![]() ![]() The Gatos were slow divers when compared to some German and British designs, but that was mostly because the Gatos were significantly larger boats. Without changing the construction or thickness of the pressure hull steel, they decided that the Gato-class boats would be fully capable of routinely operating at 300 feet, a 50-foot (15 m) increase in test depth over the preceding classes. ![]() Operational experience with earlier boats led the naval architects and engineers at the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair to believe that they had been unduly conservative in their estimates of hull strength. The outer hull merged with the pressure hull at both ends in the area of the torpedo room bulkheads, hence the "partial" double hull. The voids between the two hulls provided space for fuel and ballast tanks. The inner pressure-resisting hull was wrapped by an outer, hydrodynamic hull. Navy fleet-type submarines of World War II, were of partial double-hulled construction. The Gatos, along with nearly all of the U.S. The only significant differences were an increase in diving depth from 250 feet (76 m) to 300 feet (91 m), and an extra five feet in length to allow the addition of a watertight bulkhead dividing the one large engine room in two, with two diesel generators in each room. The Gato-class design, with a top range of 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km), was a near-duplicate of the preceding Tambor- and Gar-class boats. By the end of 1941, 33 Gato keels had been laid. In the immediate aftermath of the Two-Ocean Navy Act 48 additional units were ordered. Timing, however, also conspired to make the Gatos a mass-produced class of submarines. Fortunately, the same capabilities that would have enabled these submarines to operate with the fleet made them superbly qualified for their new mission of commerce raiding against the Japanese Empire. It left the fleet submarine without a mission. The attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 destroyed the Pacific Fleet battle line and along with it the concept of the battleship-led gun battle, as well as 20 years of submarine strategic concept development. Timing, however, conspired against the actual use of these boats in their assigned role. Navy had hit the right combination of factors and now had the long-desired fleet submarine. ![]() By 1940, a much better developed industrial base and experience gained from the Porpoise-, Salmon-, and Sargo-class boats resulted in the Tambor and Gar classes. Tambor and Gar class īy 1931, the experimental phase of fleet submarine development was over and the Navy began to make solid progress towards what would eventually be the Gato class. Navy experimented constantly with this concept in the post-World War I years, producing a series of submarines with less than stellar qualities and reliability, the AA-1 class (also known as the T class) and the V-boats, of which V-1 through V-3 were an unsuccessful attempt to produce a fleet submarine. Limitations in submarine design and construction in the 1920s and 1930s made this combination of qualities very difficult to achieve. To operate effectively in this role, a submarine had to have high surface speed, long range and endurance, and heavy armament. This was an operational concept born from experience in World War I. They were to scout out ahead of the fleet and report on the enemy fleet's composition, speed, and course, then they were to attack and whittle down the enemy in preparation for the main fleet action, a titanic gun battle between battleships and cruisers. The Gato-class boats were considered to be fleet submarines, designed to operate as adjuncts to the main battle fleet, based on standard-type battleships since World War I. Navy submarines of the period, boats of the Gato class were given the names of marine creatures.ĭesign AA-1 class and V-boats Gato 's name comes from a species of small catshark. In some references, the Gatos are combined with their successors, especially the Balao class. The Gatos, along with the closely related Balao and Tench classes that followed, accounted for most of the Navy's World War II submarines they destroyed much of the Japanese merchant marine and a large portion of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Named after the lead ship of the class, USS Gato, they were the first mass-production U.S. The Gato class of submarines were built for the United States Navy and launched in 1941–1943. 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun.48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged.4 × high-speed electric motors with reduction gears ( Elliott Company, General Electric, or Allis-Chalmers) ġ1,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h).4 × diesel engines driving electrical generators ( Fairbanks-Morse, General Motors, or Hooven-Owens-Rentschler). ![]()
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