Home : Heath Elliot Johnmeyer, United States Navy :

Always There

Seems Almost Timeless

In the early sixteenth century, Leonardo da Vinci sketched out a design for a proto-submarine but wrote in his notebook that he'd never reveal how one would run underwater because he feared "the evil nature of men who would use them as a means of destruction at the bottom of the sea." The motivation for the submariners' hunt - to prevent an adversary from launching a wave of death from the oceans ...

Still, it was that very potential for surprise devastation that spurred on inventors who followed. During the Civil War they tried to build bubble-shaped subs and then others that looked like short cigars, all to stick mines on the bottoms of enemy ships. The subs were powered by hand cranks and treadmills, and most of the men killed by these new weapons were members of their own tiny crews. Still, there was terror in the sheer attempt, and it was only a few years after the Civil War that Jules Verne, in his novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, depicted the submarine as a sea monster ramming ships. That his creation was powered with electricity was prophetic. The Holland - the U.S. Navy's first working submarine - ran on electric batteries when submerged, a gas engine on the surface. Purchased on April 11, 1900, she was only fifty feet long and held a crew of six.

Submarine technology progressed so rapidly that less than a generation later Germany's diesel-powered submarines were terrorizing Allied ships during World War I. It was one of these German "U-boats" that shattered U.S. neutrality by sinking the British passenger liner Lusitania, after she sailed from New York in 1915. By the time the United States entered the war two years later German U-boats had destroyed several hundred ships.

By World War II, submarines had become so powerful they were able to go after armed surface convoys, and they had become a decisive factor. Germany sent its subs out in "Wolf Packs" that could converge for a kill, a tactic so lethal that the United States seized on it to regain control of the Pacific after Pearl Harbor. The impact on Japanese troop ships, tankers, and freighters was devastating, but it came with great cost. The United States lost fifty-two subs and thirty-five hundred men.

Undersea warfare underwent a revolution after World War II and the American submarine force led the way. Building on the advanced submarine designs created by the Germans during World War II, the Navy anticipated submarines of the future going deeper, staying there longer, and moving much faster. Indeed, in reports submitted in 1949 and 1950, naval and civilian advisors suggested that advanced German U-boat technology exploited by the Soviets might present the most potent postwar naval threat to the United States. No warship of the time could effectively detect and track a submarine like the German Type 21 which could sustain a 17 knot submerged speed for at least thirty minutes.

Almost immediately after the war, the submarine force began experimenting with high speed, sophisticated silencing techniques, sensitive sonic detection, and deeper diving. The result took the shape of the greater underwater propulsive power, or GUPPY, conversions that changed the configuration of wartime submersibles to enhance submerged speed and hydrodynamic efficiency. The Tang class, the first truly new postwar construction, represented an initial step on a new road toward greater speed and endurance below the surface.

It also provided the basic hull form used for the first true submarine. USS Nautilus went to sea propelled by a pressurized water nuclear plant in January 1955 and set a new standard for this type of vessel. Its submerged endurance was limited only by the crews' periodic need to see both their families and the light of day. Rather than a surface ship capable of submerging when the need arose, this submarine's natural environment lay below the surface. Seawolf and the Skate class hunter-killer submarines quickly followed Nautilus and together they demonstrated the new extent of submarine effectiveness, from the deep ocean, to the shallows, to the polar regions. This was the vessel John Holland wanted to create but could not because of the limits of science and technology at the turn of the century.

The advent of nuclear submarines provided the final piece to a number of promising technical puzzles. The quest for greater submerged speed, initiated in earnest after 1945, found its way to the Navy's David Taylor Model Basin just as Admiral Hyman Rickover's nuclear propulsion project succeeded with Nautilus. The research at David Taylor provided insights into the ideal hull form for high speed submarines. With the conventionally-powered experimental Albacore, submariners reached an extraordinary submerged speed. In the fast attack submarine [SSN] USS Skipjack the endurance of nuclear propulsion and the high speed of the Albacore teardrop hull came together to form the new paradigm. Every American submarine since 1958 has followed the same basic formula. The attack submarines proved very effective during the Cold War in addressing the Soviet submarine threat in the north Atlantic and northwest Pacific through surveillance and deterrence.

The Nautilus-Albacore combination also served to extend the reach of the submarine force. While the Navy experimented with launching air breathing missiles like the Regulus from submarines during the late 1950s, the mobility, stealth, and endurance of nuclear submarines based on the Skipjack model proved the ideal platform for launching ballistic missiles. From the Polaris A-1 in 1960, through multiple generations of missiles suitable for submerged launching, the Navy's fleet ballistic missile submarines [SSBN] have provided the ultimate nuclear deterrent. As opposed to easily targeted land-based missiles, SSBNs are in constant motion. Hiding deep in the ocean, with virtually unlimited endurance, SSBNs are capable of reaching almost any target at the direction of the President. With the current Ohio class SSBNs, the submarine force employs the most effective and survivable component of current American strategic nuclear defense.

Since the 1970s, the submarine force has also provided the Navy with a stealthy way of applying tactical firepower against land and sea targets. Fitted at first for torpedo tube launch, the Tomahawk cruise missile has enhanced the effectiveness of the attack submarine fleet. Now capable of firing these missiles from a vertical launch system in the bow, the latest flight of the submarine force's front line Los Angeles class SSNs has proven very useful in the challenging environment of modern littoral war at sea. During Desert Storm, submarine launched Tomahawks proved their extraordinary effectiveness during the first combat use of the submarine force's new capability.

With their stealth quiet manner, endurance, diverse weapons array, and ability to detect threats while effectively communicating with the fleet at great range, American submarines conduct both independent tactical and strategic patrols as well as operations in support of carrier battle groups. The effort to integrate the submarine more thoroughly with air and surface forces suggests that naval warfare of the future will require a flexible mix of assets designed for a future filled with constantly changing defense demands. Always on the cutting edge, the submarine force will help the Navy sustain the adaptability necessary to control tomorrow's battlespace.

All of the warfighting submarines the United States Navy currently operates are large and powerful nuclear-powered vessels of two types: attack submarines and fleet ballistic missile submarines called "Boomers." Many of these submarines are longer than a football field. Great Britain, France, China, and Russia operate nuclear-powered submarines. These and many other countries also operate small numbers of diesel or conventionally-powered submarines. In all, 43 countries operate over 600 submarines. The country with the largest number of submarines is Russia.

The threats that future submarines must face will drive the transformation from the submarines of today to the submarines of the future. They will be called upon to perform new missions to use their new capabilities while remaining forward deployed throughout the world.

With the proliferation of technology and advanced weapons systems, potential enemies will continue to develop the means to deny access to U.S. military forces in specific areas of the world. These countries will attempt to employ low-cost, readily available technologies in an asymmetric way to counter the advantage that U.S. forces otherwise have. Examples of these asymmetric threats can include the use of mines, diesel submarines with improved underwater endurance, anti-ship cruise missiles, and weapons of mass destruction.

Submarines of the future must be able to operate in an increasingly hostile littoral environment with increased capability in order to assure access for other U.S. naval and military forces. The submarine force is pursuing new initiatives in a wide range of areas in order to extend our reach and expand our capability in new as well as traditional mission areas.

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