The ''Barbel''-class submarines, the last diesel-electric propelled

attack submarine An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "mul ...

s built by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

, incorporated numerous, radical engineering improvements over previous classes. They were the first production warships built with the teardrop-shape hull first tested on the experimental , and the first to combine the control room, attack center, and conning tower in the same space in the hull. They were of double hull design with 1.5-inch thick HY80 steel. This class of submarine became part of the United States Navy's fleet in 1959 and was taken out of service 1988–1990, leaving the Navy with an entirely nuclear-powered submarine fleet. The ''Barbel'' class' design is considered to be very effective.Polmar, Norman and Moore, K. J. (2004). ''Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945–2001''. Dulles: Potomac Books. , p. 215 The s of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

and the of the

Republic of China Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...

(designed and built in the Netherlands) were closely derived from the ''Barbel'' class design. The

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and its successors were also influenced by the ''Barbel'' class.

Design

Designed under project SCB 150, the class overall was a somewhat smaller diesel-powered version of the

nuclear submarine A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed. Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion, ...

s, the first of which entered service only three months after ''Barbel'', having been laid down only 11 days later. Several features of the experimental were used in the ''Barbel''-class design, most obviously the fully streamlined "teardrop" hull. ''Albacore''s single-shaft configuration, necessary to minimize drag and thus maximize speed, was also adopted for the ''Barbel''s, ''Skipjack''s, and all subsequent US nuclear submarines. This was a matter of considerable debate and analysis within the Navy, as two shafts offered redundancy and improved maneuverability. For the first time, the ''Barbel''s also did away with the conning tower, instead combining the functions of attack center and control room into the same space, another feature adopted for all subsequent US submarines. This was facilitated by the adoption of "push-button" ballast control, another feature of ''Albacore''. 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. The

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

arrangement of the ''Barbel''s was the same as the ''Skipjack''s, with six bow tubes in a three-over-three configuration. These (and the ''Skipjack''-derived ''George Washington''-class SSBNs) were the only US Navy classes to have this configuration, as subsequent SSN designs used four angled midships torpedo tubes to make room for a large bow sonar sphere, and most SSBNs had four bow tubes. The ''Barbel''s were built with bow mounted

diving plane Diving planes, also known as hydroplanes, are control surfaces found on a submarine which allow the vessel to pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling depth when subm ...

s, but these were replaced by sail planes (aka fairwater planes) within a few years. This feature was standard on US Navy submarines until bow planes returned with the improved , the first of which was launched in 1987.

Ships in class

References

Citations

Sources

* Polmar, Norman and Moore, K. J. (2004). ''Cold War Submarines: The Design and Construction of U.S. and Soviet Submarines, 1945–2001''. Dulles: Potomac Books. . * Gardiner, Robert and Chumbley, Stephen, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1947–1995'', London: Conway Maritime Press, 1995. .

External links

''Barbel'' class at globalsecurity.org

Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) page on USS ''Blueback''

{{US submarine classes after 1945 Submarine classes Barbel class Barbel class