Dolphin FB and Officer's Quarters

Forward Battery Compartment/Officer's Quarters/Radio Room

Wardroom looking aft. The wardroom is "Officers Country" where they ate, studied, and socialized. The chairs are of a folding type and have leather backs and seats. A chair of the same type can be seen in the Captain's stateroom.

A counter is at the left that held dishes, linens and silver service such as serving bowls and platters and knives and forks. An electric coffee pot sits on the counter with a coffee cup on top that is turned up side down, in Navy parlance, meaning there is no coffee.

Stowed in the overhead are a number of rifles and sub machine guns. A storage unit on the hull has cubbies for each officer for his paperwork. The large rod just below the light fixture is the mechanical linkage for the bow planes.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

A closer look at the guns stored in brackets in the overhead. Visible are three Thompson sub machine guns. The part hanging down are the hand grips. Also seen are the butts of what are probably two M1903, .30-06 caliber Springfield Rifles. This rifle was known as the "United States Rifle" and was in general use in the military up into the early years of WW II when it was replaced by the M1 Garand.

The large rod running left to right in the bottom of the photo is the mechanical linkage for the bow planes.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

A close up of the counter that held dishes, linens and silver service such as serving bowls and platters and knives and forks. An electric coffee pot sits on the counter with a coffee cup on top that is turned up side down, in Navy parlance, meaning there is no coffee. For the record, the fan is spinning as the photo was taken.

The large rod in the upper part of the photo is the mechanical linkage for the bow planes.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

The wardroom looking forward, port side. If we are understanding the seating arrangements correctly, it seems to be turned 90 degrees to conventional. Seating as we have understood it the Captain sits at the "head" of the table which on US submarines was the after end of the table. and in descending order of rank the other officers. Here it seems to indicate that the Captain sat at the inboard end of the table and the other officers sat on the fore and aft sides. Not sure if that was followed in any later classes of submarines.

The large rod in the top left of the photo and going through the bulkhead is the mechanical linkage for the bow planes.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

This close up of the library shows a collection of popular reading material and technical books. A closer look shows only a few books titles can actually be read. The box on the right bulkhead is probably a radio receiver for local entertainment stations while in port.

The Chelsea clock shows that this photo was taken at 10:58 in the morning on July 3, 1933. Chelsea Clocks are one of the most accurate marine clocks in the world.

The large rod seen at left in the overhead is the mechanical linkage from Control to the Bow Planes.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

Books on the book shelf. A number of titles can be made out but overall the resolution isn't good enough to read them all.

One of the titles is: "The Case of the April Fools" published in 1933 by Christopher Bush. Part of a mystery novel series. Another is: "The Ear in the Wall" by Arthur B. Reeve. The last one we can read the title of is "The Hawk(s) Eye" but we can find no information on it.

This is a good representation of the mixture of books taken to sea between the technical and recreational. Though the books are in the wardroom they are probably available to the whole crew.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

Books on the book shelf. A number of titles can be made out but overall the resolution isn't good enough to read all of them.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

Wardroom looking forward. We are getting a peek through the door from the wardroom into the passageway shows the water tight door to the forward torpedo room.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

This is a look across the passageway from the wardroom doorway, through the open sliding door, into the officer's toilet, or "head". Seen are at least a single marine toilet and one shower room (to the left). To the left (forward) of the toilet is most likely one or two wash basins. The ship's company of officers was designated as five so the space needn't be too large.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

A closeup of the toilet. The crank lever valve behind was used to let water into the bowl. When finished with your business, you would push the large lever on the side downward and the contents of the bowl would drop into the sanitary tank below the deck. It is a bit unusual to see the toilet mounted so high off the deck. It would have been a bit sporty to climb up onto the toilet in heavy seas with the boat rolling and pitching.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

The Captain's stateroom. This is the only officer's stateroom we have a photo of. There were probably two or maybe three more. The Captain's stateroom was directly aft of the wardroom and aft of that was the radio room on the port side. More staterooms for junior officers were on the starboard side, there were probably two rooms with bunks for two or three officers. Aft of those may have been the ships office, a foreshadowing of what was to be the conventional layout for submarines for the next twenty years. Although there are two bunks shown here, it was customary for the Captain to not share his room. He would only have a bunkmate if a senior officer were riding the boat as a guest.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

A closer look at the lower bulkhead area under the sink and showing what is probably a portable electric heater. A manually operated ballast tank flood valve handle is seen to the left near the deck with its handles folded up.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

From the Captain's stateroom a look out the door and across the passageway at the door to the officer's head.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

A view looking aft in the Captain's stateroom. A large bunk with a fine wood bunk frame and a spare upper bunk above for a high-ranking guest are seen on the right or port side of the room. The Captain's desk is against the after bulkhead.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

Folding office chair with leather back and seat. The same chairs can be seen in the wardroom. The Captain's safe is on the right. Classified material was kept there. A nameplate can be seen on the desk. It bears the name of Lieutenent John B. Griggs, Jr., the Commanding Officer.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

Aft of the Captain's stateroom is the radio room.

The following quotes are from Jon Krup who served in the Navy in early 1960's. He has these speculations on what we see here; "...the three pieces of equipment [above the desk] appear to be radio receivers.

Above them and to the left (above the loudspeaker), are what appear to be drawers. They are the necessary electronics to change frequency bands on the receivers. Pull one out and install in the radio and you are on the 10 MHz band. Another would put you on the 15 MHZ band, etc. The transmitters are out of the frame to the right. They appear to be either RCA, Collins or possibly Westinghouse receivers, more than likely Collins. Definitely tube type.

The drawers contained capacitors, coils (tuned circuits) and crystals specifically cut for a certain frequency band. There is in the upper right of the panels, a tuning dial - either a moving paper, or a rotating card, back lit, with multiple number scales, coordinated with the (I'm going to call them ) tuning drawers. Put in drawer #1 and use scale #1 to go with it, etc."

The rod seen to the left of the ceramic insulators at the top of the photo is the mechanical linkage for the bow planes.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

The USS Dolphin Radio Room looking aft;

The following quotes are from Jon Krup who served in the Navy in early 1960's. "This is definitely the transmitter, more than likely specially designed for submarines. Note that it doesn't "go back into the wall very far.

I see no tuner dial on it, so I have to assume it is crystal controlled. There would be a small box containing crystals especially cut for the frequencies that submarines would use/be authorized to use. The radioman could change crystals depending on their location, time of day, and the atmospheric conditions. By atmospheric conditions, I don't mean weather, but what's happening up in the ionosphere. This could include the proximity of lightning, sun spots and the aurora. These frequencies would be set by the operational orders of that particular boat, and is coordinated with COMSUBLANT and COMSUBPAC.

The transmitter appears to be made by MCA, according to a plaque on the lower left corner, behind the chair. I can't quite make it out, but will, again, nose around the internet.

Note that they would only operate with Morse code. Voice transmissions were probably not permitted at that time, nor were they able with this transmitter. To talk ship to ship would be in Morse code until the boats got close enough to holler across the distance with megaphones."

Further research has indicated that Dolphin had voice capabilities.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

The radio room looking outboard to port. Chairs are of a different type than seen in the wardroom. Between the chairs down almost at deck level we see another of the manual ballast tank flood valve handles.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

All of the photos above are the rooms and facilities above the deck in the forward battery compartment. Below the deck is one half of the boat's battery. This area contained 120 man-sized cells, all linked together. This view is looking forward. There was not enough space in the battery well for a man to stand up. He could only crawl along the wooden deck planks. Prior to entering the well the crewman removed all metal from his body to ensure he would not accidentally short a battery cell and get electrocuted.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

The forward battery well looking aft. This shows the arrangement of the battery cell ventilation system piping. When being charged, the cells would generate highly explosive hydrogen gas, which was vented overboard using this system. At the aft end of the space are the main battery disconnects that isolated the battery from the rest of the electrical bus.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

A closeup of the forward battery disconnect switches. If open, these large and heavy switches would isolate the forward battery from the remainder of the electrical bus.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

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