The ''Sturgeon'' class (known colloquially in naval circles as the 637 class) was a class of
nuclear-powered
Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced b ...
fast attack
submarine
A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...
s (
SSN) in service with 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 ...
from the 1960s until 2004. They were the "workhorses" of the Navy's attack submarine fleet throughout much of the
Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
. The boats were phased out in the 1990s and early 21st century, as their successors, the , followed by the and -class boats, entered service.
Design
![USS PARGO Sturgeon Class](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/USS_PARGO_Sturgeon_Class.jpg)
The ''Sturgeon''s were essentially lengthened and improved variants of the
''Thresher/Permit'' class that directly preceded them. The five-compartment arrangement of the ''Permit''s was retained, including the bow compartment, operations compartment, reactor compartment, auxiliary machinery room no. 2, and the engine room. The extra length was in the operations compartment, including longer torpedo racks to accommodate additional
Mark 37 torpedo
The Mark 37 torpedo is a torpedo with electrical propulsion, developed for the US Navy after World War II. It entered service with the US Navy in the early 1950s, with over 3,300 produced. It was phased out of service key with the US Navy during t ...
es, the most advanced in service at the time of the class's design in the late 1950s. The class was redesigned to
SUBSAFE requirements concurrently with the construction of the first units, with seawater, main ballast, and other systems modified for improved safety. The biggest difference was the much larger sail, which permitted a second periscope and additional intelligence-gathering masts, and which reduced the risk of the submarine
broaching
The BROACH warhead is a Tandem-charge, multi-stage warhead developed by Team BROACH; BAE Systems Global Combat Systems Munitions, Thales Missile Electronics and QinetiQ. BROACH stands for ''Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented CHarge''.
Development of ...
the surface in heavy seas. The
fairwater 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 mounted on the sail could rotate 90 degrees, allowing the submarine to surface through thin ice. Because the
S5W reactor
The S5W reactor is a nuclear reactor used by the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on warships. The S5W designation stands for:
* S = Submarine platform
* 5 = Fifth generation core designed by the contractor
* ...
was used (the same as in the ''Skipjack''s and ''Thresher/Permit''s), the sail was enlarged (increasing
drag), and the displacement was increased, the ''Sturgeon''s' top speed was , 2 knots slower than the ''Thresher/Permit''s.
The last nine ''Sturgeon''s were lengthened to provide more space for electronic equipment and habitability. The extra space also helped facilitate the use of
dry deck shelter
A dry deck shelter (DDS) is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged. The host submarine must be specially modified to accommodate the DDS, with the appropriate mating ...
s first deployed in 1982.
The class received mid-life upgrades in the 1980s, including the BQQ-5 sonar suite with a retractable
towed array
A towed array sonar is a system of hydrophones towed behind a submarine or a surface ship on a cable. Trailing the hydrophones behind the vessel, on a cable that can be kilometers long, keeps the array's sensors away from the ship's own noise sou ...
, Mk 117 torpedo fire control equipment, and other electronics upgrades.
Armament
The ''Sturgeon''-class boats were equipped to carry the
Harpoon missile
The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile
manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack ...
, the
Tomahawk cruise missile
The Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations.
Under contract fr ...
, the UUM-44
SUBROC
The UUM-44 SUBROC (SUBmarine ROCket) was a type of submarine-launched rocket deployed by the United States Navy as an anti-submarine weapon. It carried a 250 kiloton thermonuclear warhead configured as a nuclear depth bomb.
Development
SUBROC ...
, the Mark 67 SLMM and Mark 60 CAPTOR mines, and the
MK-48 and ADCAP torpedoes.
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 ...
s were located amidships to accommodate the bow-mounted sonar. The bow covering the sonar sphere was made from steel or glass reinforced plastic (GRP), both varieties having been produced both booted and not booted. Booted domes are covered with a half-inch layer of rubber.
The GRP domes improved the bow sonar sphere performance; though for intelligence gathering missions, the towed-array sonar was normally used as it was a much more sensitive array.
Noise reduction
Several ''Sturgeon'' boats and related submarines were modifications of the original designs to test ways to reduce noise.
* was outfitted with Raytheon Harmonic Power Conditioners which eliminated an electrical bus noise problem that was inherent in the class. This was done by harmonic conditioning of the power system. This successful feature was later outfitted on the entire class.
* and among others were outfitted with SHT (
Special Hull Treatment) during a non-refueling overhaul, which reduced noise and the submarine sonar profile.
*, a one-ship class, was completed using
a turbo-electric system for main propulsion rather than a
reduction gear
A gear train is a mechanical system formed by mounting gears on a frame so the teeth of the gears engage.
Gear teeth are designed to ensure the pitch circles of engaging gears roll on each other without slipping, providing a smooth transmission ...
drive from the steam turbines. The massive motor and associated generators required her to be lengthened to . The ''Lipscombs trial of turbo-electric propulsion was not considered successful due to lower speed - top speed was , 5 knots slower than the ''Thresher/Permit''s - and a lack of reliability, and she was decommissioned in 1989.
*, the quietest submarine of her era, was had a similar but distinct design to the ''Sturgeon''-class submarines. The ''Narwhal'' (
SCB 245) and the ''Sturgeon'' class (
SCB 188A) were developed simultaneously. Forward the ''Narwhal'' resembled the ''Sturgeon''-class submarines, but with a relocated diesel generator and slightly greater beam. Aft she had the
natural circulation
Convection is single or multiphase fluid flow that occurs spontaneously due to the combined effects of material property heterogeneity and body forces on a fluid, most commonly density and gravity (see buoyancy). When the cause of the convect ...
S5G reactor
The S5G reactor was a prototype naval reactor designed for the United States Navy to provide electricity generation and propulsion on submarines. The S5G designation stands for:
* S = Submarine platform
* 5 = Fifth generation core designed by th ...
and a direct-drive turbine, along with several other quieting features. Unlike the ''Sturgeon'' class, the ''Narwhal'' did not fully comply with
SUBSAFE regulations due to her unique main seawater system.
Variants
Beginning with , units of this class had a longer hull, giving them more living and working space than previous submarines. received an additional hull extension containing cable tapping equipment that brought her total length to . A number of the long hull ''Sturgeon''-class SSNs, including ''Parche'', ''L. Mendel Rivers'', and ''Richard B. Russell'' were involved in top-secret reconnaissance missions, including cable tap operations in the
Barents Barents may refer to:
*René Barents (born 1951), Dutch judge and legal scholar
*Willem Barents (c. 1550–1597), Dutch navigator and explorer
*Barents AirLink, a Swedish airline
*Barents Island (), an island in the Svalbard archipelago, part of ...
and
Okhotsk
Okhotsk ( rus, Охотск, p=ɐˈxotsk) is an types of inhabited localities in Russia, urban locality (a urban-type settlement, work settlement) and the administrative center of Okhotsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located at the mou ...
seas. ''Parche'' received nine
Presidential Unit Citations for successful missions.
A total of seven boats were modified to carry the
SEAL
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
Dry Deck Shelter
A dry deck shelter (DDS) is a removable module that can be attached to a submarine to allow divers easy exit and entrance while the boat is submerged. The host submarine must be specially modified to accommodate the DDS, with the appropriate mating ...
(DDS). The DDS is a submersible launch hangar with a
lockout chamber attached to the ship's midships weapons shipping hatch, facilitating the use of
SEAL Delivery Vehicle
The SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) is a crewed submersible and a type of swimmer delivery vehicle used to deliver United States Navy SEALs and their equipment for special operations missions. It is also operated by the Royal Navy's Special Boat S ...
s. DDS-equipped boats were tasked with the covert insertion of special forces.
Boats
From ''Register of Ships of the US Navy, 1775-1990''.
Short hull
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Long hull
* (DDS)
* (DDS)
* (ex-''Redfish'') (DDS)
* (DDS)
* (DDS)
* (R&D)
* (DDS)
* (DDS)
*
Derivatives
One other Navy vessel was based on the ''Sturgeon'' hull, but was modified for experimental reasons:
*
See also
*
List of submarines of the United States Navy
This is a list of submarines of the United States Navy, listed by hull number and by name.
List
See also
* Submarines in the United States Navy
* List of current ships of the United States Navy
* List of lost United States submarines
* L ...
*
List of submarine classes of the United States Navy
Submarines of the United States Navy are built in classes, using a single design for a number of boats. Minor variations occur as improvements are incorporated into the design, so later boats of a class may be more capable than earlier. Also, boat ...
References
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
fas.org: ''Sturgeon'' class
* https://www.miwsr.com/2022-033.aspx
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sturgeon Class Submarine
Submarine classes
Sturgeon class
Sturgeon class