Salmon/Sargo Class

Design and Construction Notes

This class of 16 submarines were longer, heavier, and faster developments of the preceding Porpoise class. They also carried two additional torpedo tubes in the aft torpedo room, for a total of eight.

The first six boats were authorized in Fiscal Year 1936 appropriations (the Salmon group), with construction of three going to EB, two to Portsmouth, and one to Mare Island. Six more boats of the class were authorized in FY-37 (the Sargo group) with the same spread of construction yards. Four more boats were authorized in FY-38 (the Seadragon group). They were split evenly between EB and Portsmouth. All 16 boats had the same performance specifications and armament, and were very similar in external appearance. They will all be considered to be one class here on PigBoats.COM.

The Navy had encountered some problems with the all-electric drive on the Porpoise class. Serious issues with flashover on the main motors while under load, and the loss of 360 horsepower in transmission through the electrical system temporarily soured the Navy on all-electric drive. Accordingly, the first 12 boats of the Salmon/Sargo class had a new "composite" drive arrangement where two engines were connected to the propeller shafts and two drove only generators. While successful, the composite drive arrangement was cramped, complicated, and difficult to maintain. The four Seadragons reverted to all-electric drive, the issues that the force had experienced with the Porpoises having been largely corrected by that time.

Due to a defect in the main induction valve operating system, Squalus (SS-192) sank while on trials near the Isle of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire. The after part of the boat flooded during a test dive and 26 men lost their lives. The remaining 33 men were rescued in the very first operational use of the McCann Rescue Chamber. Squalus was salvaged, returned to Portsmouth, and repaired. Renamed Sailfish but retaining her original hull number, she went on to serve the Navy well, earning a fine war record in WWII.

These boats were in the thick of the fight against the Japanese from the first day of the war. Four of them (marked by a *) and their brave crews were lost in action and are considered to be "on eternal patrol".

Note... many early photos of these boats will show them with large "S" identifiers painted on their bows and fairwaters. These were used to identify the boats visually while on the surface. They were NOT their names or designations. The use of these identifiers was common on the fleet boats, but faded out in favor of hull numbers in 1938 because their use became confusing.

While generally very similar in external appearance, there were a lot of variations in these boats over the years, especially once WWII started. For a thorough explanation of these changes, please take a few minutes to read this article.

Salmon (SS-182)

USN photo NH 19-N-19930, from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives.

Salmon on her launch day, June 12, 1937 at the Electric Boat Co., Groton CT. At the very tip of the bow is a ring style towing fairlead, or "bullnose" above the level of the deck. The Sargo and Seadragon groups had this bullnose faired into the tip of the bow, providing a visual clue in identifying the boats. The officer standing on the viewing platform is unknown, but it may have been the Salmon's first commanding officer, LT Marvin M. Stephens. In a few hours this platform and every available level surface would be covered with people. Ship launchings were a popular event in the 1930's, as it was a visual demonstration that the nation was bouncing back from the depths of the Great Depression.

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Seal (SS-183)

Seal proceeding up the Thames River on her delivery run from her builders at Electric Boat Company. She is enroute to Submarine Base New London in April, 1937. The U.S. Coast Guard Academy can be seen on the hill on the far side of the river.

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Skipjack (SS-184)

A May 14, 1938 photo of the Skipjack at rest off Provincetown, MA. Skipjack began an extended sea trial on August 4, 1938 that took her down the U.S. east coast and Caribbean down to Panama. This photo was colorized by Ric Hedman.

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Snapper (SS-185)

This 1938 photo of a brand new Snapper shows her at anchor somewhere in the Atlantic. This picture is a good representation of the inherent flaw of the class identifiers still in use at this time. "S4" was the name of submarine SS-109, a member of the S-class, that was lost in a tragic collision in 1927. The Salmon class boats that were carrying the "S" class identifiers were being confused with the earlier S-class submarines, so this prompted the Navy to shift to simply using the hull number in early 1939. This became a force wide standard that has remained to the modern day.

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Stingray (SS-186)

Stingray is shown here in 1939-1940 while she was operating with Submarine Squadron 6 out of San Diego, CA. The maneuvering watch topside team in milling about preparing her to moor to her tender at the 32nd Street base. They have already rigged awnings above the bridge and cigarette deck, indicating that this photo was likely taken during the summer.

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Sturgeon (SS-187)

Sturgeon, under the command of LT A.D. Barnes, at anchor in Acapulco, Mexico, late October, 1938. She was on a shakedown cruise that lasted until December 12, 1938.

In this photo she is still wearing her class identifier letter/number (S6) on her bow and fairwater. This somewhat confusing system of identifying the boat at a distance was discontinued in early 1939. After that all boats prominently displayed their hull number instead.

These boats had a folding accommodation ladder that retracted into the superstructure, similar to what the V-boats had. They were located on either side (just aft) of the fairwater. The starboard side ladder can be seen rigged out here. These ladders greatly aided in getting the crew into liberty launches so that they could go ashore. This is the first time that we have ever seen a boat other than the V's with this ladder rigged out. We actually didn't realize that the Porpoise and Salmon/Sargo classes even had them until we saw this photo. Photos of the ladders rigged out are very rare. The ladders would only have been used when the boat was anchored out and would not have been used alongside the pier or the tender. Opportunities to anchor out would have been limited as it was always preferable to pull alongside a pier. The fact that we see these ladders rigged out on the V-boats can be attributed to the fact that in the 20's and early 30's those boats made more "show the flag" visits to unprepared ports and thus used their liberty launches more.

You can see her anchor chain running out of the anchor housing just aft of the 10 limber holes in the bow just above the waterline. Also, hanging from the starboard yardarm on the radio mast is a black ball that is the international signal for a vessel that is at anchor. Anchoring out accounts for the lifting boom attached to the fore deck mast that would have lifted the ship's boat from its storage under the deck and place it into the water. This boat would have then utilized the accommodation ladder that is talked about above. The ladder would have also been used by any officials and dignitaries from the city that were visiting the submarine. This boom was also utilized for loading torpedoes.

A yacht with a yawl rig is sailing in the back off Sturgeons' bow. A Mexican flag is flying from the head of her mizzen mast. The presence of the bumkin (boomkin) on the vessel stern, for handling that masts boom sheets, lends strongly to this being a yawl rig.

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Sargo (SS-188)

Sargo on sea trials in Cape Cod Bay near Provincetown, MA., November 1, 1938. The Salmon/Sargo class boats were the last fleet submarine class that had the superstructure run all the way to the tip of the stern. In all subsequent classes in ended short of the stern.

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Saury (SS-189)

Saury afloat for the first time in the Thames River, CT. August 20, 1938. She has just slid down the ways at the Electric Boat yard in Groton. A small tug has already made up to her and is in the process of moving her to the fitting out pier. Once at the fitting out pier she has 7½ months of work left until commissioning.

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Spearfish (SS-190)

Spearfish is seen here in the mouth of the Napa River after a thorough overhaul and modernization at the Mare Island Navy Yard, August 21, 1944. In this configuration she is broadly similar to a Gato-class Mod 4. The fore and aft sections of her conning tower fairwater have been cut away, a 20mm gun has been placed on both of the new guns decks, her bridge has been lowered to expose the framework that supports the periscope shears, and a 4"/50 caliber Mk 9 gun has been installed aft of the fairwater. The two humps on the aft deck are for new water cooled mufflers, installed to cut down on smoking and sparks from her engines. SJ surface search radar has been installed on the starboard side of the periscope shears, and SD air search radar on a thin mast aft of the periscopes. She would receive no further major modifications before the end of the war.

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Sculpin (SS-191)*

Sculpin on the surface of the Atlantic off the Isle of Shoals, New Hampshire during the Squalus salvage operation, June 22, 1939.

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Squalus (SS-192)

Squalus sitting alongiside the fitting out pier at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., October 5, 1938. This is about three weeks after her launch, and the yard workers at Portsmouth still have a lot of work to do including installing the periscopes, shears, and masts. Squalus was the last submarine launched with the old class identifiers painted on the fairwater and bridge. USS S-11 (SS-116) was still on the Navy list, in reserve in Philadelphia. Squalus' identifier was causing confusion with the other boat. The Navy finally came to its senses on this idea and dropped the class identifiers a few months after this photo was taken, replacing all previous naming and identification schemes with the hull number.

The scaffolding hanging from the main deck above the anchor was a work platform around the swing-out mine cable cutters. There was one cutter on each side of the boat, and they retracted into the superstructure, hidden behind curved doors. Pictures of the cutters rigged out are extremely rare, even something like this is rarely seen.

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Sailfish (SS-192)

Squalus sank on trials on May 23. 1939 with the tragic loss of 26 men. She was raised, returned to Portsmouth, rebuilt, and on May 15, 1940 she was recommissioned at the USS Sailfish. She is shown here at the pier in Portsmouth with her crew lining the decks as LCDR Morton C. Mumma reads his orders assuming command of the "new" boat. She retained her original hull number. There was still work to be finished, but she would soon join the fleet. During WWII she gained a solid reputation as a fighting boat.

Moored to the pier behind her is the Tambor-class submarine Triton (SS-201). She had been launched six weeks prior.

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