Cachalot class submarine
 USS Cachalot (SS-170) the lead ship of the class |
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Cachalot-class submarine |
| Builders: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Electric Boat Company |
| Operators: |  United States Navy |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Retired: | 2 |
| Preserved: | 0 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,100 long tons (1,100 t) surfaced 1,650 long tons (1,680 t) submerged |
| Length: | 260 ft (79 m) waterline, 274 ft (84 m) overall |
| Beam: | 24 ft 1 in (7.34 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 10 in (4.22 m) |
| Installed power: | 2x120-cell Exide WLLH29B batteries[1] |
| Propulsion: | • two Maschinenfabrik-Augsburg-Nürnberg (MAN) two-cycle nine-cylinder[2] diesels, 1,535 hp (145 kW) each • one MAN four-cycle[2] auxiliary diesel • 2 × Westinghouse motors, 800 hp (597 kW) each[3]h[3] • 2 propshafts |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) surfaced 7 knots (13 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)[4] (20,000 km at 19 km/h) surfaced • 83,290 US gallons (315,300 L) oil fuel[4] |
| Endurance: | 10 hours at 5 knots (9.3 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Complement: | 6 officers, 39 men (peacetime); 7 officers, 48 men (war)[4] |
| Armament: | • 6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (4 forward, 2 aft, 16 torpedoes)[5] • 1 × 3-inch/50-caliber gun • 2 × .30-caliber (7.62mm) machine guns |
The Cachalot-class submarines were a pair of medium-sized submarines of the United States Navy built under the tonnage limits of the London Naval Treaty of 1930. They were originally given hull classification symbols V-8 and V-9 and so were known as "V-boats" even though they were unrelated to the other seven submarines (V-1 through V-7) constructed between World War I and World War II. Joseph W. Paige[4] of the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) developed the basic design, but the builder, Electric Boat, was responsible for detailed arrangement; this was fairly bold, since EB had not built any new submarines since finishing four obsolescent boats for Peru.[4]
Although externally much like the later "fleet submarines," internally the Cachalots were quite different. Due to pressure from the Submarine Officers Conference,[4] they featured full double hulls adapted from the Kaiserliche Marine's U-135,[4] direct-drive diesel propulsion systems, a separate crew's mess (reinstated thanks to EB's rearrangement of the internal layout; Portsmouth would follow soon after),[4] and considerable space around the conning tower within the large bridge fairwater (which was drastically cut down in World War II when the three-inch (76 mm) gun was relocated forward of the bridge). EB also relied on electric welding, while Portsmouth clung to riveting;[4] during the war, the riveted boats would leak fuel oil.[6]
The external tanks proved too narrow for easy maintenance,[7] and the MAN diesels were a constant headache, demanding re-engining[7] in 1936.[8] On the other hand, the class made a major contribution to habitability, when Cuttlefish was the first sub fitted with air conditioning,[7] and to effectiveness, being first fitted with the Mark I Torpedo Data Computer (TDC).[9]
Size reduction had gone too far with the Cachalots, limiting their patrol endurance,[4] and they were soon relegated to training.[7]
[edit] Ships
[edit] Notes
- ^ Alden, John D., Commander, USN (retired). The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979), p.211.
- ^ a b Alden, p.210.
- ^ a b Alden, p.211.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Alden, p.38.
- ^ Leton, H.T. American Submarines (Doubleday, 1973), p.37.
- ^ Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory (Lippincott, 1975).
- ^ a b c d Alden, p.39.
- ^ Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 5, p.509, "Cachalot".
- ^ Alden, p.39. This replaced the older "banjo" and "Is/Was" used in S-boats, as described in Ned Beach's Run Silent, Run Deep.
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