USN Fleet Submarines (1944-51): 80 planned, 51 cancelled, 29 Completed (service until the 1980s), 9 navies The Tench class were a second class of emergency wartime fleet submarines derived from the Gato/Balao, already itself a near-repeat of the Tambor class of 1941–1943. These mass-produced U.S. submarines accounted by far for most of the US submarine … Read more
USN Fleet Submarines (1942-46): 182 planned, 62 cancelled, 120 Completed (service until today), 13 navies The Balao class were a second class of emergency wartime fleet submarines derived from the Gato class, itself a near-repeat of the Tambor class. They were modified with STS steel to dive twice deeper, and received all previous modifications of … Read more
US Navy Submersibles, USS Mackerel, Marlin SS-198-211 (1939-48) The Mackerel-class submarines were two prototype submarines laid down before the war and launched in 1940-1941 on roughly similar designs. They were completely different from the US submarine trend and much smaller in size, envisioned as successors to the S-class submarines of late World War I. They … Read more
US Navy Submersibles, USS Tambor, Tautog, Thresher, Triton, Trout, Tuna. Sub-class Gar, Grampus, Grayback, Grayling, Grenadier, Gudgeon SS-198-211 (1939-48) The Tambor-class submarine was the last prewar US Navy submersible class design. Also called the “T class” based on their names (except the sub-class Gar), they were essentially the first USN truly successful fleet submarine, capable … Read more
US Navy Submersibles, USS Sargo, Saury, Spearfish, Sculpin, Squalus, Swordfish, Seadragon, Sealion, Searaven, Seawolf SS-188-197 (1937-48) The Sargo-class were among the first United States submarines sent into action after the attack on Pearl Harbor, with very active war patrols the very day after the attack, from the Philippines. USS Swordfish (SS-193) was the first USN … Read more
US Navy Submersibles, USS Salmon, Seal, Skipjack, Snapper, Stingray, Sturgeon SS-182-187 (1936-48) The Salmon-class were six submarines built in three yards for the USN in 1936-38. They were an important developmental step before the wartime Gato/Tench/Balao and in general a maturation of the concept of “fleet submarine”. There was no revolution in design as they … Read more
US Navy Submersibles, 3 sub-classes (1933-45): USS Porpoise, Pike | Shark, Tarpon | Perch, Pickerel, Permit, Plunger, Pollack, Pompano The porpoise class are the first of a serie of ten submarines built on the same basic specifications, the Porpoise, Shark and Perch groups, separated by most authors and seen here in one go for practical … Read more
US Navy Submersible (1932-45) The Cachalot-class were two medium-sized oceanic submarines built for the United States Navy built, last V-Boats, but first under the tonnage limits of the London Naval Treaty of 1930. Laid down as V-8 and V-9, they were loosely related to the others and under an extensive study to determine the optimum … Read more
US Navy Submersible (1932-45) USS Dolphin (SS-169) was a single experimental submersible of the interwar, V-7 and later SF-10/SC-3, earning 2 battle stars in WW2. She was indeed the penultimate V-Boat, a serie of experimental submarines that were instrumental to reinvent the type in US service and made a solid basis for future developments: The … Read more
USN (1927-30)- USS Narwhal, Nautilus (V-5, 6, later SS-167 and 168) 1930-1945 The Narwhal class was known as V5 class when authorized in 1926, wuth USS Narwhal and Nautilus built 1928-1931 as smaller but improved non-minelaying versions of the very large USS Argonaut. The trio was the only one attempt of the US to produce … Read more
