Sixty years ago, when the American national debt did not yet take on such threatening values, and the United States' spending on everything, including defense, was quite reasonable - in those distant times, the US Navy looked very different than it does now. At the turn of the 1940s and 1950s, the American navy was a pile of rusty World War II junk, and Congress was desperate to fund the construction of new ships.
The strange situation had a simple explanation: during the war years, the US industry handed over to the Navy such a huge amount of equipment that a reasonable question arose: what to do next? Most of the fleet did not die in the fighting. Even after the "general cleanup" in 1946-47, when several dozen "superfluous" aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers, according to the command, were added to the reserve, the American fleet was still overflowing with wartime equipment.
Scrapping hundreds of still quite modern ships, and building new combat units instead, would be sheer extravagance. Nevertheless, the equipment was subject to inevitable physical deterioration and obsolescence - in an era when the horizon was already illuminated by the glow of upcoming nuclear installations and rocket engine torches, an immediate replenishment of the fleet with new ships was required. But the fleet was not replenished!
The admirals were popularly explained that they should not wait for new ships in the next 10 years - the allocated funds are hardly enough for several experimental designs, and, possibly, a couple of large units for the aircraft carrier fleet. For the rest, sailors must prepare for the fact that in the event of war, they will have to fight with outdated equipment.
In order to avoid a repetition of the next Pearl Harbor, the leadership of the fleet had to turn on the imagination and use the modernization resource of the ships to the fullest - in the 1950s, the US Navy rocked several large-scale fleet modernization programs. One of the most curious projects was GUPPY, a set of relatively simple and cheap measures that radically changed the characteristics of American submarines.
Urgent dive
In 1945, after the division of captured German ships, two "Electrobots" type XXI, U-2513 and U-3008, fell into the hands of the Yankees. Acquaintance with the most powerful and perfect boats of the Second World War left an indelible impression on American specialists; Having carefully studied the design and characteristics of the "Electrobots", the Americans made the correct conclusion: the key factors that directly affect the efficiency and combat stability of a modern submarine are its speed and cruising range in a submerged state. Everything else - artillery weapons, surface speed or autonomy - can be neglected to one degree or another, sacrificing them to the main task of the submarine - movement in a submerged position.
The duration of the stay under water for diesel-electric submarines, in the first place, was limited by the capacity of the batteries. Even the largest and more powerful boats of the Second World War could not stay under water for more than two or three days - then inevitably followed an ascent, the battery pit ventilation system was turned on - powerful air currents removed accumulated poisonous secretions overboard, and rattling diesel generators drove life-giving electric power through the wires of the cables back to the batteries.
For one cycle of being submerged, the boats managed to "crawl" no more than 100 … 200 miles. For example, even the largest of the Soviet boats, the XIV-series cruising submarine, could go under water for only about 170 miles in a 3-knot economic course. And if the handle of the machine telegraph was set to "Fold ahead", the battery charge ended after an hour or 12 miles of the distance traveled. The characteristics of American boats of the Gato, Balao and Tench types were even more modest - less than 100 miles at two knots, while the maximum speed in the submerged position did not exceed 9-10 knots.
To correct this annoying situation, the GUPPY (Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program) program was developed. As its name clearly implies, the goal of the program was to radically improve the speed characteristics of boats in a submerged position. The task was supposed to be achieved in three main ways:
- the maximum saturation of the inner space of the boat with batteries, the number of battery groups was planned to be doubled - from two to four!
- optimization of contours to reduce hydrodynamic resistance when driving in a submerged position;
- the installation of a snorkel is a very good German invention that allows you to move for an unlimited time at periscope depth, "sticking out" the tip of the air intake and exhaust pipe of the diesel engine from under the water.
Of course, in the course of modernization, the electronic "stuffing" of the ships was improved, new radars, sonars and torpedo firing control systems appeared.
The first work was completed in August 1947: two US Navy submarines - USS Odax and USS Pomodon underwent an intensive modernization course under the GUPPY I program. resistance in the submerged position.
The wheelhouse acquired new forms - a smooth, streamlined structure, which received the name "sail" among sailors. Some changes were made to the nose of the hull - the familiar V-shaped silhouette was replaced by rounded GUPPY-shapes. But the main metamorphoses took place inside. The vacated artillery ammunition cellars, part of the refrigeration chambers and spare parts storage - all the free space from bow to stern was filled with rechargeable batteries (AKB) - only 4 groups of 126 cells of a new type.
The new batteries had a large capacity, but a short service life (only 18 months - 3 times less than the original batteries of the WWII times) and a longer charging time. In addition, they were more dangerous in operation due to the increased release of hydrogen - it was necessary to modernize the ventilation system of the battery pits.
Simultaneously with the battery, the entire electrical system of the boats underwent modernization - rowing electric motors of a new type, sealed switchboards, electrical appliances designed for the new standard of the electrical network (120V, 60Hz). At the same time, a new radar appeared and the air conditioning system in the compartments was modernized.
The results of the work exceeded all expectations - the boats USS Odax and USS Pomodon broke all records, accelerating underwater to 18 knots - faster than the unique German "Electrobot". The submerged range has significantly increased, while the economic speed has increased to three knots.
Successful modernization made it possible to continue work in this direction: in the period from 1947 to 1951, another 24 US Navy boats were modernized under the GUPPY II program - this time, along with the optimization of the hull contours and an increase in the number of batteries, a snorkel was introduced into the design for diesel engines in a submerged position.
In 1951, an alternative was proposed - a slightly smaller and cheaper version of the modernization under the GUPPY-IA program (a total of 10 modernized boats). This time, the Yankees refused to place two additional battery groups on board, keeping the same number of elements. Only the elements themselves were changed - they used improved Sargo II batteries - they were more efficient and more durable, at the same time, cells of this type were extremely troublesome: it was necessary to regularly stir the electrolyte and use the battery pit cooling system.
All other techniques of the GUPPY program (snorkel, new hull contours) were used in full. In general, the GUPPY IA program did not impress the sailors - despite their lower cost, the upgraded boats were seriously inferior to the "normal" GUPPY II in terms of range and underwater speed.
Between 1952 and 1954, 17 more boats from the Second World War were upgraded under the GUPPY IIA program - this time the Yankees tried to correct the key drawback of all GUPPYs - disgusting conditions, due to the extremely saturated internal layout and the abundance of batteries. The designers donated one of four diesels, replacing them with pumps, compressors and air conditioning drives. There were some changes in the internal layout of the premises: the refrigeration machines were now located directly under the galley, and the hydroacoustic post "moved" to the vacated pumping room under the central post.
The absence of the fourth diesel engine had a significant impact on the decrease in the surface speed, however, more or less comfortable living conditions were now provided on board the boat (as far as the word "comfort" can be applied to the submarine fleet).
Nevertheless, it was obvious to the sailors that the modernization potential of the boats was practically exhausted. The last chance remained: the GUPPY III program was the largest of all GUPPYs, which included cutting and lengthening the strong hull of the boat (work was carried out from 1959 to 1963).
The length of each of the 9 modernized boats increased by 3.8 meters, the surface displacement increased to 1970 tons. The resulting space reserve was used to accommodate a modern sonar complex BQG-4 PUFFS. Automation made it possible to reduce the crew - instead, the torpedo ammunition capacity increased and the habitat conditions on board improved. Modeled on the GUPPY-IIA, the fourth diesel was removed from all boats. Part of the deckhouse was made of plastic.
USS Pickerel is a typical representative of the GUPPY III
It is worth noting that it is difficult to establish the exact number of boats that took part in the GUPPY project - many of them have been repeatedly modernized as part of various stages of the program. Thus, the "first-borns" USS Odax and USS Pomodon underwent an "upgrade" under the GUPPY II program, and eight more GUPPY IIs were subsequently upgraded to the GUPPY III standard. Despite the general established standards, all boats had some differences in design, layout and equipment - depending on the shipyard where the work was carried out.
Also, some of the boats underwent limited modernization as part of allied assistance programs - for example, four boats intended for the Italian and Dutch navies were "upgraded" under the GUPPY-IB program. The export ships received all the main advantages of the GUPPY program, with the exception of modern electronic equipment.
USS Spinax, 1965 - a typical representative of the Fleet Snorkel Program: artillery is dismantled, some features of the GUPPY program are visible, but no deep modernization has been carried out
In addition, there were informal modernization programs similar in spirit to the GUPPY. So, 28 boats of the war period subsequently received snorkels and some other elements of the GUPPY program associated with minimal changes in design - the artillery and protruding external elements were dismantled, the hull contours were "refined", in some cases the electronic "filling" was replaced.
70 years in the ranks
Most of the submarines of the war years, which underwent modernization according to various versions of the GUPPY program, actively served under the Stars and Stripes flag until the mid-1970s, when the massive introduction of nuclear-powered submarines brought an end to the diesel-electric submarine career in the American Navy.
Uluc Ali Reis (ex. USS Thornback) - Turkish Navy submarine
However, those of the submarines who were fortunate enough to go for export lived much longer and more eventful lives. GUPPY boats were in extremely high demand in the international maritime weapons market - small, simple and relatively cheap, they were ideal for equipping fleets of small and not very wealthy countries. At the same time, their combat qualities significantly exceeded their sizes - even in the days of nuclear reactors and surgically accurate missile weapons, modernized diesel-electric submarines during the Second World War retained considerable combat potential. The boats were massively operated all over the world as part of the fleets of Argentina, Brazil, Turkey, Italy, the Netherlands, the Republic of Taiwan, Pakistan, Greece, Bolivia, Chile and even Canada.
Among the export boats, there were true centenarians. For example, the USS Catfish, which managed to take part in the Falklands War as part of the Argentine Navy. Despite the depressing technical condition of the submarine, the British "sea wolves" took a lot of effort to destroy the ARA Santa Fe (S-21) - the boat, barely crawling on the surface, was hammered with anti-ship missiles and depth charges dropped from helicopters. At the same time, the damaged baby was able to reach the South Island. George and sit on the ground near the shore.
Royal Navy Wessex pursuing Santa Fe, South Atlantic, 1982
But the most striking story is connected with two boats of the Taiwanese Navy - USS Cutlass and USS Tusk, which became, respectively, "Hai Shi" and "Hai Pao". Both submarines, launched in 1944-45, as of 2013 are still in service as training and combat units, and periodically make exits to the sea!
The incredible longevity of the American Gatow, Balao and Tench during World War II has two obvious explanations:
1. Submarines of the US Navy initially had solid capabilities and were built with a great focus on the future. Suffice it to say that any Getow was three times the size of the average German Type VII U-bot.
2. Competent modernization under the GUPPY program, which allowed the old boats for another 20-30 years after the war to serve on a par with new ships.
