Grayback class
 Grayback 1982 on the surface of the water |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Submarine with cruise missiles |
| units | 2 built, 0 active |
| Namesake | American whitefish - Coregonus artedi |
| period of service |
1958-1984 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
3515–3650 tons submerged |
| length |
96.8-101.8 m |
| width |
8.3-9-1 m |
| Draft |
5.8 m |
| crew |
approx. 10 officers, 78 men |
| drive |
Diesel-electric, 2 shafts |
| speed |
approx. 15 knots |
| Armament |
Regulus launcher |
The Grayback class was a ship class of cruise missile submarines with diesel-electric propulsion of the United States Navy . The two units in the class were USS Grayback (SSG-574) and USS Growler (SSG-577) . Both were put into service in 1958 and retired again in 1964, as the cruise missiles lagged behind the submarine-based ballistic missiles in terms of their range . The Grayback was reactivated as a transport submarine in 1969 and served in this function until 1984, while her sister ship remained in the reserve fleet.
The main armament of the boats consisted of four nuclear-armed cruise missiles of the type SSM-N-8A Regulus or two SSM-N-9 Regulus II . With these weapons, the boats patrolled the Pacific and were part of the policy of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War .
history
Planning and construction
From 1947, after World War II , the US Navy began experimenting with cruise missiles. In this context, submarines were also equipped with cruise missiles. The two World War II boats USS Tunny (SS-282) and USS Barbero (SS-317) were equipped with the first Regulus models, and in 1953 the first launch of such a cruise missile took place.
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However, the US Navy did not plan to build any more boats of this type for the time being and was planning more conventional hunting submarines. In the GUPPY program, World War II submarines had already been modernized, and new boats were known as the Tang class . In 1953 the Grayback was commissioned as a class ship of a further improved Tang class, in 1954 the USS Darter (SS-576) as the second and in 1955 the Growler as the third unit of the class. The shipyard of the Grayback was the Mare Island Naval Shipyard , the Darter Electric Boat and Growler was built on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard .
However, since the Navy had now developed the improved Regulus II, which could be used as a deterrent weapon from its range , the Navy decided to equip more submarines for the launch of cruise missiles. In 1956 the nuclear powered USS Halibut (SSGN-587) was commissioned in order to also quickly own modern, conventionally powered submarines with cruise missiles, the Navy decided in 1956 to modernize the Grayback and the Growler accordingly instead of newbuildings . For this purpose, the hulls, the construction of which was already well advanced, were extended in the bow area to include the cruise missile hangars. There were also differences internally in terms of the room layout in the rear area.
In 1957 ( Grayback ) and 1958 ( Growler ) the two boats were launched as cruise missile platforms and both were put into service in 1958. Darter was completed as a hunting submarine. The construction costs are not known.
Working time
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In 1959, both boats of the class were stationed in Pearl Harbor , Hawaii. However, since the Navy had already canceled the Regulus II program shortly after the launch, the boats started with Regulus I, only Grayback fired one of these missiles during their testing. Instead of the Regulus II, the Navy developed the submarine-supported ballistic missile of the type UGM-27 Polaris , and with this also corresponding submarines with ballistic missiles (SSBN). In 1964 the first SSBN of the classes George Washington , Ethan Allen and Lafayette completely took over the deterrence of the five cruise missile submarines, accordingly the two Graybacks were decommissioned in the same year, after only nine deterrent patrols each, and the reserve fleet allocated. Accordingly, other planned SSGs were no longer completed.
The Grayback was reactivated in 1968 and modified in the Mare Island Naval Shipayrd. It was used from 1969 as a transport submarine for special forces who used the cruise missile hangars for secret embarkation and disembarkation. However, since the cost of the conversion was twice as high as planned at $ 30 million, Growler abandoned similar plans and left them in the reserve fleet. The Grayback remained in service until 1984.
Growler was removed from the Naval Vessel Register in 1980 and intended for sinking as a target ship, as was the Grayback after its decommissioning in 1984. While the Grayback was actually sunk off Naval Base Subic Bay in 1986 , the Growler was saved. In 1988 it was donated to the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum and is now a museum ship in New York City .
technology
hull
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The original hull of the Grayback as a hunting submarine was around 85 meters long. With the addition of the rocket section, the length increased to around 98 meters. Growler was about four feet shorter. The two boats also differed slightly in width: at 9.1 meters , Grayback was around 80 centimeters wider than Growler . Both boats had a draft of 5.8 meters. The pressure hull of the Grayback was 5.5 meters in diameter, that of the Growler was only 4.9 meters. Correspondingly, the maximum displacement of the grayback was 3650 tons (ts) around 100 ts higher than that of the growlers . The tower rises about 7 meters above the deck amidships. The maximum permissible diving depth of the boats in peacetime was 215 meters (700 feet), the depth of destruction at which the structural integrity of the hull can no longer be guaranteed was 1.5 times that, i.e. around 320 meters (1050 feet). During Grayback's conversation about the transport submarine, the submarine was lengthened again so that when it was put back into service in 1969 it measured around 101.8 meters. In the course of this renovation, the tower was also significantly increased.
The shape of the hull was quite unusual due to the raised bow area. The design of the hunting submarine as originally intended was still inspired by the World War II submarines, with a flat deck, sharp destroyer bow and two propellers. This made the boats of the Grayback class among the last completed submarines in the US Navy that still had this old hull shape; the following classes had a hull in the shape of a teardrop, as it had already been realized in 1953 on the USS Albacore (AGSS-569) . The exterior of the graybacks is dominated by the hangar for the cruise missiles. The cladding for this takes up around 30 meters from the bow, at this point the deck protrudes 3.4 meters above the main deck.
The command center of the submarines was located directly under the tower. Towards the bow were the dormitories for the officers and men, with the navigation and control rooms for the Regulus in between ; in front of it was the bow torpedo room. In the aft direction, the control center was followed by trade fairs and lounges, then the engine systems and, in the stern, the aft torpedo room. Growler had a slightly different internal layout, the crews were housed there behind the command center. There were two deck levels amidships on both boats, only one in the bow and one in the stern.
drive
The Grayback-class boats had diesel-electric propulsion . In use, two electric motors manufactured by Elliott were powered by batteries. The batteries could be charged by three diesel engines from Fairbanks, Morse and Company , and when traveling on the surface, these could also propel the boat directly. During the dive, the diesel engines could only run when the boat was just below the surface of the water, since the resulting exhaust gases had to be released through a snorkel that could be extended at the aft end of the tower. The diesel engines achieved an output of 6000 hp, the electric motor of 4700 hp. The batteries were located under the accommodations and mess rooms on both sides of the command center.
The boats were propelled by two five-bladed propellers. The top speed over water was around 20 knots, submerged around 15. However, since the batteries only lasted a few minutes at such high speeds, the normal operating speed was far below. At low speeds it was possible to drive only on battery for days. Since the diesel engines were very noisy and could easily be detected by enemy naval units, it was therefore important to use as little energy as possible in order to rarely have to snorkel.
Armament and Electronics
The main armament of the boats consisted of the cruise missiles of the type SSM-N-8A Regulus equipped with nuclear warheads , later also the improved SSM-N-9 Regulus II. These were stored in the conspicuous hangars in the bow. The two tubes, each 21 meters long, could accommodate a total of four Regulus or two Regulus IIs. The boat had to surface at the start, the crew had to load a cruise missile onto a sled and push it out of the hangar using a rail system. Then the sled could be turned outboard and the missile erected. Only then was the start possible. Since this process took a long time, the boat was particularly vulnerable during this time.
In addition to the Regulus, which was designed as an attack weapon, the submarines also had torpedo tubes for self-defense. Here, too, the two boats of the class differed slightly from each other. While the Grayback had six pipes with a diameter of 533 millimeters in the bow, the Growler was only equipped with four. The pipes were arranged in two groups of three and two pipes on either side of the bow. In the stern, both boats had two rear-facing 533-millimeter tubes. There were 22 torpedoes on board.
During Grayback's second period of service as a transport submarine, the former Regulus hangars were converted into drying chambers for combat divers such as the Navy SEALs . Divers could also be dropped off from these chambers during diving trips, and up to four SEAL delivery vehicles and other equipment were also stored there . At the same time, two of the six bow torpedo tubes were removed.
The boats used an active BQS-4 as sonar , which was located in a BQR-2 base for passive sonar reception. The active sonar worked at a frequency of 7 kHz and had a range of 6 to 8 nautical miles. A snorkeling submarine could be seen passively for up to 20 nautical miles. When the Grayback was returned to service in 1969, its sonar system was also modernized. She received a passive BQG-4-PUFFS sonar, which was reflected externally in three clearly visible sonar fins. These were located on the deck on the former Regulus hangar, behind the tower and at the stern. These were mainly used to determine the distance to a recorded target.
crew
The crew of the boats consisted of 10 officers and 78 men. The officers' quarters were located directly in front of the command center and behind the navigation department, so that the routes for officers to the control rooms could be kept as short as possible. The crew's dormitories were further towards the bow on Grayback and towards the stern on Growler . As a transport submarine, the Grayback could hold as many combat swimmers again. The fuselage had been lengthened for this, and rooms such as the missile control were no longer needed for their former purpose and could thus be used to accommodate the additional men.
The meals for the crew were prepared in the galley, which was located directly behind the headquarters, where the messes were also separated according to officers and men. The crew's daily routine consisted of eight hours of watch, standby and free time. In this, the crew could stay in the quiet rooms that extended towards the stern.
Mission profile
The main task of the Grayback boats was patrols for nuclear deterrence . Both boats were used exclusively in the Pacific and carried out their trips off the Soviet east coast. Since they first had to travel a long way to the patrol areas from their home port of Pearl Harbor on Hawaii , emergency trips began with stops on the Midway Islands or in Adak , Alaska , where the diesel stocks were replenished in order to give the boats the longest possible trips off the coast allow.
During the voyages, the boats remained submerged at all times and, driven by the electric motors, entered a previously established, secret body of water at creeping speed from a few knots. This was only interrupted by snorkeling phases, which had to be taken regularly after a few days to recharge the batteries. The individual trips could take up to 60 days. Both boats carried out nine such journeys during their service time as cruise missile submarines.
literature
- Norman Friedman: US Submarines since 1945. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 1994, ISBN 978-1-55750-260-5 .
- Norman Polmar: Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of US and Soviet Submarines, 1945-2001. Brassey's, Dulles 2004, ISBN 978-1-57488-594-1 .
- David K. Stumpf: Regulus: America's First Nuclear Submarine Missile. Turner Publishing, Puducah 1996, ISBN 978-1-59652-183-4 .
Web links
- Grayback class on globalsecurity.org (English)
- Side elevation and cross section of the Gray Back (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ Stumpf (1996), p. 12
- ^ Stefan Terzibaschitsch : Sea power USA. Bechtermünz Verlag, Augsburg 1997, ISBN 3-86047-576-2 , p. 534 f.
- ↑ Friedman (1994), p. 183.
- ↑ Stumpf (1996), p. 142.
- ↑ Polmar (2004), p. 103.
- ^ Norman Friedman: The Naval Institute Guide to World Naval Weapon Systems. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis 2006, ISBN 978-1-55750-262-9 . P. 668 f.
