Engineering:Skipjack-class submarine

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Short description: Early cold-war US nuclear attack submarine

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The Skipjack class was a class of six United States Navy nuclear submarines (SSNs) that entered service from 1959 to 1961. This class was named after its lead boat, missing name. The new class introduced the teardrop hull and the S5W reactor to U.S. nuclear submarines.[1][2] The Skipjacks were the fastest U.S. nuclear submarines until the Script error: The function "sclass" does not exist.s, the first of which entered service in 1974.

Design

Profile, USS Skipjack

The Skipjacks' design (project SCB 154)[3] was based on the USS Albacore's high-speed hull design. The hull and innovative internal arrangement were similar to the diesel-powered Barbel class that were built concurrently. The design of the Skipjacks was very different from the Script error: The function "sclass" does not exist.s that preceded the Skipjacks. Unlike the Skates, this new design was maximized for underwater speed by fully streamlining the hull like a blimp. This required a single screw aft of the rudders and stern planes. Adoption of a single screw was a matter of considerable debate and analysis within the Navy, as two shafts offered redundancy and improved maneuverability.[4] The so-called "body-of-revolution hull" reduced her surface sea-keeping, but was essential for underwater performance. Also like Albacore, the Skipjacks used HY-80 high-strength steel, with a yield strength of 80,000 psi (550 MPa), although this was not initially used to increase the diving depth relative to other US submarines. HY-80 remained the standard submarine steel through the Los Angeles class.[5]

Control room of Skipjack class; the bow is at the top.

Another Barbel-like innovation was the combination of the conning tower, control room, and attack center in one space. This was continued in all subsequent US nuclear submarines. Combining the functions in one space was facilitated by the adoption of "push-button" ballast control, another feature of Albacore.[4] Previous designs had routed the trim system piping through the control room, where the valves were manually operated. The "push-button" system used hydraulic operators on each valve, remotely electrically operated (actually via toggle switches) from the control room. This greatly conserved control room space and reduced the time required to conduct trim operations. The overall layout made coordination of the weapons and ship control systems easier during combat operations.[citation needed]

Cutaway drawing of Skipjack class1:
1. Sonar arrays
2. Torpedo room
3. Operations compartment
4. Reactor compartment
5. Auxiliary machinery space
6. Engine room

Much of the overall internal arrangement was continued in the subsequent Thresher- and Sturgeon-class submarines. The Skipjacks' five compartments were called the Torpedo Room, Operations Compartment, Reactor Compartment, Auxiliary Machinery Space (AMS), and Engine Room. With the addition of a missile compartment, the arrangement of the first 41 US nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) was similar. The design was primarily single-hull, with a double hull around the torpedo room and AMS for ballast tanks. The design was improved on the Threshers, the one-off missing name, and subsequent attack submarines by relocating the torpedo room into the operations compartment via angled midships torpedo tubes to make room for a large sonar sphere in the bow. The George Washington class, the first SSBNs, were derived from the Skipjacks, with missing name rebuilt from the incomplete first missing name. The hull of Scorpion was laid down twice, as the original hull was redesigned to become the George Washington. Also, the material for building missing name was diverted into building missing name, which delayed Scamp's progress.[citation needed]

The bow planes were moved to the massive sail to cut down on flow-induced noise near the bow sonar arrays. They were known as sail planes (fairwater planes). The Skipjacks were the first class built with sail planes; they were later backfitted on the Barbels. This design feature would be repeated on all U.S. nuclear submarines until the improved Script error: The function "sclass" does not exist., the first of which was launched in 1988. The small "turtleback" behind the sail was the exhaust piping of the auxiliary diesel generator.[citation needed]

The Skipjacks also introduced the S5W reactor to U.S. nuclear submarines. It was known as ASFR (Advanced Submarine Fleet Reactor) during development.[6] The S5W was used on 98 U.S. nuclear submarines of 8 classes and the first British nuclear submarine, Script error: The function "ship_prefix_templates" does not exist., making it the most-used US Navy reactor design to date.[citation needed]

The design of the prototype HMS Dreadnought is closely related to the Skipjack class. The entire aft section of HMS Dreadnought was identical to the Skipjack class as the hull was built around the reactor and could not be changed, but since the fore section was based on earlier British studies into nuclear submarine design, great care had to be taken to marry the two designs' alignment.[7]

Service

Skipjack was authorized in the FY 1956 new construction program and commissioned in April 1959. Each hull cost around $40 million. Skipjack was certified as the "world's fastest submarine" after initial sea trials in March 1959, although the actual speed attained was classified. The Skipjacks remained the fastest US nuclear-powered submarines until the first of the Los Angeles class entered service in 1974. This was due to the increased size of the Thresher and Sturgeon classes, which retained Skipjack's S5W power plant, plus the introduction of the skewback screw, which was quiet but mechanically inefficient.[8] The Skipjacks saw service during the Vietnam War and most of the Cold War. The Skipjack-class submarines were withdrawn from service in the late 1980s and early 1990s except for missing name, which sank on 22 May 1968 southwest of the Azores while returning from a Mediterranean deployment, with all 99 crewmembers lost.[9]

Boats in class

The gap in the hull-number sequence was taken by the two one-of-a-kind submarines missing name and missing name.

Name Hull number Builder Laid Down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Period of service Fate
missing name SSN-585 Electric Boat 29 May 1956 26 May 1958 15 April 1959 19 April 1990 31.0 Recycled,[lower-alpha 1] 1 September 1998.
missing name SSN-588 Mare Island Naval Shipyard 23 January 1959 8 October 1960 5 June 1961 28 April 1988 26.9 Recycled,[lower-alpha 1] 9 September 1994.
missing name SSN-589 Electric Boat 20 August 1958 29 December 1959 29 July 1960 N/A 7.8 Lost with 99 crewmembers between 22 May and 5 June 1968, 400 nautical miles (740 km) southwest of the Azores in the North Atlantic Ocean, cause unknown
missing name SSN-590 Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi 3 February 1958 31 March 1960 1 June 1961 3 August 1990 29.1 Recycled,[lower-alpha 1] 30 October 2001.
missing name SSN-591 Newport News Shipbuilding 24 February 1958 16 March 1960 9 February 1961 15 September 1990 29.6 Recycled,[lower-alpha 1] 28 June 1996.
missing name SSN-592 Ingalls Shipbuilding, Pascagoula, Mississippi 7 April 1958 31 October 1960 24 October 1961 14 November 1986 25.0 Recycled,[lower-alpha 1] 30 June 1997.
  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 via the nuclear Ship and Submarine Recycling Program

Export

Netherlands

During the 1960s the Royal Netherlands Navy (RNLN) had the desire to built nuclear submarines.[10] One of the options the RNLN considered in 1966 was acquiring knowledge from the United States Navy (USN) to built submarines based on the Skipjack class.[11] The idea was that the technology of the Skipjack class dated back to 1956 and if submarines based on this technology were to be built in the Netherlands they would enter service in 1973, making them no longer top secret technology that the USN would be reluctant to share.[11] Nonetheless, the USN believed that construction and maintenance of four Skipjack class submarines would be too costly for the RNLN and suggested other alternatives.[12]

See also

  • List of submarines of the United States Navy
  • List of submarine classes of the United States Navy
  • List of lost United States submarines

References

  1. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named FriedmanSubs1
  2. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Register
  3. ↑ Friedman, pp. 258
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Friedman, pp. 31-35
  5. ↑ Friedman, pp. 56, 130
  6. ↑ Friedman, pp. 125-126
  7. ↑ "Dreadnought Submarine". https://www.baesystems.com/en-uk/heritage/dreadnought-submarine. 
  8. ↑ Friedman, pp. 142-143
  9. ↑ On Eternal Patrol postwar page including Scorpion
  10. ↑ Raven (1988), p. 143.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Schoonoord (2012), pp. 158-159.
  12. ↑ van der Peet, Anselm (2023). "Back to the Future? Discussies bij defensienota’s en vlootplannen 1962-1970 als inspiratiebron voor hedendaags maritiem-strategisch debat over een toekomstbestendige KM" (in Dutch). Marineblad 133 (2): 22-29. https://marineblad.nl/images/Marineblad/2023/Nr._2/Marineblad_nr._2_jrg._133_2023_LR.pdf. 

Bibliography

  • Schoonoord, D.C.L. (2012) (in Dutch). Pugno pro patria: de Koninklijke Marine tijdens de Koude Oorlog. Franeker: Van Wijnen. ISBN 978-90-5194-455-6. 
  • Raven, G.J.A., ed (1988) (in Dutch). De kroon op het anker: 175 jaar Koninklijke Marine. Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw. ISBN 90-6707-200-1. 

Further reading

  • Gardiner, Robert and Chumbley, Stephen, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947-1995, London: Conway Maritime Press, 1995. ISBN 1-55750-132-7.
  • Hutchinson, Robert, Jane's Submarines, War Beneath The Waves, From 1776 To The Present Day, Harper Paperbacks, 2005. ISBN 0-06081-900-6.
  • Polmar, Norman (2004). Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945-2001. Dulles: Brassey's. ISBN 978-1-57488-594-1.

Template:Skipjack class submarine Template:US submarine classes after 1945



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