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Originally Posted by Hitman
As for the conning tower, ALL US subs where it was possible received that refit during 1943, intended to have a smaller visual silhouette for night surface actions. Perchs, tambors and also salmos & sargos received that refit plus the first SJ radar and also a new repaint in grey later (At the start of the war and during the first months, US subs were all painted in very dark grey, nearly black).
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Wartime experience dictated changes to the sub's superstructure during refits. It seems the most common changes were cutting down the front to provide a gun platform, the "front porch". And later, removing some of the fairwater under the aft cigarette deck to reduce the silhouette.
One book speculated that with all the modifications on the superstructure at Mare Island, Pearl, Midway, etc. that no two submarines looked alike. The book showed a picture of 5 or 6 subs berthed side by side. Two of them were commissioned within months of each other from the same yard. Each one had something different about it.