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Historians have
indicated that militarily, Japan was up to the task of the island
hopping campaign it had initiated in the Pacific. Her determination
and will to win was not overly affected by the terrible combat of
the island wars, nor by the bombing of Japanese cities. Post war
analysis however, has determined that her downfall was the result of
the very same reason she waged war from the start: Japan was
literally starving. The failing war effort was draining an already
 thin supply of manufacturing materials as well as food and
essentials. Hiroshima and Nagasaki sealed her fate. In the period
following the end of the World War II, it was determined that the
valiant effort on the part of the US submarine fleet was, in a large
part, directly responsible for the severe shortage of raw materials
and supplies which were so desperately needed by Japan. Accounting
for 54% of the 10 million+ tons of Japanese military and merchant
shipping lost during the war, US submarine personnel totaled a mere
1.6% of all US Navy forces engaged in the Pacific Theater. When one
considers the fact that faulty torpedoes hampered the submarine
fleet during the early part of the war, the total tonnage figures
could have been substantially higher and the duration of the war
considerably shorter.
The years following
WW I proved to be an age of enlightenment for the United States Navy
and their view of submarine warfare. The German U-Boats proved that
submarines were much more then a defensive screen; rather they
illustrated that these boats had the potential to be extremely
deadly weapons of war. Owing to the effectiveness of the U-Boats,
naval strategist now had to seriously include submarines in their
planning. A growing concern over Japan's quest to dominate the
Pacific raised the specter of possible war. The United States
developed a war strategy (Plan Orange) which now included submarines
in a capacity never before considered. Realizing that the boats that
now accounted for the US Sub fleet were basically inadequate, they
set out to produce a sub that would meet the modern requirement of:
1) being able to conduct a long range patrol and 2) being capable of
keeping up with the current fleet which had an average speed of 21
knots. The challenge to develop a "fleet boat" was issued.
Modeled after the
German U-Boats, the United States produced the first of a series of subs
originally thought to meet the fleet boat criteria. The V class or
Barracudas, proved however to be less then ideal. The second version
of the V's was the Argonaut Class, which followed in 1928. Twice the
size of the S-Boats, she had a capable range of 18,000 miles with a
speed of 21 knots. Unfortunately, poorly designed diesel engines
limited her actual speed to an unacceptable 15kts. The Narwhal Class, the first of
which was commissioned in 1930 did not fair much better, although
there was a slight improvement in speed (17 knots). In 1932 the
Dolphin Class was developed followed by the Cachalot Class in 1933.
While neither met the desired standard of a fleet boat, several notable
innovations came about with the C's. The Cachalots were the first
boats to employ the TDC (Torpedo Data Computer) and welded
construction.
The P-Class
submarines, first commissioned in 1933, marked a tremendous
improvement over the previous candidates. With a forward speed of 19 knots
and a range of 10,000 miles. it was not nearly perfect, but it was
very close. The technique of welded construction, first seen to a
lesser degree in the C's, was now to be fully implemented in
the P-Class. Air-conditioning and the use of diesel electric motors
were first used in this class. Considered a huge success, it was the
standard used for the classes which followed. The Salmon Class,
which was basically a larger and improved "P", was developed
in 1938. Still, the Navy felt like they were ever so close to
actually having developed the "fleet sub" which met all of the
desired criteria, but even the Salmon fell just short.
1940 saw the
commissioning of the first of the Tambor or "T" Class boats. With
the required range, speed and armament, the Tambors were the last of
the US submarines to be commissioned before the start of the war
with Japan. The United States Navy's first fleet sub had, after many
years, finally
come of age!
More
details:
Fleet Type Submarine Manual NAVPERS
16160
WW
II U.S. Navy Ship Hull abbreviations
WW II Submarine Records and statistics
WWII U.S. Submarine Photo Archives
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