USS Albacore (AGSS-569)
_underway_off_Newport,_Rhode_Island_(USA),_on_11_March_1957_(80-G-K-22262).jpg) Experimental submarine USS Albacore |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Keel laying | March 15, 1952 |
| Launch | August 8, 1953 |
| Commissioning | 5th December 1953 |
| Decommissioning | 1972 |
| Whereabouts | Retired on May 1, 1980, exhibited in a museum |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
1500 ts surfaced, 1850 ts submerged |
| length |
62.1 m, after conversion 64.2 m |
| width |
8.4 m |
| Draft |
5.64 m |
| crew |
52 men |
| drive |
diesel-electric, 2 General Motors diesel engines, a Westinghouse electric motor 15,000 HP on one shaft |
| speed |
surfaced 25 knots, briefly surfaced 33 knots |
The USS Albacore (AGSS-569) was an experimental submarine of the United States Navy , named after the English term for the albacore tuna (Thunnus alalunga). On November 24, 1950, the order was given to construct the Albacore. She was launched on August 1, 1953 and put into service on December 6 of the same year.
prehistory
Despite the numerous losses in the submarine war, the US Navy was convinced of the effectiveness and effectiveness of the submarines in World War II and came to the conclusion that the importance of the submarines would even increase after the end of the war and that Submarines could take on an important strategic role in the settlement of conflicts in the future, but the focus of development was on aircraft carriers and other surface vehicles. The emerging nuclear age founded the US Navy's hope of building nuclear-powered submarines that could remain under water for a very long time, thereby eliminating the greatest weakness of the submarines of the Second World War. These considerations ran parallel with the development of a nuclear drive for submarines. But submarines, which would henceforth go permanently under water, also meant new construction and design requirements for the submarine hull.
Up until the middle of the Second World War and afterwards, most submarines had a hull that was built primarily for optimal surface travel; they were not optimized for a fast, silent and long-term dive trip. With the Walter submarines of the Second World War, a smoothed and optimized shape appeared for the first time, which was also intended and suitable for underwater use. The development flowed u. a. into the Russian post-war boats and the American conversion and conversion measures of the immediate post-war period ( guppy boats ).
With the development of atomic propulsion, first implemented in the USS Nautilus , the vision of a pure underwater ship came within reach. For the further optimized, "new" submarines, which were often built according to the two-hull principle , the hydrodynamics of the hull had to and could be significantly improved.
Charles Momsen proposed a fast, quiet submarine. The project was justified with the approach of being able to train the submarine fighters (destroyers and frigates) more efficiently.
Test ship Albacore
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As early as 1949 a special committee had dealt with numerous studies to optimize hydrodynamics and worked out proposals for a new design of a submarine hull. Tests with the two-screw configuration and the central screw arrangement ultimately selected were carried out in the Langley wind tunnel. This eventually led to the development of the Albacore , a single-hulled boat with a smooth, clean and hydrodynamically designed, teardrop-shaped outer shape. As a test ship, the Albacore was not armed and had two built-in emergency exits with rescue bells. Parts of the ship that were not required were - in contrast to an emergency boat - deposited on land. The testing of the Albacore took place in five steps. During these steps, new techniques and constructions were tested with renovation measures. Were affected or examined, etc. a .:
- teardrop-shaped hull
- retractable, coverable or demountable structures such as bollards, railings, etc.
- the tail rudder arrangement in a cross shape in front of or behind the propeller and in an X arrangement, as a pendulum rudder or rudder surface
- the elevators on the fuselage bow or on the tower or completely dismantled
- retractable water brakes
- a braking parachute that causes a fast and submerged boat to surface in an emergency
- Camouflage paints
- an additional rudder on the tower with different thicknesses or completely removed
- a central propeller of different sizes and two counter-rotating propellers with different spacing one behind the other
- further measures to reduce friction
- Measures to reduce noise emissions by separating the engine and hull and foam in or on the outer ship
- Sonar experiments with built-in or towed facilities
- an airplane-like control
- Seat belts for the crew
- Silver-zinc or lead accumulators
- centrally or better decentrally arranged ballast tank blow-out servovalves
- an emergency blowout device
- Communication facilities, free-floating antennas with kites
The speed targets were "effortlessly" achieved, according to one source. Due to the hydrodynamic quality of the hull, the boat already reached a speed of seven knots under water with the propulsion power reduced to 100 kilowatts. During pursuit exercises, the unarmed Albacore escaped the hunters without difficulty.
Albacore today and later ships
The results obtained with regard to the shape of the hull were convincing. The first operational boats with the new teardrop shape were the American nuclear-powered Skipjack-class submarines and the conventionally powered Barbel-class submarines . In later boats, however, there was a change from the teardrop shape to the easier to build and adequate torpedo shape. Although the Albacore was actually approved and built as a "training target ship" for submarine hunting, it reached its sponsors' goal very quickly. In fact, the submarine could not be detected by the classic submarine technologies even at high speeds, and because of its speed, it was not possible to combat it with the weapons of that time. This eventually led to a rethink in the US Navy leadership, and thereafter to the development of the modern submarine fleet of the 1960s.
The Albacore itself was decommissioned in 1972 and has been a memorial and museum ship on land near Portsmouth (New Hampshire) since 1986 and can be visited. On November 4, 1989, the ship was designated a United States National Historic Landmark .
See also
literature
- Kevin J. Foster: USS Albarore (AGSS-569) , National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, National Park Service, Washington 1988 ( online ; accessed May 19, 2017)
Web links
Remarks
- ↑ Miller / Jordan: Moderne Unterseeboote , Verlag Stocker Schmid / Motorbuchverlag, 4th edition 1999, ISBN 3-7276-7088-6 , p. 40.
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New Hampshire. National Park Service , accessed August 17, 2019.
Coordinates: 43 ° 4 ′ 56 ″ N , 70 ° 46 ′ 0 ″ W.