Going Underwater
By Chief Mac – 30 June 2023
The navies of the world weren’t going
to take flying tanks lying down. Now what could be crazier than a flying tank?
I got it flying submarines!!! That tops anything like a mere flying tank.
A flying submarine, submersible
aircraft or aerosub is a combination of a seaplane and
a submarine. It is supposed to be able both to fly and to travel under
water. Taking-off from the surface of water is also intended.
Since the requirements for designing a
submarine are practically opposed to those of an airplane, the performance
expected from such a construction is usually rather moderate.
United Kingdom
As early as 1920, the British trade
journal, "Flying", reported conversations between the First Sea Lord and
other military leaders and one of the principal aircraft manufacturers
concerning a flying submarine (or submersible seaplane). The all-metal craft,
its hypothetical design illustrated in the article, was to be a twin-propeller
airplane with retractable wings and a hermetically sealed fuselage. There was,
however, apparently no further development of the project.
Soviet Union
In 1934, a Soviet engineering student,
Boris Ushakov, proposed a design for a submersible aircraft that would scout
for ships and then submerge itself in order to ambush them. The design had
three engines, conning tower, periscope and could fire torpedoes (of which it
carried two). It would submerge itself by flooding its fuselage and would use
electrical power to propel itself when underwater. The craft would take off and
land like a normal seaplane. However, the craft was viewed as being too heavy
by the Soviets to be useful.
United States
In 1961 Donald Reid designed and built
a single-seat craft (32.83 ft or 10 m length) capable of flight and
underwater movement, the Reid Flying Submarine 1 (RFS-1). A
65 hp (48 kW) engine mounted on a pylon provided propulsion for
flight; a 750 W (1 hp) electric motor in the tail provided underwater
propulsion. The pilot used an aqualung for breathing underwater. The first
full-cycle flight [underwater at 6.5 feet (2 m) depth, airborne at
33 ft (10 m) altitude] was demonstrated on 9 June 1964. Reid, his
craft, and his son (the test pilot) appeared on the U.S. game show "I've
Got A Secret" on March 15, 1965.
In the mid 1960s, the Navy let a
contract to Convair to design a submersible airplane. The project –
called the Convair Submersible Seaplane (see below) – reached the stage of
detailed design and models, but was then cancelled by Congress.
In order for the DARPA craft to be
propelled underwater, it has been suggested that high-energy batteries could be
used to drive underwater motors. However, one problem identified with this
proposal was that the batteries required to achieve DARPA's specifications
would make the vehicle too heavy to fly. A suggested solution was using a
ten-metre tall snorkel to supply air to a more conventional petrol turbine
engine, although this would limit how far the craft could dive.
Another project involved the Lockheed
Martin Cormorant drone aircraft. It would be launched from submarines,
replacing the launch tubes of several cruise missiles. To reduce the risk of
detection during launch, the drone would first be released from the submarine,
which would then sail away. The drone would use compressed gas to push it to
the surface, then it would use rocket motors to launch before using a jet
engine when in the air. In order to return to the submarine, the drone would
land on the ocean surface via parachute and be recovered by a swimming drone.
The Cormorant was cancelled in 2008 due to budget cuts.
Some submersible aircraft proposals
have involved using jet engines in a dual role, both propelling the vehicle in
the air using conventional combustion and providing thrust underwater by being
spun via an electric motor; some researchers have proposed using turboshaft engines
to get the best efficiency and performance in both air and underwater
environments. To prevent salt water from prematurely entering the engines when
the aircraft is not submerged, the engines could be mounted on the craft's
dorsal surface and to the rear. However, one issue is that because jet engines
run at several hundred degrees when in air, they could not immediately
transition underwater, as being exposed to seawater would subject them to
extreme temperature change which would damage them, requiring the aircraft wait
for several hours on the surface to cool its engines to submerge, thus any such
configuration would require a novel cooling system in order to make a faster
transition.
Convair Submersible Seaplane
Between 1962 and
1964, the Navy granted a contract to Convair, a military aircraft arm of
General Dynamics, to design and develop the vehicle, intended for
anti-submarine warfare. The craft's operational deployment would be to scout
for enemy submarines from the air and, when detected, land on the water,
submerge, and engage them underwater. One envisioned deployment was to attack
shipping in the Soviet Union's marginal seas – the Baltic, Black, and Caspian
seas.
The
specifications were for a craft capable of operating in sea state 2 (waves of
maximum height of 1.8 feet (0.55 m)), a cruising speed in flight of up to 220
miles per hour (350 km/h), and an underwater performance of up to 10 knots (19
km/h), a depth of down to 75 feet (23 m), and an endurance of 10 hours.
Convair's design
was for a narrow-hulled flying boat (rather than a floatplane). The craft was
to be powered by three turbojets, carry a crew of two, and carry a payload of
500 to 1,500 pounds (227 to 680 kilograms). The craft was to have used ballast
tanks to dive and surface, much as a conventional submarine does, located in
the wings and fuselage. The weaponry was to be torpedoes or mines. For undersea
operations, the turbojets would be sealed water-tight, and underwater
propulsion would be provided by a battery-powered electric motor driving a
propeller.
Convair made
detailed designs and built scale models which were tested, and averred that the
craft would work, but the project did not get beyond that stage and was
cancelled by Congress in 1965 or 1966.
Lockheed Martin Cormorant
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The Cormorant was
a tailsitter project under development at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works
research facility until 2008 when its contract for development was cancelled.
It is named after a species of diving bird in reference to its intended role as
a submarine-launched UAV.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-J8LNhCr8I
So flying
submarines might to too hard I get it, instead let’s build underwater aircraft
carriers, and the world navies did so with gusto.
France
French submarine
Surcouf
Surcouf was a
French submarine ordered in December 1927, launched 18 October 1929, and
commissioned May 1934. At 4,000 tons (3,600 tonnes) displacement submerged,
Surcouf was the largest submarine in the world at the start of World War II.
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 12 torpedo tubes but also a twin 8-inch
(203 mm) gun turret forward of the conning tower. The guns were fed from a
magazine holding 60 rounds and controlled by a director with a 16 ft 6 in (5.03
m) rangefinder, mounted high enough to view a 7 mi (11 km) horizon. In theory,
the observation plane could direct fire out to the guns' 15 mi (24 km) maximum
range. Anti-aircraft cannons and machine guns were mounted on the top of the
hangar.
Italy
Italian submarine
Ettore Fieramosca
The Regia Marina
(Italian Navy) ordered Ettore Fieramosca, a submarine with a waterproof hangar
for a small reconnaissance seaplane in the late-1920s. In 1928 Macchi and
Piaggio each received orders for suitable aircraft which resulted in the Macchi
M.53 and the Piaggio P.8, but the program was cancelled, and the submarine's
hangar was removed in December 1931, before Ettore Fieramosca was delivered
The Japanese
applied the concept of the "submarine aircraft carrier" extensively,
starting with the J2 class I-6 and the J3 class of 1937–38. The Japanese built
no less than 42 submarines with the capability to carry floatplanes, one such
vessel being I-8. These were to see combat in World War 2 including a bombing
raid on the United States.
Type J1M scouting submarine (one built, I-5)
The first IJN
submarine to carry a floatplane, completed 1 July 1932. No catapult was fitted,
the I-5 aircraft was assembled on deck and lowered into the water for takeoff.
Had two hangars.
Type J2 scouting submarine (one built, I-6)
Carried one
floatplane
Type J3 scouting submarine (two built, I-7 and I-8)
Carried one
floatplane, fitted with fixed catapult aft and twin hangars. Japanese submarine
I-8 was the only submarine to complete a round-trip voyage between Japan and
Europe during World War II.
Type A1 headquarters submarines (three built, I-9, I-10,
I-11)
Carried one
floatplane, two more cancelled 1942.
Type A2 headquarters submarine (one built, I-12)
Carried one
floatplane, hangar and catapult fitted forward.
Type AM (A modified) aircraft carrying submarine (two
built, I-13, I-14)
Carried two
floatplanes, catapult forward. Two not completed and three more cancelled.
Type B1 scouting submarine (twenty built, numbered I-15
through I-39)
Carried one
floatplane, hangar and catapult fitted forward). Japanese submarine I-25
launched the only plane that made an aerial bombing of the USA in wartime.
Type B2 scouting submarine (six built, numbered I-40
through I-45)
Carried one
floatplane, hangar and catapult fitted forward. Numbers 702 through 709
cancelled.
Type B3/B4 scouting submarine (three built, I-54, I-56,
I-58)
Carried one
floatplane, hangar and catapult forward. 12 more cancelled) I-58 had aircraft
and catapult replaced by Kaiten.
I-400-class submarine (three built, I-400, I-401, I-402)
Carried three
floatplanes, catapult forward. Were designed specifically to launch floatplane
bombers against the Panama Canal. Two not completed, others cancelled.
The
Japanese submarine I-401, with its long plane hangar and forward catapult.
After the loss of
the heavy gun-carrying HMS M1 and the Washington Naval Treaty which restricted
the armament of vessels that were not capital ships, the remaining M-class
submarines were converted to other uses. By 1927, HMS M2 had entered service
with a waterproof hangar for a Parnall Peto seaplane with folding wings, which
could be launched and recovered with the aid of a derrick. In October 1928, she
was fitted with a hydraulic catapult which allowed the seaplane to be launched
from a ramp on the forward casing. The submarine and her plane could then
provide reconnaissance ahead of the fleet, submerging when threatened. HMS M2
herself was lost in 1932, and plane-launching submarines were abandoned by the
Royal Navy.
HMS M2 launching her Parnall Peto seaplane.
HMS M2
retrieving her Parnall Peto seaplane.
United States
The United States
began studying the concept in 1922 when two Caspar U.1 seaplanes were purchased
from Germany for evaluation at Anacostia Naval Station. One aircraft was later
lost during an exhibition flight in 1923, but they provided useful technical
information.
The United States
Navy ordered six Cox-Klemin XS-1s and six Martin MS-1s, both small seaplanes
that like the Caspar U-1 could be disassembled easily. Both were tested aboard
S-1 during October and November 1923. Later, Cox-Klemm built the improved XS-2
model, and Loening built the XSL, but the Navy had lost interest in the concept
by then. Problems with launching and recovering the aircraft, and the limited
military value caused interest in the concept to wane, and news that the
British submarine M2 had sunk during trials in 1933, plus damage to the XSL
during testing on the sheltered waters of the Anacostia River ended further
U.S. Navy development.
S-1
Can’t keep a good
idea down, well maybe you can because we are talking about submarines.
World War II had
proven the value of aircraft carriers to the U.S. Navy, but after losing five
such vessels and seven more escort carriers in the conflict, the Navy could see
the value of an aircraft carrier that could submerge after launching its
fighters.
Using the Halibut
as a model, the U.S. Navy devised the AN-1 submarine aircraft carrier, which
would carry eight fighters stored within two hangers inside the ship’s hull. In
order to launch the fighters, the submarine would surface and orient the
fighters straight up to be launched vertically. In order to manage the vertical
launch, separate boosters would be affixed to the aircraft once they were on
the launch rail. Those boosters would then fire, propelling the fighter into
the air with enough speed and altitude for the fighter’s own engines to keep it
flying.
According to the
Navy’s plans, the AN-1 submarine aircraft carrier could launch four fighters in
just 6 minutes and all eight fighters in less than eight minutes. Today’s
Nimitz-class supercarriers can launch a fighter every 20 seconds when moving at
full steam, but nonetheless, eight fighters in eight minutes was seen as an
impressive figure at the time, especially for an aircraft carrier that could
submerge again after launch.
Initially, the
Navy hoped to use conventional fighter aircraft with the new submarine, and for
a short time, the Grumman F-11F Tiger was considered for the role. But the
1950s saw such rapid advancement in aviation that the F-11 was soon deemed too
slow to compete in the latter half of the 20th century. Instead, the Navy
looked to Boeing to devise purpose-built fighters that could not only manage
the stress of a vertical launch from an aircraft carrier submarine, but that
could also attain speeds as high as Mach 3.
This page was compiled and posted by Chief Mac, 06/30/23
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