They were sent into drydock for the very first conversion, Pomodon from 25 October 1946 to 26 July 1947 and Odax September 1946-August 1947. The main reason was they were recent, completed 11 July and 11 September 1945 and in pristine conditions. The prototypes for this whole GUPPY improvements were USS Odax and USS Pomodon, both Portsmouth-built Tench class boats. Guppy I (1946)Īuthor’s rendition of the GUPPY-I, USS Pomodon (SS 486) Streamlined hulls, sail-type conning towers, and better underwater performance were all implemented in 1948-60, and France also launched similar experiments. It should be noted that the Royal Navy embarked in a similar program, modernizing 24 wartime and post-war British T/A-class models. Ship Characteristics Board/SCB project number were given each time and therefore their identification prefix changed along the years. Some boats indeed went through one phase and another later. Upgrades would go on through seven incrementations, namely and in order, the GUPPY I, GUPPY II, GUPPY IA, Fleet Snorkel, GUPPY IIA, GUPPY IB, and GUPPY III modernization. The initial two-boat test program started at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. This explains also the large diversity of submarines types and conversions in the US Fleet of the 1950-60, basically the pre-nuclear era. The Navy agreed to produced only limited numbers of the new boats, gradually implementing new innovations along the way. The navy was a bit at odds with the the Bureau of Ships, which believed the existing Gato, Balao, and Tench fleet could be modified at lower cost rather than the Navy which wanted large series to replace them, but a compromise was found and by June 1946, the Chief of Naval Operations approved the GUPPY project. Indeed in 1945, most of these Gato/Tech and Balao series were just a few years old, far too short for a retirement. But it was also quite expensive and in these times of military budget cuts, the Navy preferred to upgrade the existing fleet boats to the Tang’s standards rather to built a brand new fleet of submarines. In fact it was the very first USN “Submarine” with the Barracuda class. This led to a USN design which over the years 1946-49 became the Tang class, which made all previous USN submersibles obsoletes. The U-2513 and U-3008 were extensively studied and tested, and lessons learned, like the large battery capacity, streamlined structure and hull, a snorkel, and better fire control system. The GUPPP program started in 1945 already, as the US Navy obtained two German Type XXI boats as war reparation. The program was nevertheless secret for most of the cold war, and what we now know about it was recently declassified. A ‘P’ was dropped and a ‘Y’ added, coining ‘GUPPY’ which sounded better and almost like a fish name. A catchy name was needed to attract and hold attention and “GUPPP” was not desirable. The Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program was quickstarted alongside, and will feed US cold war submarine design back and forth along its iterations. The first prototypes of these would be the Barracuda (SST3) class, and the larger Tang class. The admiralty wanted to improve the submerged speed, the manoeuvrability and the endurance of the whole submarine force, while at the same time, new programs would lead to the design of a brand new generation. The first was obtained as war prize by the Soviet Union so it was clear that it would not be long before a new submarine would be developed over this design. The Navy after 1945 was perfectly aware that its WW2 sub fleet was no longer relevant with the latest underwater propulsion technology pioneered by German engineers with the type XXI and XXIII. In the end, Guppy boats would serve for most of the cold war under many flags, some even until the 2000s, and one was even sunk in a military action (ARA Santa Fe).ĭevelopment of the Greater Underwater Propulsion Program So a large modernization program was launched in the 1950s, which ended with the conversion of these boats under various standard, called GUPPY I, Ia, II, IIa and III. Their main advantage was their large size, but they were obsolete compared to the Type XXI and versus the new “Whiskey” class attack submarines mass-produced by Stalin in the 1950s. Eventually all this fleet was upgraded, and some of them went through two waves of modernization or were exported to NATO countries during the cold war. This represented a total of 57 boats available for possible upgrades. This represented a force of 77 units, of which 20 were lost. The bulk of the active units was still the large, roomy, and battered Gato/Tench/Balao serie of WW2. Guppy I, IA, IB, II, IIA, III, Fleet Snorkel The ‘Fleet Snorkels’ to the rescueĪlthough the conventional submarine fleet of the USA was impressive in 1960, most models has been experimental or delivered in short series.
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