Cachalot class submarine

The "Cachalot"-class submarines were a pair of medium-sized submarines of the United States Navy built under the tonnage limits of the London Naval Treaty of 1930. They were originally given hull classification symbols V-8 and V-9 and so were known as "V-boats" even though they were unrelated to the other seven submarines (V-1 through V-7) constructed between World War I and World War II. Joseph W. Paige [Alden, p.38.] of the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair (BuC&R) developed the basic design, but the builder, Electric Boat, was responsible for detailed arrangement; this was fairly bold, since EB had not built any new submarines since finishing four obsolescent boats for Peru. [Alden, p.38.]

Although externally much like the later "fleet submarines," internally the "Cachalot"s were quite different. Due to pressure from the Submarine Officers Conference, [Alden, p.38.] they featured full double hulls adapted from the "Kaiserliche Marine"'s "U-135", [Alden, p.38.] direct-drive diesel propulsion systems, a separate crew's mess (reinstated thanks to EB's rearrangement of the internal layout; Portsmouth would follow soon after), [Alden, p.38.] and considerable space around the conning tower within the large bridge fairwater (which was drastically cut down in World War II when the three-inch (76 mm) gun was relocated forward of the bridge). EB also relied on electric welding, while Portsmouth clung to riveting; [Alden, p.38.] during the war, the riveted boats would leak fuel oil. [Blair, Clay, Jr. "Silent Victory" (Lippincott, 1975).]

The external tanks proved too narrow for easy maintenance, [Alden, p.39.] and the MAN diesels were a constant headache, demanding re-engining [Alden, p.39.] in 1936. [Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. "The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare" (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 5, p.509, "Cachalot".] On the other hand, the class made a major contribution to habitability, when "Cuttlefish" was the first sub fitted with air conditioning, [Alden, p.39.] and to effectiveness, being first fitted with the Mark I Torpedo Data Computer (TDC). [Alden, p.39. This replaced the older "banjo" and "Is/Was" used in S-boats, as described in Ned Beach's "Run Silent, Run Deep".]

Size reduction had gone too far with the "Cachalot"s, limiting their patrol endurance, [Alden, p.38.] and they were soon relegated to training. [Alden, p.39.]

hips

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