United States K-class submarine

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Uss K-1 1914.jpg
USS K-1 (SS-32) underway in 1916
Class overview
NameK class
Builders
OperatorsFlag of the United States Navy (official).svg  United States Navy
Preceded by H class
Succeeded by L class
Built1912-1914
In commission1914-1923
Completed8
Retired8
General characteristics
Type Submarine
Displacement
  • 392 long tons (398 t) surfaced
  • 521 long tons (529 t) submerged
Length153 ft 7 in (46.81 m)
Beam16 ft 8 in (5.08 m)
Draft13 ft 1 in (3.99 m)
Installed power
  • 950  hp (710 kW) (diesel engines)
  • 680 hp (510 kW) (electric motors)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) surfaced
  • 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) submerged
Range
  • 4,500 nmi (8,300 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) surfaced
  • 120 nmi (220 km) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Test depth200 ft (61 m)
Complement28 officers and men
Armament

The K-class submarines were a class of eight submarines of the United States Navy, serving between 1914 and 1923, including World War I. They were designed by Electric Boat and were built by other yards under subcontracts. K-1, K-2, K-5, and K-6 were built by Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts, K-3, K-7, and K-8 by Union Iron Works in San Francisco, and K-4 by The Moran Company in Seattle, Washington. All were decommissioned in 1923 and scrapped in 1931 to comply with the limits of the London Naval Treaty.

Contents

Design

The K-class, although similar to the preceding H-class, were slightly larger. This followed a design trend by Electric Boat of simply scaling up a previous design to meet new performance requirements. [1] In this design EB eliminated the watertight bulkheads that made the control room a separate space. The forward battery, control room, and after battery were one large space. [2] The small conning tower was surrounded by a streamlined fairwater, there was no enclosed bridge for surface operations. Later, a pipe-frame and canvas bridge structure would be erected atop of the fairwater to serve as a makeshift bridge. Since USN tactical doctrine of the time did not emphasize "crash dives", the considerable time it took to deploy or dismantle was not seen as a liability. [3] Experience in World War I showed that this removable bridge was inadequate in the North Atlantic weather, and other submarines serving overseas in that war (E-class, the K-class, and the L-class) had their bridge structures augmented with a "chariot" shield on the front of the bridge.

The K-class retained the rotating torpedo tube muzzle cap which was standard on previous classes. The cap was rotated so that two holes would line up with alternate torpedo tubes so that the weapons could be fired. [4]

Service

K-1, K-2, K-5, and K-6 began their careers on the US East Coast and were forward deployed to the Azores in World War I as convoy escorts, where their experience proved valuable in adapting future submarines for surfaced operations in rough weather. The remaining four were stationed on the West Coast early in their careers, but were reassigned to Key West, Florida for training and coastal security patrols in early 1918. All remained on the East Coast following the war for the rest of their careers.

Although considered to be successful submarines, The K-class coastal defence design was quickly overtaken by rapid advances in technology following World War I and were of little use to the USN of the 1920's with its new emphasis on global fleet operations. They were all discarded after only about nine years of service. [5]

Boats in class

The first four were renamed K-1 through K-4 on 17 November 1911 as part of a forcewide redesignation of US submarines.

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References

Notes

  1. ↑ PigBoats.COM K-class page
  2. ↑ Ibid
  3. ↑ Friedman, pp. 78
  4. ↑ Friedman, Chap. 5
  5. ↑ PigBoats.COM K-class page
  6. ↑ "K-1". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships . Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  7. ↑ "K-2". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  8. ↑ "K-3". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  9. ↑ "K-4". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  10. ↑ "K-5". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  11. ↑ "K-6". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "K-7". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "K-8". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Retrieved 20 January 2014.

Sources

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .

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