V-boat
The V-boats were a group of nine United States Navy submarines built between World War I and World War II from 1921 to 1934 under authorization as the "fleet boat" program.
The term "V-boats" as used includes five separate classes of submarines: large, fast fleet submarines, large long-range submarines and three medium-sized submarines.
The successful fleet submarines of World War II were descended from the last three, especially V-7, though somewhat larger with pure diesel-electric propulsion systems.
Originally called USS V-1 through V-9, in 1931 the nine submarines were renamed,,,,,,,, and, respectively. All served in World War II, six of them on war patrols in the central Pacific. Argonaut was lost to enemy action.
Background
In the early 1910s, only 12 years after inaugurated the Navy's undersea force, naval strategists had already begun to wish for submarines that could operate in closer collaboration with the surface fleet than the Navy's existing classes, which had been designed primarily for coastal defense. These notional "fleet" submarines would necessarily be larger and better armed, but primarily, they would need a surface speed of some to be able to maneuver with the 21-knot battleships around which the battle fleet was built. This was the designed speed of the and later battleships, including the standard-type battleships that were under construction and proposed in 1913.In the summer of 1913, Electric Boat's chief naval architect, former naval constructor Lawrence Y. Spear, proposed two preliminary fleet-boat designs for consideration in the Navy's 1914 program. In the ensuing authorization of eight submarines, Congress specified that one should "be of a seagoing type to have a surface speed of not less than twenty knots". This first fleet boat, laid down in June 1916, was named USS Schley after Spanish–American War hero Winfield Scott Schley. With a displacement of surfaced, submerged, on a length of, Schley was twice as large as any previous U.S. submarine. To achieve the required surface speed, two tandem diesel engines on each shaft drove twin screws, and a separate diesel generator was provided for charging batteries. Although Schley and two sisters authorized in 1915—, and —all made their design speed of, insoluble torsional vibration problems with their tandem engines made them very troublesome ships, and they were decommissioned in 1922-1923 after a service life of only a few years. As the engines were clutched together, perfectly synchronizing operation of the engines was impossible.
In 1916, well before the T class debacle transpired, Congress authorized 58 coastal submarines and nine additional "fleet" boats. Three of the larger coastal boats eventually became competing prototypes for the long-lived, 51-member S class. The nine "fleet boats" became the "V-boats", built between 1921 and 1934, and in fact, they were the only U.S. submarines produced in that period. Although V-4, V-5, and V-6 were the largest US non-nuclear submarines ever built, only V-1 through V-3 were designed to reach a speed of 21 knots.
''V-1'' through ''V-3''—the ''Barracuda''s
The first three V-boats were funded in fiscal year 1919, laid down at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in October and November 1921, and commissioned somewhat less than a year apart between 1924 and 1926. Significantly, V-1, V-2, and V-3 were the only members of the class designed to satisfy the Navy's original "fleet boat" requirement for high surface speed. These were large and powerfully engined submarines, displacing surfaced and submerged on a length of. The propulsion plant was divided between two separate engine rooms—forward and aft of the control room—with two main-propulsion direct-drive diesels aft, and two independent diesel generators forward. The latter were primarily for charging batteries, but to reach maximum surface speed, they could augment the mechanically coupled main-propulsion engines by driving the electric motors in parallel. This partial diesel-electric propulsion system foreshadowed the later successful all-diesel-electric submarines, although nearly 10 years of development were required before it was reliable. The three boats were partially double-hulled and fitted forward with buoyancy tanks inside a bulbous bow for better surface sea-keeping. They were armed with six 21-inch torpedo tubes, four forward and two aft with 12 torpedoes, plus a 5-inch /51 caliber deck gun.Unfortunately, the first three V-boats had poor operational performance. Designed for on the surface, they only made, and also failed to make their submerged design speed of. As built, they were somewhat too heavy forward, which made them poor sea boats, even after replacing the original deck guns with smaller 3-inch /50 caliber models to save weight in 1928. Moreover, both the main propulsion diesel engines and their original electric motors were notoriously unreliable, and full-power availability was rare. Renamed Barracuda, Bass, and Bonita in 1931, they were decommissioned in 1937, and only the imminence of World War II provided a reprieve, in preparation for which they were recommissioned in September 1940. Just before Pearl Harbor, the three boats were transferred to Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, and each made a number of defensive war patrols off the approaches to the Panama Canal.
All three boats were overhauled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in late 1942 and early 1943, and converted to cargo submarines by removing both torpedo tubes and main engines, thereby leaving them solely dependent on their diesel generators for propulsion. Because this rendered the boats severely underpowered, they apparently never served operationally in their cargo-carrying role, but instead were relegated to training duties at New London until just before the end of the war in 1945. After decommissioning, Barracuda and Bonita were scrapped, and Bass was scuttled as a sonar target near Block Island, Rhode Island.
''V-4''—''Argonaut''
Displacing, submerged, V-4—later —was both the largest submarine the Navy ever built before the advent of nuclear power and the only U.S. submarine specifically designed as a minelayer. Her configuration, and that of the following V-5 and V-6, resulted from an evolving strategic concept that increasingly emphasized the possibility of a naval war with Japan in the far western Pacific. This factor, and the implications of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, suggested the need for long-range submarine "cruisers", or "strategic scouts", as well as long-range minelayers, for which long endurance, not high speed, was most important. The design was possibly influenced by the German "U-cruisers" of the Type U-139 and Type U-151 U-boat classes, although V-4, V-5, and V-6 were all larger than these. Funded in fiscal year 1925, laid down at Portsmouth in May of that year, and commissioned in April 1928, V-4 was long overall and carried four 21-inch torpedo tubes forward and two mine-laying chutes and their associated mechanical handling equipment aft. Two 6-inch /53 caliber deck guns were equipped, the largest deck guns ever on a US submarine. Considerable engine room volume was sacrificed to achieve an internal payload of 60 specially designed Mark XI moored mines, and consequently, the main propulsion diesels were limited to a total of, yielding only on the surface.The V-4 was a significant boat in that it was the first submarine in the USN to incorporate welding in its construction. All submarines prior to V-4 were of all-riveted construction. Engineers at Portsmouth Navy Yard, led by Navy welding expert James W. Owens, experimented with welding for the first time during her construction. Welding was used in non-critical areas such as the superstructure, piping brackets, and support framing. The rest of the V-4's construction, including the pressure hull, was riveted or bolted. The rest of the V-class, to some extent, incorporated welding into their construction.
An over-large, under-powered, and one-of-a-kind submarine, Argonaut was never particularly successful, but stayed in commission all through the 1930s. Early in World War II, she was re-engined at Mare Island to increase her main propulsion output to, and additionally received two external stern torpedo tubes and two stern deck stowage tubes. Despite having never laid a mine in anger, her mine-laying gear was stripped out at this time to prepare for conversion to a troop-carrying submarine. Then, at Pearl Harbor, the conversion was completed. In that guise, and accompanied by Nautilus, she participated in the US Marine assault on Japanese-held Makin Atoll by Carlson's Raiders in August 1942. In transferring to Brisbane, Australia, late that year, Argonaut was diverted to a war patrol near Bougainville in the northern Solomon Islands, and was lost with all hands on 10 January 1943 after attacking a heavily defended Japanese convoy.
''V-5'' and ''V-6''—''Narwhal'' and ''Nautilus''
In their overall appearance and dimensions, V-5, later Narwhal and V-6, later Nautilus were similar to Argonaut and constituted "submarine cruiser" counterparts at least partially inspired by German success with long-range submarine commerce raiders of the Type U-139 and Type U-151 U-boat classes in World War I. Endurance, sea-keeping, increased torpedo capacity, and large deck guns were emphasized at the cost of high speed; and originally, a small scouting seaplane was to be carried in a water-tight hangar abaft the conning tower. The Navy had experimented with seaplanes on submarines with a prototype hangar installation on during the mid-1920s. However, the resulting increase in scouting capability was significantly offset by several additional dangers to the host submarine, and the initiative was dropped.The two double-hulled boats displaced on the surface and submerged on a length of. They displayed prominent "surface-ship" characteristics, notably high freeboard and an expansive deck structure. Each was powered by two 10-cylinder, two-stroke, MAN diesel engines. They also had a pair of smaller diesel-powered generators for charging batteries or augmenting the main propulsion engines on the surface. On trials, the two boats achieved nearly surfaced and submerged, and their claimed endurance was at. In addition to the customary torpedo tubes—four forward and two aft with 24 torpedoes —they carried two 6-inch /53 caliber deck guns, the largest ever mounted on U.S. submarines.
Funded in 1926 and commissioned in 1930, V-5 and V-6 emerged as too large and unwieldy for fully successful operation: slow to dive, hard to maneuver, and easy to detect. Nonetheless, as Narwhal and Nautilus, they served usefully in the 1930s, and just before World War II Nautilus was modified to carry of aviation gasoline for refueling seaplanes at sea. Early in the war, each was re-fitted with four General Motors diesels and four additional external torpedo tubes, and despite their age and inherent design flaws, they went on to compile enviable war records.
Narwhal completed 15 successful war patrols and Nautilus 14, and between them, they are credited with sinking 13 enemy ships for a total of 35,000 tons. Somewhat more serendipitously, their large size made them useful for carrying both troops and cargo on covert missions. Thus, Nautilus joined with Argonaut in transporting Carlson's Raiders to Makin Atoll, and then with Narwhal, landed a strong detachment of the US Army's Alaskan Scouts on Attu in the Aleutian Islands, preparatory to the main landing that regained that island from the Japanese in May 1943. For the final two years of the war, the two boats were devoted almost exclusively to clandestine insertion and retrieval operations behind enemy lines, particularly in preparation for the U.S. campaign to retake the Philippines.
With the end of the war in sight, Narwhal and Nautilus were withdrawn from service in April and June 1945, respectively, and sold for breaking up soon thereafter. Narwhal's 6-inch guns are retained as a memorial at the Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut.