Submarine aircraft carrier
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Submarine aircraft carriers are submarines equipped with airplanes for observation or attack missions. These submarines became the biggest of the World War II, although their operational significance remained rather small. The most famous of them are the Japanese submarine I-400 and the French submarine Surcouf, although a few related attempts were made by a few other navies as well.
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[edit] HMS M2
After the loss of the heavy gun carrying HMS M1, the remaining M-Class submarines were converted to other uses. By 1928 the M2 had been fitted with a waterproof hangar and steam catapult and could launch and recover a small seaplane. The submarine and her plane could then act as a reconnaissance unit ahead of the fleet. The M2 herself was lost in 1932 and plane launching submarines were abandoned by the Royal Navy.
[edit] French submarine Surcouf
Surcouf was a French submarine ordered to be built in December 1927, launched 18 October 1929, and commissioned May 1934. At the beginning of World War II, Surcouf was the largest submarine in the world. Her short wartime career is laced with controversy and conspiracy theories.
Surcouf was designed as an "underwater cruiser," intended to seek and engage in surface combat. For the first part of that mission, it carried an observation float plane in a hangar built into the after part of the conning tower; for the second part, it was armed with not only ten torpedo tubes but also a twin eight-inch (203 mm) gun turret forward of the conning tower. The guns were fed from a magazine holding 600 rounds and controlled by a director with a 40 foot (12 m) rangefinder, mounted high enough to view a seven-mile horizon. In theory, the observation plane could direct fire out to the guns' 15 mile (24 km) maximum range. Anti-aircraft cannon and machine guns were mounted on the top of the hangar.
[edit] American submarine S-1
The concept was studied in the United States since 1922. The American government purchased two Caspar-Heinkel U-1 disarmable seaplanes for detachment to Anacostia Naval Station for evaluation and testing. Later one aircraft was lost during an exhibition flight in 1923, but this provided useful technical information.
The U.S. Navy accepted the construction of 12 submarine-based aircraft at different private enterprises like Cox-Klemm Aircraft (from New York) with their design XS-1 (1 prototype and 5 preserie planes) and another six were ordered from Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Corporation (from Baltimore) with their design MS-1, both small disarmable hydroplanes.
Both models were tested in submarine S-1 during October and November 1923. Later the Cox-Klemm company attempted to developed its design with an XS-2 model, but the Navy lost interest in the concept. In 1931 another similar concept was born when Loening Aircraft Company presented its design Loening XSL-1 Amphibian flying boat for submarine trials aboard the S-1, but this concept was never accepted by the submarine service.
News that the British submarine M-2 had sunk during aircraft launching trials during 1933, among the damage of XSL-2 during aquatic testings in Anacostia river area, making the whole idea of submarine-borne aircraft was abandoned by the U.S.Navy.
[edit] Italian submarine Ettore Fieramosca
The Regia Marina (Italian Navy) developed, in the late 1920s, the Ettore Fieramosca, a submarine with a waterproof hangar for a small reconnaissance plane. They gave commissions to the Italian aircraft manufacturers Macchi and Piaggio for two prototypes. The Macchi M.53 and the Piaggio P.8 were developed by 1928, but the program for an Italian aircraft-carrying submarine was cancelled, and the hangar was removed from the submarine in December 1931, before the Ettore Fieramosca was delivered to the Italian navy.
[edit] Japanese submarine aircraft carriers
Although the U.S. Navy remained discreet about it, the Japanese were ahead of the Allies in several areas of submarine development and underwater weapons. The I-400 class of Japanese submarines was the largest in the world until the 1960s when the nuclear fleets were built.
The Japanese applied the concept of the "submarine aircraft carrier" extensively. Altogether 47 submarines were built with the capability to carry seaplanes. Most IJN submarine aircraft carriers could carry only one aircraft, but the I-14 had a hangar space for 2 aircraft, and the giant I-400 class submarines could carry 3.
[edit] B1 Type (20 units)
The B1 Type (I-15 Series) submarines (I-15, I-17, I-19, I-21, I-23, I-25, I-26, I-27, I-28, I-29, I-30, I-31, I-32, I-33, I-34, I-35, I-36, I-37, I-38, I-39) were the most numerous type of submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. In total, 20 were made, starting with number I-15, which became the name of the series. These submarines were fast, had a very long range, and carried a single Yokosuka E14Y seaplane, located in a hangar in front of the conning tower, which was launched by a catapult.
The series was rather successful, especially at the beginning of the war. The I-26, in 1942, crippled the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga. The I-19, on 15 September 1942, fired six torpedoes at the aircraft carrier USS Wasp, two of which hit the carrier and destroyed it, with the remaining torpedoes damaging the battleship USS North Carolina. The I-25 conducted the only aerial bombings ever on the continental United States in September 1942.
[edit] AM Type (I-13,I-14)
The AM (A Modified) type submarine was a large seaplane-carrying submarine, with a hangar space for 2 aircraft. These giant submarines were originally of the A2 type, but their design was revised after construction started so that they could carry a second aircraft. The seaplanes were to be the Aichi M6A1 bomber carrying 800 kg bombs.
The range and speed of these submarines was remarkable (21,000 nm at 16 knots), but their underwater performance was compromised, making them easy targets. The I-13 was sunk on 16 July 1945 by the destroyer escort USS Lawrence C. Taylor (DE-415) and aircraft action from the escort carrier USS Anzio about 550 miles east of Yokosuka. The I-14 surrendered at sea at the end of the war, and was later scrapped.
[edit] Sentoku Type (I-400, I-401, I-402)
The I-400 class submarine displaced 6,500 tons and was over 400 feet (120 m) long, three times the size of ordinary submarines. It had a figure-eight hull shape for additional strength to handle the on-deck hangar for housing the three Seiran aircraft. In addition, it had four anti-aircraft guns and a large deck cannon as well as eight torpedo tubes from which they could fire the Long Lance - the largest, longest ranged and most deadly torpedo in use at the time.
Three of the Sen Toku were built, the I-400, I-401, and I-402. Each had four 3,000 horsepower (2.2 MW) engines and enough fuel to go around the world one-and-a-half times, more than enough to reach the United States from either direction.
The submarines were also able to carry three Sei ran aircraft (the Aichi M6A), each carrying an 800 kilogram (1,760 lb) bomb 650 miles (1000 km) at 360 miles per hour (580 km/h). Its name was combination of sei (clear sky) and ran (storm), literally “storm out of a clear sky,” because the Americans would not know they were coming. It had a wing span of 40 feet (12 m) and a length of 38 feet (11.6 m). To fit the aircraft into the hangar the wings of the aircraft were folded back, the horizontal stabilizers folded down, and the top of the vertical stabilizer folded over so the overall profile of the aircraft was within the diameter of its propeller. A crew of four could prepare and get all three airborne in 45 minutes, launching them with a 120 foot (37 m) catapult on the fore deck of the giant submarine.
[edit] German Type XI U-cruisers
The Kriegsmarine also started development of submarines capable of launching aircraft and ordered 4 very large "cruiser" U-boats in early 1939. These boats were to be twice as large as any existing U-boat and have a crew of 110. They were intended to carry a single Arado Ar 231 aircraft, but were canceled at the outbreak of war later that year.
[edit] German Type IX D 2-Monsun
Other German long range U-boat was the Type IX D 2 "Monsun", used in the Indian Ocean and Far East Area based in Penang (Occupied Malaya) during wartime. To aid such submarines the "Autogyro-Glider" Observation vehicle Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 "Bachstelze" (Water Wagtail) was developed. This vehicle was used in the Indian Ocean and sporadically in the Southern Atlantic, since May-June 1942.
Another plan was the use of Flettner Fl 282A "Kolibri" Disarmable recon-helicopter version from long range submarines.
Such project implied the special disarmable one-place helicopter design were its fuselage was manufactured of welded steel tubing that was sized so that it could be stowed with rotor blades and landing gear removed in a compact area (5.9 ft. in diameter by 18 ft. long) and its pressured hangar for carriage in the U-boat plan.
There is no evidence that any Fl 282 "Kolibri" was deployed on a German submarine in wartime.
[edit] Modern and future submarine carriers
There are no submarine carriers in use today, but several concepts exist that could provide a design in the future, allowing an attack force to move entirely underwater, attack without warning, and vanish again. To match the carrying capacity of a modern carrier, however, the SSCV(N) would have to be massive, and would represent a vast investment of money and time. It remains to be seen if any of the world's navies will adopt this type of vessel.
[edit] Submarine aircraft carriers in fiction
- For more details on this topic, see Fictional submarine aircraft carriers.
[edit] Bibliography
- Terry C. Treadwell, Strike from beneath the Sea: A History of Aircraft Carrying Submarine, Tempus Publishing, Limited, 1999
[edit] External links
- Submarine Aircraft Carriers Makes the Case for Modern Submarine Aircraft Carriers to evade Surveillance Strike Complexes (SSCs)
