Dolphin 1932 drydocking

Commissioned on July 1, 1932 the Dolphin sits in drydock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, ME on September 30, 1932, after her initial shakedown cruise in summer of 1932. The purpose of this Post-Shakedown Availability (PSA) is to correct any issues or deficiencies identified during the shakedown cruise. Her four bow torpedo tubes can be clearly seen and the bow diving planes are rigged out as if she was submerged. The purpose of the bumpers on each tube outer door will become apparent in the photos below.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

In a view similar to the one above, Dolphin displays her now open outer doors to the forward torpedo tubes. Note that in both photos both of her anchors are visible. One of these would be removed as unnecessary once WWII started.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

View of the port side torpedo tubes with the outer doors open. The outer (muzzle) door is a two-piece affair. The round door sits against the knife edge of the tube when shut and seals the tube making it water tight.

The second piece is a hydrodynamic fairing attached via a hinge to the outer door. When shut this fairing provides a smooth flow of water. When open it partially retracts into the superstructure to get out of the way of the weapon as it exits. The bumper on the fairing prevents the weapon from hanging up on or hitting the superstructure. As you can see there is also a bumper on the inside of the circular outer door for the same purpose.

The mechanism for opening and closing these tube fairings was fairly complicated and would have most likely caused the boat some maintenance problems.

The oval cutouts above the tubes are called limber holes and they allow rapid flooding and/or draining of this portion of the superstructure, which is open to the sea. The pressure hull is buried inside the outer hull to the right of this picture and can not be seen.

The numbers running vertically above the tubes are draft marks, used to tell the crew how deep in the water the boat is sitting while in port. Each number is 6 inches tall and there are 6 inches from the bottom of one number to the top of the next. The bottom "0" actually corresponds to 10 feet, meaning that when the water line is at the bottom of the 0 the hull directly below this number is 10 feet under the water. The "1" corresponds to 11 feet, and so on.

US Navy Photo Contributed by Roger Torgeson

Page created by:
Ric Hedman & David Johnston
1999 - 2023 - PigBoats.COM^©
Mountlake Terrace, WA, Norfolk, VA
webmaster at pigboats dot com