USS ALBACORE (AGSS-569) Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark May 13, 2000 Portsmouth, New Hampshire ASME International Praenuntius Futuri rine with a streamlined hull constructed essary in order to get the approval to of new high strength steel. After many build her At the time, aircraft carriers (Forerunner of the Future) debates, the decision was made to build had replaced the battleship as the navy’s an experimental submarine incorporat- premier vessel. Since submarines were Albacore’s motto, Praenuntius Futuri ing the recommendations of the com- aircraft carriers’ most feared adversary, (Forerunner of the Future) describes her mittee before proceeding with the approval to build her as a training tool purpose well. She was intended as the design of a military version. Where subs came quickly. As a “target,” Albacore test vessel for a generation of submarine had always been surface vessels that would also be unarmed, which meant design innovations that would point the could avoid detection, for the first time, her designers would not be restricted by way for submarines of the future. a submarine was to be designed as a the requirements of numerous naval vessel meant to operate under the sea design bureaus responsible for different Albacore’s mission was experimental. instead of on the surface. This meant a aspects of naval combat ships. The She was meant to be modified, modified complete change in design philosophy. designers were free to follow Momsen’s again and then again in a series of con- orders, “When in doubt, think speed.” figurations designed to test submarine Like everything that involves radical hydrodynamics. The Albacore is an change, the design issues were a sub- Her keel was laid on March 15, 1952. example of the value of testing and ject of hot debate in the submarine The hull was made from a new type of experimentation to the engineering pro- community. The Albacore was going to steel, HY-80. HY-80 had yield strengths of fession and the design process. Also, the test the new designs and settle the 80,000 PSI, greater than any other steel pioneering engineers and technicians arguments once and for all. available. This was the first application of who worked on her were unknowingly that steel for a submarine pressure hull. developing In order to But even with high strength steel, the the roots of a determine dimensional restrictions required by the new techni- Official Photograph U.S. Navy the opti- hull shape posed design difficulties. The cal disci- mum shape hull was shorter and wider than that of pline, Ocean for the outer WWII submarines. In order to maintain Engineering. hull, the the minimum number of watertight com- designers partments, the internal bulkheads had to The uss made exten- be placed close together; a fact that made Albacore sive tests internal arrangements more difficult. served as the using the floating sub- towing tank As originally built, her control planes and marine at the David rudders were positioned aft of the pro- design labo- Taylor peller in a cruciform, or “+” configura- ratory for 19 Model Basin tion. She also had a small dorsal rudder years. and at the fitted on the rear portion of the sail. The During this time period she underwent Langley full scale tunnel. [The David placement of control planes and rudders five re-fits or phase conversions to test Taylor Model Basin is also an ASME with respect to the propellers was a topic and evaluate new concepts. Much of the Landmark.] The original shape selected of many debates in the submarine com- equipment developed and tested on the for study was based upon the form of the munity. Another topic of debate was the Albacore was fitted onto other sub- R101, a World War I dirigible. single propeller placed on the centerline marines in the United States Navy. The Eventually, the data from these tests was of the hull. While this provided an marriage of the hull form pioneered on published in a document called Series 58. increase in propulsive efficiency, it was the Albacore with nuclear power tech- In order to obtain data at high Reynolds not an accepted practice at the time. nology pioneered in the USS Nautilus numbers, large-scale models of the Albacore would be used to test various resulted in the first submarines capable Albacore were tested in a wind tunnel. control designs and to correlate actual of sustained underwater performance. As a result of all these tests, the optimum sea trial performance with that predicted shape and dimensions were determined. in tow-tank tests. Introduction Design and Service History and Submarine operations during World Construction Testing Operations War II demonstrated to the United States Navy the importance of underwa- As first proposed by Rear Admiral Albacore was launched on August 1,1953 ter speed, maneuverability and Charles Momsen, Assistant Chief of Naval and commissioned on December 5,1953. endurance. Following the war, the Operations for Undersea Warfare and Undersea Warfare Committee of the inventor of the Momsen Lung, Albacore After her initial Phase I testing was com- National Science Foundation issued a was to be a “target” used for anti-subma- pleted, Albacore returned to Portsmouth set of design recommendations to meet rine warfare practice. This ruse was nec- Naval Shipyard in December of 1955, for these needs. They called for a subma- her Phase II conversion. The dorsal rud- The distance between these two screws der mounted behind the sail was was varied throughout the testing period. ASME History and removed. It had also been found that A photographic system was installed for Heritage Program mounting the rudders aft of the screw direct observation of the cavitation charac- caused high stresses in the structural teristics of the propellers. It was at this time support members. Therefore, the rud- that high capacity silver-zinc batteries The ASME History and Heritage Recognition ders and diving planes were moved for- replaced the usual lead-acid type. These ward of the screw. Later, her screw was new batteries provided the submarine Program began in September 1971. To imple- replaced with one larger in diameter with three times the power of the old lead- ment and achieve its goals, ASME formed a Because of the effectiveness of the stern acid type and effectively doubled the avail- History and Heritage Committee, composed of diving planes, the bow diving planes able shaft horsepower for short duration. were also removed. Also, an emergency main ballast tank mechanical engineers, historians of technolo- blow system, part of the “Subsafe” pro- gy, and the Curator Emeritus of Mechanical By this time, the basic teardrop hull form gram, was added in response to the pioneered by Albacore had become stan- Thresher disaster Another innovation and Civil Engineering at the Smithsonian dard for U.S. nuclear submarines, and was the testing of the “fly-around-body”, a Institution. The committee provides a public other nations had begun to adopt similar remote controlled underwater kite used to service by examining, noting, recording, and shapes for their hulls. deploy antenna systems. acknowledging mechanical engineering She entered the shipyard again in The fifth, and final, phase conversion was achievements of particular significance. The November 1960 to begin her Phase III for a series of tests to increase speed. conversion. She emerged in August 1961 That system, and the results of the test History and Heritage Committee is part of the with a radical “X” configuration of stern are still classified. ASME Council on Public Affairs and Board on planes. This configuration became popu- lar with foreign submarine designers but Albacore twice set world submerged Public Information. For further information, has never reappeared on U.S. sub- speed records. She was also awarded the please contact Public Information, ASME, marines. Other changes included adding Navy’s Battle Efficiency Pennant and was Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016- a larger rudder behind the sail, dive granted permission to display the White brakes around her middle, and new “E” for overall readiness to perform her 5990, 212-591-7740; fax 212-591-8676. sonar During this time, she also tested a assigned mission. new towed sonar array Towed sonar arrays, towed behind the submarine, are An ASME landmark represents a progressive now standard on modern submarines. Albacore Today step in the evolution of mechanical engineer- ing. Site designations note an event or devel- One interesting side note during this Albacore was decommissioned on phase was the installation of a para- December 1, 1972 and placed in the opment of clear historical importance to reserve fleet in Philadelphia. In 1982, a chute on Albacore. A B-47 bomber drag mechanical engineers. Collections mark the chute was borrowed from nearby Pease citizens group began the process of bring- Air Force Base and deployed underwa- ing the Albacore back to Portsmouth, NH, contributions of several objects with special ter in a series emergency stopping tests. as a tangible monument to the area’s significance to the historical development of While the concept did not make it past naval heritage. On May 3, 1985, the Navy the testing phase, it transferred responsibility for mechanical engineering. does demonstrate the submarine to the Portsmouth Submarine creativity at work The ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering and the value of the Memorial Association. She Albacore as a test was towed back to Recognition Program illustrates our technolog- vehicle. Portsmouth in 1984. A perma- ical heritage and serves to encourage the nent display site was selected Her Phase IV conver- that was one-quarter mile preservation of the physical remains of histor- sion took from inland and 27 feet higher than ically important works.