by Julie Scrafford
Albacore
Forerunner to the Future Innovative Submarine Shapes the Future of the U.S. Submarine Force
The auxiliary general submarine USS Albacore (AGSS-569) transiting on the surface off the Isles of Shoals, April 1954. Albacore served as a sea-going test platform from 1953 to 1972. Albacore’s teardrop-shaped hull was the prototype for the Navy’s nuclear powered submarine force and was the first boat optimized for submerged performance.
U.S. Navy photo
Wind tunnel tests are performed on a scale model of Albacore’s revolutionary tear-drop shaped hull.
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S U M M E R 2 0 0 6 U N D E R S E A WA R F A R E
“When in doubt, think speed.”This was
the guidance Vice Adm. Charles “Swede” Momsen, Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea Warfare, gave to designers in 1949 as they began work on the U.S. Navy’s newest submarine. During World War II, the Navy’s Submarine Force proved its combat capability by sinking 30 percent of Japan’s navy, including one of the six aircraft carriers that attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. All told, U.S. submarines destroyed over half of the Japanese tonnage lost in the war. During that earlier era submarines were primarily surface vehicles with the ability to submerge, but their outstanding war record inspired Momsen and a series of high-ranking naval officers to put scientists and engineers to work on a true submersible. Speed may have been an initial goal of this design effort, but through successive improvements and the incorporation of new technologies the end result would prove to revolutionize submarine
performance and handling, and greatly influence modern submarine design. The advent of nuclear energy was pivotal to the prospect of designing a true submersible. Since nuclear power plants could operate without the oxygen supply needed by conventional internal-combustion machinery, and because techniques were available for removing carbon dioxide from the ship's atmosphere and creating oxygen for the crew it was possible to envision a submarine that would operate almost exclusively submerged, limited only by the endurance of the crew and supplies. In 1949, the Bureau of Ships authorized the David Taylor Model Basin at what is now the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division, to research the ideal architecture of a fast and capable underwater vessel. And thus began the story of a 204-foot submarine that would break the world speed record twice and establish key design parameters for virtually all future submarines – USS Albacore (AGSS-569). From July 1949 to April 1951, the David Taylor Model Basin tested a
