Real Submarine Technology & History Q&A

[DaveyJ576]

Originally Posted by LukeFF

Possibly.

Dave, while we're at it, I've come across a pic of an S-18 class submarine I've never seen before. I found it at the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps Museum Photo Archive, and it depicts an S-18 class sub at Dutch Harbor:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...BoatAlaska.jpg

Any guess as to which boat it might be? The only 3 S-18s I know of that got a AA gun platform are S-28, S-31, and S-35. Also note the spray shield mounted on the bridge. Not something I've seen on any other S Class pics!

That site is really fascinating, showing some pics of American subs I've never seen before. Really worth checking out!

The following Electric Boat design S-boats (S-18 type) can be confirmed to have carried a raised AA gun deck aft of the conning tower fairwater as part of their wartime upgrades, as shown in Luke's photo above: 23, 28, 30, 31, 32, and 35. Insufficient photographic evidence exists to verify the configuration of the following: 34, 36, 37, 39, and 40. Based on the trends in what I have seen, it is unlikely that the boats higher than S-35 had this mod. The rest of the boats had completely different mods and did not have this AA gun platform, were leased to the RN and did not get these mods, or were lost or decommissioned prior to these mods being installed.

The structure on top of the bridge in the photo in question is actually a wind venturi. It was designed to deflect wind up and over the bridge watchstanders. It is an unusual configuration and can be used to narrow down the suspects. I found a photo of S-23 that nearly matches the one in the photo. Therefore, I will say, with a reasonably high degree of certainty, that the boat in the photo is S-23, with S-28 being a close 2nd.

How's that for a little detective work?