| SUMMARY
Commissioned in 1959, the USS Blueback (SS-581) is nationally significant under Criterion “C” in the area of Engineering as the last surviving example of a Barbel Class submarine. The period of significance is the year that the Blueback was completed and launched. Only consisting of three ships, the Barbell class combined proven WWII-era diesel-electric motor technology with a revolutionary tear-drop hull shape, high-strength steel, and other improvements that were incorporated into later submarine designs. The technological advance was driven by the transition in submarine warfare from the older Fleet Boat system to the modern nuclear-powered vessels of the Cold War. However, the Blueback and her sister ships were a transitional design. After independently studying nuclear power in the Nautilus test ship and the tear-drop hull shape with the Albacore test submarine and the active-duty Barbell Class, these technologies were combined to create the modern nuclear submarines used by the U.S. Navy from the Cold War to the present. As the last diesel-electric submarine to join the US Navy and the last to be decommissioned, the Blueback represents an important transition in maritime technology and navel warfare.
HISTORIC CONTEXT: THE COLD WAR SUBS
The ability of the submarine to approach and destroy enemy vessels in complete secrecy has captivated naval commanders for centuries. Legend has it that Alexander the Great descended beneath the waves near the city of Tyre in a primitive diving bell in 332 B.C. A design in a sketch book by Leonardo da Vinci represents a submersible covered in goatskins. A design by an Englishman in the late 1500s included the concept of a double hull and trim and ballast systems, but was never built. It was the United States that made the first military submarine. In 1776, a Yale University student named David Bushnell designed and built an egg-shaped submarine called the Turtle. The small vessel came equipped with a hand powered screw, a drill bit, and a waterproof time-bomb that could be attached using the drill bit. On 6 September 1776, Sergeant Ezra Lee of the Continental Army used the Turtle to make an abortive attack on the HMS Eagle. Though no damage was done, and no one was hurt, it was a promising start for military submarines. The first successful use of submarine in combat occurred eighty years later when the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley attacked and sunk the USS Housatonic during the Civil War.
Military submarines became important weapons in WWI with the German development of the dreaded Unterseeboot fleet, commonly called U-boats. Drastic improvements in submarine construction were made just prior to WWI, such as improved diesel engines, better periscopes and torpedoes, and wireless systems. These new technologies allowed the subs to operate far from home base and to be more lethal and secretive than ever. The U-boats wreaked havoc upon the merchant fleets of the North Atlantic, almost completely cutting England off from its allies. In one well-known incident, the elderly U-9 sank three British cruisers and inflicted over 1,400 casualties. Clearly, submarines were the key to owning the seas. Upon entering the war, the United States began turning out subs as fast as possible, and continued to do so on through WWII.
The purpose of a submarine during WWI and WWII was simply to sink other ships. These “Fleet Boats” worked in concert with the surface fleet to track down and eliminate threats, often well into enemy controlled seas. Fleet boats, aesthetically, are little different from their surface counterparts – they had a flat deck, a pointed prow or nose, a conning tower, and surface armament in the form of several anti-aircraft machine guns and a larger deck gun for use against lightly-armored surface vessels. The batteries of these older subs did not store enough electricity to allow the ship to stay under for very long. Because of this, the ships were designed for maximum surface handling characteristics, where they spent the majority of their time. These early submarines only submerged to escape detection. The U.S. Balao class, for instance, had a battery endurance of 48 hours at a meager two knots an hour. Battery power was drained more quickly if the sub tried to travel faster. On the surface the fleet boats kept up with surface ships, maintaining a speed of about 21 knots. When submerged, most fleet boats could only dive to a maximum of around 400 feet. This is shallow compared to modern subs, which can dive nearly twice that depth.
The American submarines in WWII included three separate types or classes, Gato, Balao, and the later Tench, which were all virtually identical. 311 feet long with a beam of 27 feet, these fleet ships were made to knife through the water on the surface. Gato and Balao were heavily armed with ten torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft. They carried a large store of torpedoes, but were also armed with more conventional weapons as well. Balao, the most numerous class of American fleet subs, was armed with a forward facing five-inch deck gun, and four machine guns, which was a typical arrangement at the time. Each sub carried a limited store of torpedoes, no matter how long their patrol might be. Often commanders would opt to save a torpedo and sink a stricken enemy vessel with surface weapons, unless the target was heavily armored.
When WWII ended, the United States found itself in an ideological, and sometimes armed, conflict with the USSR. While open warfare was limited, the conflict largely polarized the world into pro-US or pro-Soviet governments. In contested nations, proxy wars between the two combatants and their allies raged, sometimes for years or decades.
Although open conflict between the US and the USSR was largely avoided, both nations sought to intimidate the other by the size and potency of their forces and by developing new weapons. During this period, military technology saw a rapid burst of growth as the US and the USSR tried to achieve an advantage, and naval forces were no exception. Up to WWII, the pinnacle of surface fleet development was the battleship - a literal floating fortress. During WWII, it was shown that carrier-borne aircraft could sink any surface ship. The aircraft carrier’s ability to locate and destroy enemy vessels from hundreds of miles away led to major changes in navel warfare after WWII, including the use of submarines. Because of airplanes, subs could no longer remain on the surface for long, if at all. Radar and enemy spy planes made the ships far too vulnerable on the surface. In addition, because of the advances in submarine detection technology and surface ship weapons, Cold War subs could not fire torpedoes without being quickly detected by the enemy and destroyed. However, because submarines were hard to detect under the surface, these ships could still be called upon for missions that required secrecy, such as intelligence gathering missions or covert operations.
POST WWII SUBMARINE DEVELOPMENT
An effective way at improving technology quickly is to reverse engineer a superior machine. In WWII, the US captured several German U-Boats, which were widely held to be the best submarines in the world at the time. By reverse engineering these captured subs, American scientists hoped to determine how to best improve American ships. What they found led to the creation of four goals for American submarine development: increased battery capacity, more streamlined hulls, snorkel systems, and improved fire control systems. With these goals in mind, the American Navy began the GUPPY (Greater Underwater Propulsion Power) program, which simply took WWII subs and retrofitted them to be more effective. Surface weapons were removed because they were no longer needed and only increased drag on the submarine when submerged. The conning tower became much less boxy and more streamlined. Snorkels, or long tubes that can be extended to let air into the sub, allowed the subs to run under diesel power even while under the surface. From these GUPPY boats came the Tang Class of submarines. Purpose built with the GUPPY improvements, these subs were the pinnacle of submarine technology when they were revealed in 1947. Though they were the most advanced subs in the world, they still had flat decks and tall conning towers. They were also slow, managing top speeds of only 15 knots at the surface and 18 knots submerged.
Though the Tang Class represented the best technology of the time, the Navy still sought to improve these designs. One field of research was nuclear technology, which would allow a submarine to stay submerged for long periods of time. The Navy was also interested in improving handling and performance. Instead of pursuing both nuclear power and improved performance in a single design, the Navy developed each concept separately using non-combat concept submarines constructed solely to test new designs and technologies. The improvements developed from these ships were incorporated into combat vessels.
Launched 5 December 1953, the Albacore (AGSS-569) was designed to test hydrodynamics, noise reduction, and generally to make improvements wherever possible. Albacore was the first sub in the world to be built with the now familiar “tear drop” -shaped hull. Previous sub types had flat decks and pointed prows to maximize speed and maneuverability on the surface. In contrast, the Albacore was a cylinder with a rounded nose and a tapering tail that allowed it to move more easily while submerged. The new hull shape increased the speed of the ship under the surface dramatically. It was so quick and so maneuverable that when submerged that sailors dubbed its movements “hydrobatics.” The Albacore was also the first to pioneer the aircraft controls that all subsequent subs would use. In place of the hand-cranks and -wheels used by previous classes of ship, a simple yoke and pedals would do. The Albacore was at the fore of a new trend in submarine development that emphasized hydrodynamics and underwater efficiency over surface performance. The Barbel class was developed directly from the tests conducted on the Albacore. The contract to build the first ship of the class, the USS Barbel (SS-580) was awarded to Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine on 24 August 1955 and her keel was laid down on 18 May 1956.
At the same time tests were conducted on the Albacore, the Navy introduced the USS Nautilus (SSN-571) as a test bed for nuclear power plants. Funded by Congress in 1951, the experimental Nautilus was finally launched 21 January 1954. Where Albacore researched hull design, Nautilus was intended to test power plants and engine endurance. Nautilus looked quite similar to a Tang Class submarine, yet internally was very different. Diesel engines existed solely as backups should the new nuclear generator stop working. The Navy quickly realized that nuclear power submarines were limited in range only by the amount of food that could be stored for the sailors. Nuclear generators require no oxygen, so the sub never has to surface or snorkel. They require no refueling, so the sub is not limited in the distance it can travel from port. Since Nautilus had no need for oxygen, she became the first sub to travel all the way under the polar ice cap, from the Bering Strait to the Greenland Sea. From the new propulsion technology developed with Nautilus came the next class of subs. The Skate Class was the first full class of submarines to be nuclear powered. They were developed directly from the Nautilus, but, like Nautilus, they were not built with the hull design pioneered by Albacore. They were still constructed much like the GUPPY and Tang subs: flat decked with a tall sail.
The first class of submarines to put the two differing directions of development together was the Skipjack class. Skipjack had the nuclear reactors from Nautilus, and the hull form and maneuverability advancements from the USS Albacore and the Barbel Class. Production of the Skipjack boats was rushed. Funding was approved in fiscal year 1956 and the first ship of the Skipjack class, the Skipjack, received its commission three years later on 15 Apr 1959. Beginning with the Skipjack, all subsequent submarines utilized the tear-drop shape and nuclear power among other innovations. Both the Albacore and Nautilus continued in service as test vessels for new technologies. The Albacore was decommissioned in 1972 and in 1985 was taken out of the water and set on a concrete pedestal in Albacore Park in Portsmouth Virginia. Decommissioned 1980, the Nautilus was listed as a National Historic Landmark in 1982. In 1985 it became part of the permanent collection at the US Navy Submarine Force Museum in Groton Connecticut.
THE BLUEBACK AND THE BARBEL CLASS
The first class of subs to employ the improvements pioneered by the Albacore was the Barbel class. The first ship of the class, The Barbel (SS 580) was launched in July 1958 and commissioned six months later on 17 January 1959. Though nuclear power plants were used in mid-1950s in the Nautilus and later in the Skate Class, the Blueback and the other Barbels would be diesel-electric. Diesel-electric subs under battery power were, and are to this day, quieter than nuclear ships. Though nuclear subs never have to surface, their reactors cannot be shut down, and the pumps that circulate coolant must be running constantly. Electricity, on the other hand, requires no pumps, no engines, no reactors, and very few moving parts, so the amount of noise they make is minimal and renders them nearly invisible to sonar when under battery power. At the time the three Barbel Class submarines were ordered in 1955, diesel-electric motor technology was proven. However, the Navy’s changing priorities favored the fuel conservation and range advantages of nuclear submarines over the stealth of diesel subs. Although only three of the Barbel Class subs were constructed, the class represents the pinnacle of diesel-electric technology. These were the first active duty submarine to include many of the advances in submarine design pioneered by the Albacore.
The Barbels were, at the time of their launch, arguably the world’s best submarines. Though not nuclear powered, the Barbels excelled at secrecy. At 21 knots submerged, they were faster than any other US submarine except the Albacore. Their hulls were far more hydrodynamic than any other sub in the world at the time – lending much greater maneuverability and noise reduction when submerged. Their internal electronics were better than any other active duty US submarine – airplane controls in the command center like in Albacore, push button ballast and dive controls, and advanced BQS 4 active/passive Sonar equipment in the nose. They were the first active duty subs to be constructed of HY-80 steel, which was stronger than previous types and allowed for much deeper dive depths. All subsequent submarine types in the US would be built of HY-80 steel. The Barbels were also among the most silent submarines in the world at the time. Masker emitters placed in the hull covered the sub with a small amount of white noise to distort the sub’s shape to sonar, and the single propeller had been manufactured with extreme precision, to ensure it cut through the water as quietly as possible.
Compared to any other active duty submarine in the world at the time of their launch, the Blueback and the other Barbels had a truly distinctive appearance. The cylindrical hull with rounded nose and tapered tail differed so drastically from any other class of submarine in service at the time, and marked the Blueback as a product of the hydrodynamic research conducted by Albacore. Like the Albacore and other Barbels, Blueback originally had her diving planes mounted to the sides of her nose, which was the typical arrangement for all previous submarine types. The dive planes are winglets that are designed to help point the nose of the sub down in a dive, and up in a surfacing maneuver. While the boat is on the surface, the planes rotate and fold up hydraulically, so they are held vertically to keep out of the way. However, it was quickly realized that this arrangement was only effective at low speeds, and that on a high-speed ship such as the Blueback the dive planes were less effective in steering the ship and increased drag. The dive planes were relocated in 1964 to their current position on the sail, where they are permanently held horizontally. The change was subsequently mirrored in the design of other submarine types.
The Barbel’s had other improvements as well. Submarines before the Albacore and the Barbels had a “conning tower” rather than a sail. The tower on the hull had a pressurized room in it that housed the periscopes and other equipment. In these subs, sailors would have to climb up into the tower to use the periscopes, and would have to relay what they saw down to the command center. In the Barbels, the conning tower was eliminated. The tower like projection on top of the hull simply stored the antennas, periscopes, and snorkel tubes, with no room for sailors. All functions of the conning tower were relocated to the command center, eliminating the need for a separate room and the chance of miscommunication. All subsequent sub designs would follow the Barbels in doing away with the conning tower. Other changes were made in the ship’s systems. Like the other Barbel-class submarines, the ships command center was one of the most advanced found in any submarine at that time. The most advanced control, communication, and weapons systems of the time could be found on board.
The third and last of its class, the USS Blueback was launched from Ingalls Shipbuilding Corporation in Pascagoula, Mississippi on 16 May 1959. Ingalls had never built a submarine before – in fact, no shipyard in the entire southern United States had built a submarine since the early attempts during the Civil War. She was compact, as submarines go, at 219 feet, 6 inches long and 29 feet across. At the launch, Rear Admiral L. R. Daspit, Director of Undersea Warfare Division of the Navy remarked on the “ideal tear-drop” hull design, noting that “Blueback will have great speed and maneuverability.” He continued, this “ship has the latest and best electronic equipment yet designed, Blueback will be well equipped to act as a killer submarine on an antisubmarine patrol, to act as a mine-layer, to perform reconnaissance missions, or to do other military missions which require surprise, stealth, or undetected operations for their success.” It was also noted at the time that the Blueback would be the last diesel submarine. After being commissioned on 15 October 1959, the ship went through a short “fitting out” period of arming and crewing before heading out in 1960 to her new home in San Diego, California. There, she performed acceptance trials and training runs, before relocating to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 1965, she was deployed to assist American operations in Vietnam. Blueback spent the next decade patrolling the Pacific and running “special assignments” in the Far East. For her service, Blueback was awarded two battle stars for participating in high profile engagements during Vietnam. Unfortunately, much of Blueback’s operational history is as yet still classified; however, her superior engineering allowed the crew to complete a wide variety of reconnaissance and covert operations, just as she was deigned to.
Compared to her nuclear contemporaries, Blueback and here sister ships were silent, efficient, and above all reliable. Blueback’s engines were far simpler than a nuclear submarine’s, and were far less prone to having engineering problems. The Blueback crew, to highlight that difference, created the Diesel Boats Forever (DBF) pin, which quickly became very popular. Submariners on diesel boats would wear a DBF pin as a mark of pride – the pin was equipped with slots for stars that could be added for each time the diesel boat was called on to “rescue” a nuclear sub that had broken down, a smug way of humbling their compatriots aboard nuclear boats.
Although only containing three ships, the Submarines of the Barbel Class enjoyed long service histories. Barbel (SS-580), built by Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine and commissioned in 1958, was decommissioned in 1989, partially scrapped in the 1990s and finally sunk as a target ship in 2001. Her hulk lies off the California coast under 3,600 feet of water. Bonefish (SS-582), built by New York Shipbuilding Corporation of Camden, New Jersey, was commissioned in July 1959. Her career was cut short in 1988 by a fire in the battery compartments that gutted the submarine, and killed three sailors. The damage was so extensive that the sub had to be deactivated and decommissioned. Later in 1988, the sub was scrapped in its entirety. Blueback was the last diesel-electric submarine to join the US Navy, and was also the last to leave. She was decommissioned 1 October 1990, and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in Bremerton, Washington. Her name was struck from the Naval Register 30 October 1990 after more than 30 years of service.
In February 1994, the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) purchased the dilapidated Blueback and towed it to its current berth on the Willamette River in Portland. When OMSI acquired the sub, it could safely be called a “floating pile of junk.” Rust and grime covered the majority of the hull, and the interior spaces were little better; after 30 years of nearly constant use, followed by a several year long period of disuse, the interior needed a good scrubbing. Bulkheads were removed, cleaned, and painted. The outer hull needed repairs, a good stiff cleaning to remove the rust, and a fresh coat of black paint. Currently, OMSI maintains the Blueback as a museum ship, in such a condition that future submariners and “old salts” alike can experience a little piece of life on a military sub.
CRITERIA CONSIDERATION B and G
The pivotal importance of the Cold War and the involvement of the U.S. Armed forces in this global conflict is already well-recognized by historians. Although not yet 50 years old, the Blueback tells an important piece of this story: How the US Navy developed and fielded new weapons in response to the changing realities of naval warefare. The Blueback is the sole physical example of how this transition affected the design of submarines after the loss of the two other sister ships decades ago. Although comparable in design, the USS Albacore, the test-ship that pioneered the concepts used on the Blueback, never was intended for active combat and has lost its integrity of setting. Because of the importance of the history and engineering that this resource represents and its uniqueness, the Blueback meets the requirements under Criteria Consideration G.
In the case of a vehicle, such as a ship, Criterion B does not apply because it is inherent in the design and intent of a vehicle that it move from place to place. The Blueback maintains its historic setting because it is located in an appropriate marine setting on the Willamette River.
CONCLUSION
During the Cold War the changing nature of navel warfare forced the development of faster, quieter, and more technologically advanced submarines. The USS Blueback represents the development of key technologies during this period. For its time, the Blueback’s hull was the most advanced design of any submarine in the world when she was launched. This tear-drop design quickly became the standard hull form for all subsequent submarines, both domestic and foreign. The hull design also pioneered the use of the “sail” over a traditional conning tower. Other important technologies were developed on Blueback and her sister ships as well, such as push button ballast and dive controls, flight-yolk steering, and modern communication and weapons systems. At the same time, the Blueback and her sister ships are unique in that they were built as diesel-electric submarines during a time when the US Navy decided that it would be an “all nuclear” navy. The decision meant that the Barbels served as some of the last diesel-electric subs in a navy of nuclear boats. Blueback herself was in service after some of her newer successors had already been decommissioned. As the only remaining ship of her class and as a physical link to the development of navel technology in the Cold War the USS Blueback is eligible for the National Register under Criterion C in the area of Engineering. |
