles, 24 torpedoes. Over
time, improvements were made including a thicker pressure hull beginning
with the otherwise more or less identical SS-285, "Balao."
A typical World War II U.S. submarine, the "thick skin" SS-364,
"Hammerhead." Wisconsin's Manitowoc Shipyard developed this
sideways technique to accommodate launching a boat into a narrow river.
1940
On August
17th, Hitler formally declared a total blockade of the British Isles.
Desperate to acquire more escorts, British Prime Minster Winston Churchill
struck a deal with U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt: a loan of 50
over-age World War I American destroyers in exchange for long-term leases
for base facilities in Newfoundland, Bermuda, British Guiana, and the West
Indies.
1940
The first Wolf Pack went into operation in September. Where, in World War
I, the simple fact of "convoy" kept the U-boats at bay, the Wolf
Pack tactic (attack at night, rush ahead to the next rendezvous) set up a
series of long-running battles. Early in the war, escorts were lacking and
escort coordination was minimal. Often, they had not even talked with each
other let alone trained together before meeting up in mid-ocean.
One
example: On October 16, one U-boat spotted a convoy of 35 ships and called
in the rest of his pack, six more boats. Another joined the next day.
After three days, 17 of those ships had been sunk, two other convoys had
been intercepted and 21 more ships sunk, without a single U-boat loss. The
score would have been higher, but most of the submarines had fired all of
their torpedoes and had to go home to re-load.
1940
At the end
of the year, a German Naval Staff study noted the
"accomplishments" of the U-boats, but called for the building of
more battleships, taking shipyard resources away from submarine
construction. At the time, a handful of operational U-boats (often, not
more than ten at a time) were sinking twice as many ships at the surface
fleet
To
enhance morale among civilians and sailors alike a book of fiction
and a feature movie showed Wilhelm Bauer battling bureaucracy and
professional intransigence to reach the forefront of heroes:
"Corporal Wilhelm Bauer, the first man who dove into the
twilight." See 1850, above.
1940
By December,
newly-perfected aircraft-mounted radar could pick up a surface-running
Uboat at seven miles. Not a great distance, but farther than the eye
could see at night. It was a start.
1941
America's role as a "neutral" was somewhat fuzzy: there was a
steady stream of supplies flowing by convoy across the Atlantic, and for
much of the journey, protected by U. S. Navy resources. After several
U-boat attacks sinking an American merchantman in May and a U. S.
destroyer on October 30, with the loss of 115 sailors -- public opinion
(which had been about 70 percent in favor of continued neutrality) began
to shift.
1941
The
code-breaking effort dubbed "Ultra" cracked the German Navy
code; beginning in June and, depending on whether new codes had been
implemented -- the Allies could read much of the U-boat radio traffic
off-and-on throughout the rest of the war.
1941
In August,
U-570 became the first the only submarine ever captured by an
aircraft; under attack, she was forced to the surface and surrendered. An
escort ship soon arrived and took over. U-570 was thus transferred to the
Royal navy, where, re-designated as "Graph," she served until
being wrecked off the west coast of Scotland in March, 1944.
1941
In August,
Adolph Hitler demonstrated a constitutional inability to keep hands off
and let his commanders run the war. Against all advice, in a misguided
effort to protect his supply lines to North Africa, he ordered a shift of
submarines from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. (Misguided? How,
indeed, could a submarine protect a surface ship against the principal
threat, which was air attack?) This soon led to an order to a shift of all
operational boats from the Atlantic theater at a time when there were
Atlantic targets aplenty, and good weather in which to enjoy them. The
"Happy Time" soon came to an end.
1941
Japan
attacked the American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7.
There were 25 I-boats assigned on station around the islands. They did not
see any American warships. Five HA-midgets attempted to penetrate the
harbor before the air attack began; they achieved nothing but their own
destruction. One became the first casualty of the Pacific war, sunk by the
destroyer "Ward" as a unauthorized interloper in the offshore
defensive sea area before the air attack had begun. The destroyer sent
a flash message to headquarters; headquarters thought it might be a false
alarm.
The
battle fleet was seriously damaged, but in time all ships were back in
service except for two obsolete battleships: "Arizona," sunk at
her mornings, and "Oklahoma," which sank while under tow back to
the west coast for repairs.
The
major effects of the attack: to coalesce American public opinion as never
before, and to force the U. S. Navy to abandon an ingrained fascination
with battleships and shift the burden to the new-generation warships, the
aircraft carrier and the submarine.
At
that time, the U. S. Navy had 111 submarines in commission 60 in the
Atlantic, 51 in the Pacific. Many were barely capable. "Gato"
was commissioned at the end of the month; it would be several years before
a fully-capable submarine force was in place.
With
the approval of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the U. S. Navy
implemented unrestricted submarine warfare that same day. To salve the
conscience of those who had for so long deplored German practice, all
Japanese shipping was defined as being in the service of the military, and
thus need not be considered as "merchant vessels."
Submarine pioneer Admiral Chester Nimitz assumed command of the U. S.
Pacific Fleet on December 31, 1941 on board the only available
undamaged warship, the submarine "Grayling." The aircraft
carriers were at sea.
1942
Japan began construction of the 5,223-ton I-400 class of submarine
aircraft carrier, each of which carried three dive-bomber seaplanes.
Designed for attacks against the Panama Canal and the West Coast of the
United States. Twelve were planned; only two were built, and did not see
any useful service.
Japanese
submarines also made some attacks on the West Coast, lobbing shells at
Santa Monica, California, and Astoria, Oregon. The attacks had minor
effect, although Radio Tokyo gloated, "Americans know that the
submarine shelling of the Pacific coast was a warning to the nation that
the paradise created by George Washington is on the verge of
destruction."
1942
Doenitz had hoped to send a blitzkrieg of U-boats against the East Coast
of America, but Hitler, fearful of an Allied invasion of Norway, forced
him to keep most of his assets closer to home. Nonetheless, he managed to
get five long-range cruisers into position in January where they found
the whole coastline lit up like Times Square on New Year's Eve: no
blackouts, all navigational aids aiding, all ships sailing with full
navigational lights. It was high tourist season in Miami and the war was
3000 miles away; the northward-flowing Gulf Stream just a few miles
offshore kept southward-bound ships close inshore, nicely silhouetted
against a glowing Florida skyline. The score for two and a half months in
American coastal waters: 98 ships. Coastal communities did not go under
blackout until April.
1942
The "Battle of the Atlantic" began in July, and continued for
eleven months; the U-boats scored some 712 merchant victims. Ships were
being sunk at more than twice the replacement rate, and new U-boats were
joining the fleet at a rate of about one a day. Also in July, the Germans
began deployment of a mid-ocean filling station. The Type XIV boat had a
capacity for 700 tons of fuel and other supplies, rather than armaments.
Dubbed the "Milk Cow," one could keep a dozen Type VII at sea
for another month, or five Type IX for two months.
1942
On September 13, in what may be the most spectacular albeit unplanned
submarine event of all time, the Japanese I-19 launched a spread of
six torpedoes at the aircraft carrier "Wasp." Three hit, sinking
the ship. The others continued running for twelve miles, into another task
group, where one caused fatal damage to the destroyer "O'Brien"
and other send the battleship "North Carolina" to the shipyard
for two months. The sixth cruised on, into the unknown.
1942
Technological
advances such as improved radar, the radar altimeter, the aircraft
searchlight, and effective air-dropped depth charges began to enter the
force. Before long, aircraft were accounting for 50 percent of all U-boat
sinkings.
1942
By the end
of the year, with the U-boat fleet clearly in trouble, Hitler authorized
the design of a fully combat-capable Walter-cycle 1,600 ton U-boat,
designated Type XVIII. Two prototypes were ordered. However, it was soon
obvious that there was not enough time or money to turn this dream
into reality. The design was converted into a conventionally-powered
submarine diesel on the surface, batteries for submerged running
and the rather large space intended for storage of the Perhydrol was given
over to an extra-large bank of batteries.
Two
classes were ordered: the 1,600-ton Type XXI, and a coastal version, the
230-ton XXIII. Type XXI had only half the range of the comparable Type IX,
could manage bursts of 17 knots underwater (compared with 7 knots), dive
to almost 1,000 feet (300 feet deeper), and remain totally submerged at
economical creep speed for 11 days. With a sophisticated fire control
system the Type XXI could launch an attack from a depth of 150 feet.
Type
XXIII had twice the submerged speed and five times the underwater
endurance of the small pre-war Type II. However, combat effectiveness was
severely limited: two torpedoes, no reloads. All other submarine
construction was quickly phased out in favor of Type XXI and Type XXIII.
1943
Hoping to hide existing U-boats from the increasingly devastating air
patrols, Germany perfected an idea that had been kicking around for a long
time: use of a breathing tube to allow running on diesel power just below
the surface, thus also keeping the batteries fully charged. They dubbed it
the "snorkel." It was not a perfect solution: the tube could
break if the boat was going too fast; the ball-float at the top would
close if a wave passed over, thus shifting engine suction to the interior
of the boat and occasionally popping a few eardrums. The snorkel also left
a visible wake, and returned a pretty good radar blip. But it helped.
1943
The Germans
underestimated the industrial capacity of the United States. The
prediction against which "Tonnage War" was by then being waged
was that the 1943 ship-production of Great Britain and the U. S. together
would be less than 8 million tons. The U. S. alone launched more than
double that figure.
The
Germans also underestimated the ability of the Allies to develop and
implement highly-effective anti submarine weapons and tactics. During the
year, the U. S. Navy established anti-submarine "Hunter-Killer"
groups, centered on the small, "Jeep" carrier. Long-range
aircraft, such as the B-24 adapted for anti-submarine efforts, went into
service. Among other efforts, they put an end to the "Milk Cow."
The rendezvous were too easy to spot by air patrol. Of nine Type XIV in
service in June, 1943, seven had been sunk by August.
Also
operational: the "hedgehog" so-called because the array of
twenty-four 65-pound projectiles looked like the bristles of a porcupine.
Launched 230 yards in front of the surface warship, the projectiles would
cover a 100-foot circle, and explode on contact. The wepaon proved to be
highly effective.
By
the end of May, 1943, the Germans had clearly lost the Battle of the
Atlantic. In that month alone, 41 U-boats were sunk 25 percent of
current operational strength. Things got worse: in the last four months of
the year, almost 5,000 ships sailed in Atlantic convoys; nine were lost.
Sixty-two U-boats were destroyed.
1944
In June, a
Hunter-Killer group became the first American force to capture an enemy
warship on the high seas since the War of 1812. The Type IX boat, U-505,
was forced to the surface by depth charges; quick action by a boarding
party saved the boat from being scuttled by the crew. U-505 is now a
permanent exhibit at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. In a small
quirk of fate, it is only several dozen miles from the wreckage of the
World War I UC-97.
The captured U-505 and the American jeep carrier, "Guadalcanal."
1944
In a reprise
of the "Deutschland" efforts of World War I to move
high-priority cargo through the blockade, the Japanese cargo-carrying I-52
(356 feet long, cruising range of 27,000 miles at 12 knots) was sent from
Indonesia with a cargo of ruber, tin, opium, quinine, tungsten, molybdenum
and 2 metric tons of gold bullion, bound for Nazi-occupied France.
Allied
radio intercepts had pin-pointed a mid-ocean rendezvous with U-530, to
transfer a coast pilot, a radar technician and some new radar equipment to
assist I-52 in running the Allied gauntlet. Sunk on June 23, 1944, by an
aircraft from the jeep-carrier USS BOGUE, I-52 was discovered in May, 1995
-- lying under 17,000 feet of water.
1944
The
American verison of code-breaking, dubbed the "Pacific Ultra,"
allowed the fleet to plot Japanese merchant convoys in advance no need
for long open-ocean hunting expeditions. U. S. submarine production was
scaled back radically early in the year the already-existing submarine
force was running out of targets. With perhaps 140 submarines operating in
the Pacific, the U. S. Navy submarines sank more than 600 Japanese ships,
2.7 million tons more than for the years 1941, 1942 and 1943 combined.
As
the targets disappeared, many submarines were assigned to picket duty to
rescue downed aviators making B-29 raids on Japan, or anyone else who
happened along. A total of 540 were hauled aboard including the
youngest pilot in the U. S. Navy, Lt(jg) George Bush.
1944
Japan fielded
the "Kaiten" suicide torpedo, incorporating elements of the
24-inch, 40-knot version of the "Long Lance" with a control
compartment into which the pilot was locked. Range: not more than five
hours, no matter what. "Kaiten" were carried into battle by
I-class submarines; the record is ambiguous. A fairly large number of
"Kaiten" were sent into action; one American tanker and a small
landing ship were sunk, perhaps also a destroyer escort, and two
transports were damaged.
One model of the "Kaiten" sucide torpedo
1944
Germany, also
pursuing weapons of desperation, developed a two-man, two-torpedo midget
submarine, the "Seehund." Thirty-nine feet long, fifteen tons,
"Seehund" could dive to 165 feet with a surface range of 120
miles at 8 knots, or 250 miles at 5 knots; submerged, 20 miles at 5 knots,
60 miles at 3 knots. At least 268 had been built and were ready for
service when the war ended in May, 1945.
1944
To minimize
the effect of Allied bombing, the late-war Type XXI boats were built in
virtually complete sections at scattered locations, and transported by
barge to assembly yards.
Note the "figure 8" cross section of the pressure hull. The
lower section was initially intended for storage of hydrogen peroxide for
a Walter powerplant; it became, instead, the compartment for the enlarged
battery capacity that gave these boats the nickname "Electroboot."
1944
The largest ship ever sunk by a submarine: the brand-new aircraft carrier
"Shinano," 71,890 tons, November 28, by the U. S. submarine
"Archerfish."
1945
The first Type XXIII went on war patrol in February. By the end of the
European war May 7 six were in service, 53 were in the water, and
900 were under construction or on order.
The
first Type XXI, U-2511, left Hamburg on war patrol on April 30; when she
returned home to surrender, 30 Type XXI were in shakedown and training,
121 were in the water and another 1000 were under construction or on
order.
U-3008, one of only two Type XXI U-boats to make a wartime patrol
albeit brief, as the war ended en route.
For some, the war ended too soon. With more hope than sense, Germany had
more than 1,900 Type XXI and Type XXIII under construction or on order on
the last day of the European war.
1945
Germany's largest U-boat, the 1,700 ton Type XB minelayer U-234 was at
sea when the war ended, and surrendered in mid-ocean to an American
destroyer escort. Her original destination had been Japan; her cargo
included two complete ME-262 jet fighters (disassembled in crates, but
with complete technical data) and 550 kilograms of Uranium 235 (or Uranium
oxide -- sources differ), packed in lead containers. The reason the
uranium was being sent to Japan has never been determined or, at
least, revealed.
1945
SCORECARD
GERMANY
U-boats claimed 14.4 million tons, but Germany lost 821 U-boats. Allied
aircraft were responsible for (or directly involved in) the loss of 433;
surface ships, 252; mines, 34; accidents 45, submarines 25 (only one of
which happened when both hunter and victim were submerged); unknown, 15,
scuttled by their own crews, 14; interned in neutral ports, 2; sunk by
shore battery, 1.
UNITED
STATES: American submarines sank at least 1300 Japanese ships, 5.3 million
tons, including one battleship, eight carriers, eleven cruisers and 180
smaller warships. The U. S. Navy lost 52 boats; 22 percent of the
submarine personnel who went on patrol did not return. It was the highest
casualty rate of any branch of service but not as high as that of the
German submarine force, which lost an astonishing 630 men out of every
1,000 who served in the U-boat fleet.
SOVIET
RUSSIA: The Soviets started the war with the largest submarine fleet: 218.
They added 54 and lost 109. They did not have much impact on the course of
the war. However, S-13 was credited with the single greatest disaster in
maritime history: the 1945 sinking of the German liner "Wilhelm
Gustloff," engaged in an effort to get German soldiers out of the
path of the advancing Red Army. There may have been more than 8,000 troops
and civilians aboard; fewer than 1,000 were rescued.
JAPAN:
Japanese submarines had great success early in the war, especially in the
Indian Ocean area. However, the tide of battle began to turn with the
Allied invasion of Guadalcanal in August, 1942, and Japanese submarines
were pulled off combat duty and assigned to carry vital supplies to
beleaguered troops or to pull troops out of failing campaigns. The
Japanese built submarine landing ships; the Japanese Army built twenty
eight cargo submarines.
Japanese
submarines scored a few important victories the carriers
"Yorktown" and "Wasp," and the last American surface
warship sunk, the cruiser "Indianapolis" in late July, 1945;
overall, however, they sank only about one-fifth as many ships as did the
American submarine force.
On
the last day of the Pacific war, Japan had only 33 submarines in
commission (excluding midgets), seven of which were in the training
command. Except for the midgets, the submarine force had become
irrelevant.
With more desperation than hope, the Japanese launched a massive building
program of suicide and midget submarines. Here, eighty-four midgets, of
four different designs, are huddled in drydock, October, 1945.
1945
Just as with WWI, there was only one verified German submarine atrocity.
In March, 1944, a U-boat commander, on his first combat mission, ordered
his crew to kill all survivors of "Peleos" and try to pulverize
all floating wreckage with hand-grenades. His motive: to hide the sinking
from patrolling aircraft and thus conceal his own presence in the area.
He, and two of his officers (who claimed they were only "following
orders") were convicted and executed.
1945
Karl Doenitz,
who started the war as commander of submarines, became Navy Chief of Staff
in January, 1943, and ended the war as Hitler's chosen successor as Chief
of State even though he had never been a member of the Nazi Party.
Hitler committed suicide on April 30; Doenitz assumed command on May 1
and issued "cease fire" orders on May 3.
The
1945 Nuremberg War Crimes tribunal brought Doenitz up on charges,
especially for "breeches of the international law of submarine
warfare" for authorizing and encouraging unrestricted operations. The
best witness in his defense: U. S. Admiral Chester Nimitz, who
acknowledged that the United States Navy had authorized unrestricted
operations against Japan, throughout the Pacific ocean area, from the
first days of the war.
Nonetheless,
Doenitz was sentenced to ten years imprisonment for being "fully
prepared to wage war" a specious charge, in the eyes of most
observers; any military force should always be thus prepared. Most
observers believed that he was being tried as a stand-in for the
unavailable Adolph Hitler.
1945
The U. S. Navy
took two Type XXI and a handful of Japanese boats for study, and applied
some lessons-learned to a fleet upgrade dubbed "Greater Underwater
Propulsive Power" (GUPPY).
Fifty-two boats were modified: snorkels were added, guns removed, the
superstructures streamlined, and battery-power greatly increased. Another
nineteen boats received some improvements. The net result: greatly
increased underwater speed and endurance.
1946
Dr. Philip
Abelson proposed a marriage of the Walter hull form with a nuclear power
plant. The Navy detailed eight engineers to the home of the Atomic Bomb,
Oak Ridge, Tennessee, to see what might be developed.
1947
Testing some newly-discovered peculiarities concerning the transmission of
sound in the open ocean, a U. S. submarine was able to detect a destroyer
at a distance of 105 miles and hear depth-charges exploding 600 miles
away. This, and other research, led to the development of a deep-ocean
array of hydrophones called SOSUS. One of the earliest installations could
detect a snorkeling submarine at 500 miles.
1948
The U. S. Navy began experimenting with submarine-launched missiles,
starting with a copy of the German V-1 buzz bomb.
Loon was tracked by radar and command-controlled from the submarine.
However, erection of the launching ramp and preparation of the missile
kept the submarine on the surface for five minutes; therefore, a hand-off
control system was developed, whereby another submarine, 80 miles
downrange, could take over for the last 55 miles of missile flight.
1950
The Soviet
Union moved to regain status as operator of the world's largest submarine
fleet: over the following eight years, they built 235 "Whiskey"
class, using the Type XXI as a template.
1950
"Pickerel"
ran from Hong Kong to Pearl Harbor twenty-one days, 5,194 miles, on
snorkel.
1950
One of the
officers detailed to Oak Ridge in 1946 assumed control of the Navy nuclear
propulsion program (and kept control, until finally retired in 1982).
Captain Rickover was a submariner and an engineer, with a passion for
safety and an obsession for control. He was brilliant, and difficult
and made nuclear power a reality, not just in submarines, but in many
major surface warships as well.
He
also well-understood the role of the Congress in procurement decisions;
his friends on Capitol Hill ensured Rickover's professional standing by
assisting in a series of promotions, eventually to the four-star rank of
admiral.
1952
"Tang,"
the first of the post-war U. S. submarines, set an American depth record,
713 feet.
1953
The next generation sub-launched missile was "Regulus I," able
to carry a 3,000 pound nuclear warhead for five hundred miles.
The missile hangar on "Grayback," SSG-574, could house two
"Regulus I" missiles and was integrated into the hull. When
"Regulus" was overtaken by later developments, the hangar became
a compartment for clandestine amphibious assault troops.
1953
The U. S.
Navy began operation of a fast-submarine test bed, the 203-foot
"Albacore." The hull form was similar to that of an airship; the
boat went through five experimental configurations; in the first, she
demonstrated underwater speeds of 26 knots.
The successful hull-form was applied to the last class of U. S. diesel
boats, "Barbel," 1959, (shown here) and to the
"Skipjack" nuclear class, 1959.
Testing completed, "Albacore" was retired to a public park near
Portsmouth, NH -- towed in along a ditch dug for the purpose, which was
then filled in. These photos -- courtesy of Robert Marble -- show
"Albacore" in place, but not yet dressed for company.
1954
The first
nuclear-powered submarine went to sea: the 323-foot, 3,674-ton
"Nautilus." Surface speed 18 knots, 23 knots submerged. On her
shakedown cruise, she steamed 1,381 miles from New London to San Juan,
Puerto Rico submerged all the way at an average speed of 15 knots. She
was so fast that, on her first exercise with an ASW force, she outran the
homing torpedoes.
Note the use of the term, "steamed." The nuclear plant finally
made a steam-powered submarine practical: the reactor generates heat that
turns water into steam to drive the turbine. Two different reactor
configurations were proposed: one used pressurized water to transfer heat
from the reactor to the steam plant, the other used a liquid sodium
potassium alloy.
Rickover built one of each; the first was installed in
"Nautilus," the other in the second nuclear boat, "Seawolf,"
where it proved to be difficult to maintain and not as effective as the
"Nautilus" plant. It was replaced a few years later.
The Walter hull-form ancestry is clearly shown in this 1985
post-retirement photo (while "Nautilus" was being taken to a
memorial berth at Groton, Connecticut).
1955
The U. S. Navy experimented with various propulsion systems, including
so-called "closed circuit" engines that did not require access
to atmospheric oxygen. However, development of the nuclear power-plant
tended to put other technologies on the shelf at least, in the United
States. The development of closed-circuit systems has continued,
especially in some European navies seeking a lower-cost alternative to
nuclear power.
The 49-foot-long X-1 tested a closed-circuit diesel-hydrogen peroxide
plant, which exploded in May 1957 and was removed.
1955
Based on
hard experience with the Japanese "kamikaze" suicide aircraft,
the U. S. Navy developed a prototype nuclear-powered radar-picket
submarine. At 447 feet and 5,963 tons, "Triton" was the largest
U. S. submarine to date, but by the time she was in commission, in 1959,
advances in airborne detection systems had rendered her intended mission
unnecessary. She became the first nuclear boat to be retired, 1969.
1956
The German V-2 rocket became the U.S. Air Force "Jupiter"
missile; although exceeding large, at least one scheme was proposed to
mount four V-2s in a submarine. However, timely development of the
"Polaris" missile permitted sixteen on a boat.
The
V-2 -- a 46-foot long, 5.5 foot diameter (12 feet across the
fins),12.46-ton missile fueled by liquid oxygen and alcohol on a
submarine? Well, no.
The
A-1 "Polaris" solid-fuel, compact (28 feet and 4.6 feet),
range 1,200 miles was ready for deployment by 1960. An A-2 version,
1,500 miles, entered service in 1962, followed a year later by the 2,500
mile A-3, all of which could fit in the same launch tubes. Here, tube
hatches open on "Sam Rayburn," SSBN-635 one of 41 U. S.
ballistic missile submarines built between 1960 and 1968.
1958
The Soviet Union
fielded their first nuclear powered submarine. They gained a head start by
following, stealing from, and copying, the Americans. Five years into
their program, the Soviets had 24 nuclear boats in three classes, all with
the same reactor.
Unfortunately
for submarine crews the Soviets had copied what they saw, but
apparently did not understand the underlying problems which could be
associated with the use of nuclear power. There are rumors that entire
crews of early Soviet boats may later have died from radiation poisoning.
1959
The first
submarine to utilize the potential of both the nuclear powerplant and the
high-speed "Albacore" hull was "Skipjack"
officially rated at 29 knots, submerged.
1960
"Triton"
completed the first submerged circumnavigation of the globe: 36,014 miles
in eighty-four days.
"Triton," SSN 586
1963
The U. S.
Navy has lost two nuclear submarines, to accident. The first was
"Thresher," on April 10, 1963. After two years in commission,
the boat had just come out of a shipyard availability and was on sea
trials when something went wrong perhaps the rupture of a section of
piping, no one knows for certain. "Thresher" sank in some 8,300
feet, taking 128 crew members with her. The boat had an operational depth
of 1,300 feet more than any other U. S. submarine class to that date
but clearly the hull would have passed "crush depth" well
before hitting bottom.
At
least two things came out of this accident. The first: the entire design
was scoured, looking for any possible defects; they were corrected in all
boats of the class then under construction.
The
second: in recognition of the fact that the U. S. had no viable method for
rescuing trapped submariners at any depth below a few hundred feet. Thus
was developed the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV), to assist any
submarine that bottomed short of crush depth.
The DSRV is air-transportable, able to mate with and remove crew from U.
S. submarines to a depth of at least 5,000 feet. Two were built; neither
has ever been needed.
The accident also spurred the adoption of an individual escape suit, the
"Steinke Hood," designed and tested in 1961 by a junior officer,
Harris Steinke. While this would have been of little use to
"Thresher" crew, it has been demonstrated to an open-ocean depth
of 318 feet.
1965
"Albacore"
was reported to have set an underwater speed record of 33 knots, although
the "official" speed is posted as 25 knots.
1968
The second
U. S. nuclear submarine lost: USS SCORPION (SSN-589), possibly the victim
of one of her own torpedoes, May 22. The accident may have been monitored
by the then-secret SOSUS sound arrays planted on the ocean bottom.
1968
A Soviet
"November" class nuclear submarine surprised the U. S. Navy by
keeping up with a 31-knot high-speed task force led by the nuclear-powered
aircraft carrier "Enterprise."
USS LOS ANGELES, SSN 688.
Spooked
by the "November" surprise, the U. S. Navy developed a new class
of fast attack boats, "Los Angeles." The class had some teething
problems, but the 62 boats in the class demonstrated respectable
performance, with submerged speed in excess of 30 knots.
1971
The C-3 missile, "Poseidon," with multiple
independently-targeted warheads, went to sea.
1972
Development was underway on the next generation submarine-launched
ballistic missile, "Trident," C-4. With twice the range of the
C-3, a C-4 equipped submarine could launch at the most logical targets in
the Cold War world while sitting in New York harbor. The United States
would no longer be required to maintain overseas submarine bases in
Scotland, Spain, and Guam; in truth, those bases were closed when the C-4
became operational. The C-4 missile first flew in January, 1977.
The
C-4 did pose some problems for the people who design submarines. Too large
to fit in any extant sub design, "Trident" required a new, very
large class of submarine: "Ohio," 560 feet long, 42 feet wide,
16,674 tons.
USS OHIO, SSBN 726. Eighteen have been built. The first entered service in
1981.
1974
The American Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) attempted to raise a Soviet
GOLF-class Soviet diesel-powered boat, K-129 (which sank in 1968) -- under
cover of a deep-ocean mineral recovery effort using a ship built for the
purpose, the "Glomar Explorer." In the event -- code name
"Project Jennifer" -- the sub apparently broke apart and the
back half fell back to the bottom.
1982
During the
Falklands War, two British ASW carriers, more than a dozen other surface
warships, five submarines (four of them nuclear) and a gaggle of
patrolling aircraft were occupied almost paralyzed in protecting
the force against two badly maintained, poorly manned Argentine submarines
one, a post-World War II Guppy and the other an eight-year old German
boat that, in the end, had nil effect upon the war. The predictions of
Fulton and Admiral Dewey as valid as ever.
However
be not deceived by this comic-opera vignette: the submarine war, on
the other side, was deadly serious business. The British submarine
"Conqueror" sank the World War II-vintage Argentine cruiser
"Belgrano" (ex- USS Phoenix) with two World War II-vintage
torpedoes; 368 sailors were killed.
1982
Planning
began for the next-generation American attack submarine: "Seawolf,"
SSN-21. The hull number was adjusted the next in the series would have
been 774 to celebrate "Seawolf" as the "submarine of
the 21st Century." Size: 353 feet, 40 foot diameter, 8,000 tons
and with the most sophisticated systems imaginable. Top speed: probably in
excess of 35 knots.
According
to one program manager, when underway at quiet speed, "Seawolf"
would be as quiet as a "Los Angeles" boat sitting at the pier.
Quiet speed may be in excess of 20 knots.
1986
On October 6, a Soviet YANKEE-Class nuclear-powered missile boat, K-291
sanks in Atlantic, 680 miles northeast of Bermuda, from an explosion in a
missile tube.
1989
Soviet submarine "Komsomolets" sank in the Norwegian sea. Most
of the crew were able to abandon ship; 34 of them died from
hypothermia, heart failure or drowning while waiting for rescue in the
frigid waters.
This
accident prompted the Russians to develop individual escape-survival suits
(designated SSP), rated to a depth of 328 feet, and led the U. S. Navy to
adopt the Mark 10 British-designed Submarine Escape Immersion Module (SEIE).
This provides individual full-body thermal protection, and has been tested
to 600 feet.
1994
Shown below: photos of Russian submarines during the Summer of 1994. Top:
a Delta III-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile boat; below, a Victor
III-class nuclear-powered attack submarine.
1997
"Seawolf" joins the fleet.
USS SEAWOLF, SSN-21, on sea trials, 1996.
1997
In preparation for development of the next submarine class
("Virginia"), the U. S. Navy elected to create a one-fourth
scale, unmanned, submarine, to test new and emerging technologies before
they are committed to full-scale ships. Designated the Large Scale Vehicle
(LSV) 2 and named after a species of trout, "Cutthroat," the
111-foot boat is scheduled for delivery to the Navy in the Spring of 2001.
2000
The U.S.
Navy is testing "Avenger," a 65-ft mini-sub with a closed-cycle
engine powered by diesel fuel and liquid oxygen. Intended for use by the
SEALs -- the Navy's clandestine amphibious assault teams --
"Avenger" can carry 18 troops and a crew of 6.
2000
The Russian missile attack submarine "Kursk" K-141 sank while on
maneuvers in the Barents Sea. Placed in service in 1995, the 510-foot
Oscar II-class "Kursk" had a surface displacement of 14,700 tons
and speed in excess of 30 knots. On August 12, the sound of at least two
explosions were picked up by The Norwegian Seismic Service and five other
ships operating in the area including two American and one British
submarine shadowing the exercises. The actual cause of the accident is
unknown, although "Kursk" had radioed for permission to launch
an exercise torpedo about an hour and a half earlier.
"Kursk"
went down in about 350 feet of water with 118 men. Although the boat was
equipped with several escape systems including individual
escape-survival suits none were used. Efforts to reach "Kursk"
were hampered by weather, but upon inspection, authorities determined that
there probably had not been any survivors. Initial reports of tapping from
inside may have been accurate -- we now know that there were at least
twenty-three survivors . . . for a time.
"Kursk"
was subsequently raised (except for the immediate bow section, which may
contain hair-trigger ordnance) and is being studied.
2000
In this year of the "official" 100th Anniversary of the
submarine dating from the purchase of "Holland" by the U. S.
Navy some 47 nations operate more than 700 submarines, almost three
hundred of them nuclear powered. New designs are being pursued in the
United States, Germany, Italy, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Japan.
The
submarine appears to be in the best of international health.
This
completes the history of the military submarines, and we now have a pretty
good picture of the background. I guess that by now you are pretty keen on
getting your model started, right? Well, lets turn on to just that.
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