The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia
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| Tonnage | 1110 tons standard displacement 1650 tons submerged |
| Dimensions | 271'1" by 24'9" by 12'6" 82.9m by 7.54m by 3.81m |
| Maximum speed | 17
knots surfaced 8 knots submerged |
| Dive |
to 250 feet (76 meters) |
| Complement | 52 |
| Armament | 4 21" bow/2 21" stern torpedo
tubes (16 torpedoes) 1 3"/23 antiaircraft gun |
| Machinery |
2-shaft MAN diesel (3070 hp) or
electric (1600 hp) |
| Bunkerage | 260 tons diesel oil |
| Range | 13,000 nautical miles (24,000 km) at 10
knots surfaced 50 nautical miles (90 km) at 5 knots submerged |
The Cachalots
were completed in 1933-1934 as the last two boats of the V program and were
the first U.S.
submarines to include a torpedo
data computer and air conditioning. They were a compromise between the desire of
the submarine
force for a large boat capable of keeping up with the fleet and the
recommendation
of the Navy War College for smaller boats that could be built in
greater
numbers. Their double hulls were patterned after the German U-135 class of the First World War.
The Navy-built M.A.N. engines proved
oversized, underpowered, and
unreliable, to the extent that the two boats of the class were
informally
referred to as "Breakdown Division One." They were also generally regarded as having taken size reduction too far.
Though they were
clearly obsolete in 1941, the Cachalots
were pressed into service in the Aleutians
in
the early days of the war, making three war patrols each. They weretaken
out of combat duty in late 1942 to serve as school boats.
| Cachalot | Pearl Harbor | Withdrawn in August 1942 |
| Cuttlefish | Mare Island | Withdrawn in August 1942 |
References
The Pacific War Online Encyclopedia © 2007-2009, 2013 by Kent G. Budge. Index
