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Originally Posted by LukeFF
What exacerbated the problem with the S boats was that the build quality was very poor. With the end of WWI the United States went into an isolationist stance, and with it went funding for the Navy. The end result was problems like the rampant fires from excessive condensation in the boats.
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The actual quality of workmanship in the construction of the S-boats was no better or worse than any other submarine. The issue was the immaturity of the submarine design process. You have to remember that when the S-boats were designed, the USN, and indeed the entire world, had been operating "modern" submarines for less than 20 years. There was an extraordinarily steep learning curve for the designers at this point; they were literally making it up as they went along. There was little precedent, and no vast body of experience or data to draw upon. The requirements for the S-boat design was quite ambitious for the day and the technology to implement the requirements barely existed, or in some cases didn't exist at all.
It is true to say that the S-boats did not live up to their designer's, and the Navy's, expectations. But this is hardly surprising given what I have stated above. They did, however, provide valuable experience in design and construction. We learned what worked and what didn't and that experience served to lessen the steep curve the designers faced.
The corrosion issue was a well known problem on the S-boats, but it is more of a function of the "primitive" materials being used, as opposed to a quality of workmanship issue. Corrosion resistant materials were virtually nonexistant at this time. I had a science teacher in high school that called water the Ultimate Solvent. There has never been a more accurate statement. Sea water is insidious. It will destroy anything it touches if given enough time. Even modern nuclear submarines have to be very carefully monitored for corrosion and proper preservation techniques have to be stringently applied. It is a tremendous overstatement to say that all the S-boats were as badly corroded as Rockin Robbins states. Some were and they were decommissioned in the 30's. The rest that served during the war were obviously not in that bad shape as they survived numerous war patrols, depth chargings, and storms. The incident that RR refers to was I believe the S-10 (SS-115) and she was decommissioned for this very reason in 1936. This was an isolated incident as the rest of her near sisters, S-11, 12, and 13 all served to the end of WWII.
Electrical fires from short circuits caused by condensate dripping into electrical equipment was a recurring headache for ALL submarines of ALL navies prior to the introduction of air conditioning. I addressed this issue in a previous post. The problem was mitigated to a certain extent by careful engineering practices and thorough cleaning. I would not classify the issue as rampant, and it had little or no relation to quality of workmanship or design.
The S-boats, and the men who sailed them, have earned a lot of respect. Some of the boats served the USN quite well, despite a less than optimum design, until 1946! This is an unheard of longevity for the time and is very remarkable.
