WWII submarines and the naval industrial complex

Sea Power, Apr 2000 by Winkler, David F

In his book Sea Power and the State, Soviet Admiral of the Fleet Sergei Gorshkov noted the German U-Boat successes in World War II, but argued that the undersea campaign model he wanted his fleet to emulate was that waged by the U.S. Navy. Gorshkov clearly understood and admired the contributions the American submarine force made to isolate the Japanese empire.

However, undersea success in the Pacific could not have been achieved if there had been no submarines to man. Historian Gary Weir cites three vital ingredients that enabled America's "naval-industrial complex" to build more submarines over a five-year span than in any other comparable period in the 20th century: naval commitment, a highly capable industrial base, and scientific support.

In the decade prior to the war, only two U.S. shipyards produced submarines: the government-owned Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in New Hampshire and the Electric Boat Company yard in Groton, Connecticut.

Seeing war clouds on the horizon, the Navy made an important early decision to reactivate 26 retired O-, R-,V-, and S-class boats to augment the 64 submarines then in commission. Refurbishing these old boats required an expansion of the submarine support infrastructure. In addition to upgrading Mare Island Naval Shipyard, which had been performing overhaul work in California, the Navy expanded and modernized other submarine repair and construction facilities in Philadelphia, San Diego, and Pearl Harbor. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the U.S. Navy had 112 submarines in commission and 65 on order.

War already was raging in Europe when the Navy sought to further increase its submarine building capacity. Fortunately, generous Congressional funding allowed the Navy: (1) to negotiate with Electric Boat to expand its Groton facilities; and (2) to use Mare Island not only to repair boats but to build them as well. The Navy later succeeded in bringing the Cramp Shipbuilding Company and Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company into the submarine-building business. Cramp's Philadelphia facilities had been idle since 1927, but under the supervision of Portsmouth eventually would build 14 boats for the Navy. Manitowoc, working under the supervision of Electric Boat, took on the challenge of building submarines on the western shore of Lake Michigan. After acceptance trials on Lake Michigan, the company would turn the boats over to the Inland Waterways Corporation, which barged them down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. Manitowoc built 28 of a projected 41 submarines for the Navy before the war's end terminated the contract.

From 1941 through August 1945, Electric Boat delivered 78 boats to the Navy, one shy of the Portsmouth total. Mare Island built 18 Portsmouth-designed boats for the war effort. Electric Boat built its boats at a lower cost ($2,765,000 per hull) than any of the other private and government yards. However, Portsmouth was faster, and in the spring of 1942 was able to build submarines in under 10 months, in contrast to 14 months for Electric Boat. When hostilities ceased on 14 August 1945, the Navy had 232 submarines in commission. During the war, 52 U.S. submarines were lost to all causes.

As significant as the expansion of the submarine-building base itself was the Navy's ability to identify and contract with the hundreds of subcontractors needed to fit the submarines with everything from diesel engines to galley equipment. A major U.S. scientificresearch infrastructure of unprecedented capabilities also quickly evolved to improve the capabilities of the boats being placed in commission.

The alliance of naval, industrial, and scientific resources that developed so rapidly during World War II also served the nation well during the Cold War, when the nuclearpowered submarine quickly became a front-line weapon against the Soviet Union.

Much of the material in this article is derived from Dr. Gary Weir's Forged in War: The American Industrial Complex and American Submarine Construction, 1940-1961 (Naval Historical Center, 1993). For additional information on the history of the U. S. submarine force visit the Submarine Centennial Web page at www.navy.mil.

Dr. Winkler is a historian with the Naval Historical Foundation.