Why did US Submarines have retractable dive planes?

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Wouldnt it have hampered crash dive times?

[Sailor Steve]

It helped the surface speed, and crash dives were mostly helped by the full negative flooding. Also, I think they rigged out pretty quickly.

[Kapitan_Phillips]

Thanks Steve

[geetrue]

Diesel boats aren't allowed to be underwater in bad weather ... they can't handle the underwater surges that occur on batteries alone.

There was a Typhoon in WWII that rolled up the deck of a US Navy carrier, you can imagine what it would have done to a round bottom boat.

My sea story is too long to tell right now, but I have been in force nine weather on a diesel boat in the Gulf of Alaksa and it is no fun.

Gotta protect those bow planes ...

[Kapitan_Phillips]

So the parts on Das Boot when they submerge to save diesel are unfounded?

[Aimbot]

Originally Posted by geetrue

Diesel boats aren't allowed to be underwater in bad weather ... they can't handle the underwater surges that occur on batteries alone.

There was a Typhoon in WWII that rolled up the deck of a US Navy carrier, you can imagine what it would have done to a round bottom boat.

My sea story is too long to tell right now, but I have been in force nine weather on a diesel boat in the Gulf of Alaksa and it is no fun.

Gotta protect those bow planes ...

I'd always assumed that they submerged to avoid bad weather. Wouldn't they be able to submerge beneath the turbulence? Please tell your story.

[edjcox]

Bad weather especially large wave actions are normally avoided entirely by subs by simply dropping down and operating at depth....

No sub commander would run his boat at the surface in a typhoon. The wave actions would be brutal on the occupants, equipment, weapons, etc.

You can run at depth for a good while and even then coming near the surface only to replenish O2 and maybe recharge...

A storm would move on out and the sea states stabilize back to conditions that were tolerable.

Bowplanes were retractable for speed on the surface... They were normally rigged out just prior to a dive unless combat conditions warranted running them out.

Snagging mine cables on a bow plane was a nightmare as well.

[geetrue]

Originally Posted by Aimbot

I'd always assumed that they submerged to avoid bad weather. Wouldn't they be able to submerge beneath the turbulence? Please tell your story.

Because you said, please ... but it doesn't take much to get a sea story out of me, no siree ... this one is one of those rare true I was there kind though.

It was back in November 1963 when I was only 19 on the USS Salmon SS-573. It was a cold and stormy sea in broad day light too. I was the starboard lookout.

We were about nine days out of our home port of San Diego somewhere in the Gulf of Alaska when the force nine weather came upon us ... we couldn't snorkel due to the wave action so we stayed on the surface. The batteries are not enough to pull you through and they only last a few hours even at slow speed.

We were taking waves over the top of the sail and the sail on the Salmon was 40' from the keel. I know, because I was the lookout and I could have reached out and touched the lull of the wave one time.

We took a 57 degree's + roll to starboard and that's how the chief of the watch wrote it in the log, because he got thrown to the other side of the boat before he could see the inclinometer.

All of a sudden we heard a big bang (the we is the OOD and the other lookout and me) ... The OOD, who later went on to be a full captain on a Ohio class boomer, said, "What was that"?

We looked around, but couldn't see anything and finally the OOD spotted it ... He says, "Hey, what happened to the forward radio antenna"? The wave had parted the guide wire antenna that ran from the bow to the top of the sail.

We were just lucky that it had parted at the sail instead of the bow or it would have decapitated all of our heads.

No, you cannot submerge in rough weather, but don't worry those surface craft pukes with meat balls on their sleeves can't do a whole lot either.

[Crosseye76]

The Nuke boats were much luckier. On the SSBN, we were coming out of PNSY in the teeth of an Atlantic gale. The boat had the usual up and down pitching, and was also rolling very badly due to being round bottomed as mentioned by geetrue.

So it was pitch up, roll to one side, pitch down, roll the other way, for 12 hours or so until we reached deep water. All in all, a VERY queasy ride.

After we reached the dive point, we pulled the plug, and as we got down to around 400 feet or so, the storm surge dampened, and it was a rock-solid ride from then on. Very nice ! So, even if it was "Perfect Storm" weather topside, 400 + feet down, it was movies, ice cream, and soothing music, maybe some coco too.


IIRC there were several accounts of Diesel boats riding out a storm underwater. A lot depended on where they were, too shallow water, like less than 600 feet or so, and the storm surge might ground you. And of course the length of the storm, you only have a limted time under to ride it out. A lot of skippers chose to stay topside, and just ride it out.

[Snowman999]

Originally Posted by Sailor Steve

It helped the surface speed, and crash dives were mostly helped by the full negative flooding. Also, I think they rigged out pretty quickly.

Doesn't hurt to have them vertical around pier pilings either.

[Sailor Steve]

:rotfl: Good point!