not invading their country. Fremantle and Perth were wonderful places to recuperate from the rigors of the war, and the Aussies made certain that the submarine crews and support staff wanted for nothing.
It was, quite frankly, good duty.
Meanwhile, a new submarine, USS Billfish , was just completing her first war patrol under the command of Lieutenant Commander Frederic Lucas. She was plying the waters of the Indian Ocean, on her way back to the Squadron Sixteen headquarters in Western Australia. Billfish was one of a new breed of submarines—the Balao class—which featured a thicker hull, greater range, the newest radar, and other capabilities that made her arguably the most advanced warship in history. She was about 312 feet long, could make just over twenty knots on the surface and about ten knots when submerged, and typically carried a crew of sixty-six men. She boasted ten twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes, six forward and four aft, and usually had twenty-four torpedoes aboard when she departed on patrol.
“Test depth,” the deepest point to which the submarine could safely go, was listed as 412 feet. Beyond that, the crushing pressure of the sea would begin to deform the thick steel hull and wreak all sorts of havoc on the boat’s plumbing, if not the nerves of her crew. Still, unlike her predecessors, this class of submarine could achieve a “crush depth”—the point at which water pressure would likely cause the hull to begin to fail—of more than six hundred feet.
When leaving on patrol, their fuel tanks were filled with heavy diesel fuel. No fuel tank was allowed to have air in it. If it did, the tank would collapse if submerged very deep. The diesel fuel, which was lighter than seawater, was drawn off from the top of a fuel tank and burned by the engines. The heavier seawater was pumped in to compensate so that the fuel tanks were kept full of liquid at all times.
Also, when the boats left port on a patrol, every nook and cranny was filled with provisions for the run. Even the decks were covered with cans of food, and the crew literally had to walk around on their groceries until they were used up. That, too, had to be calculated and tracked. If the boat became too heavy on one side or one end, it could make a dive or surface an even more challenging adventure than it was already.
Oddly, even though they were built to run on and under the sea, water was a precious commodity aboard submarines. Seawater could not be used in the storage batteries, of course. Only distilled water was pure enough for that purpose. Submarines carried distilling systems that converted seawater to pure, clean distilled water.
The old joke among submariners was that if the distilled water was pure enough, they used it in the batteries. If it was not, they used it for drinking and cooking. That joke was not far-fetched at all.
Notice no mention of water for laundry or bathing. A shower aboard a submarine was a rare luxury. It was far more common for the crew to grab a quick bath while running through a rainstorm than to be able to take much more than a spit bath. In reality, when leaving port, the enlisted men’s double shower stalls were usually crammed full of potatoes and other stores. They would not use them for their intended purpose anytime soon—if at all—after heading out on patrol.
Another old joke was that showers were not necessary. That nobody noticed body odor aboard the boats. The diesel fumes and battery acid and other assorted aromas pretty well took care of covering that up.
Like her sisters, Billfish sported four huge diesel engines, very similar to those that propelled locomotives. These engines, contained in two engine rooms with one on each side of the boat in each compartment, did not directly drive the screws. They hooked instead to a high-powered electrical generator. Output from the generators created power to operate electrical motors in the motor room when the boat was on the surface, as well as
It was, quite frankly, good duty.
Meanwhile, a new submarine, USS Billfish , was just completing her first war patrol under the command of Lieutenant Commander Frederic Lucas. She was plying the waters of the Indian Ocean, on her way back to the Squadron Sixteen headquarters in Western Australia. Billfish was one of a new breed of submarines—the Balao class—which featured a thicker hull, greater range, the newest radar, and other capabilities that made her arguably the most advanced warship in history. She was about 312 feet long, could make just over twenty knots on the surface and about ten knots when submerged, and typically carried a crew of sixty-six men. She boasted ten twenty-one-inch torpedo tubes, six forward and four aft, and usually had twenty-four torpedoes aboard when she departed on patrol.
“Test depth,” the deepest point to which the submarine could safely go, was listed as 412 feet. Beyond that, the crushing pressure of the sea would begin to deform the thick steel hull and wreak all sorts of havoc on the boat’s plumbing, if not the nerves of her crew. Still, unlike her predecessors, this class of submarine could achieve a “crush depth”—the point at which water pressure would likely cause the hull to begin to fail—of more than six hundred feet.
When leaving on patrol, their fuel tanks were filled with heavy diesel fuel. No fuel tank was allowed to have air in it. If it did, the tank would collapse if submerged very deep. The diesel fuel, which was lighter than seawater, was drawn off from the top of a fuel tank and burned by the engines. The heavier seawater was pumped in to compensate so that the fuel tanks were kept full of liquid at all times.
Also, when the boats left port on a patrol, every nook and cranny was filled with provisions for the run. Even the decks were covered with cans of food, and the crew literally had to walk around on their groceries until they were used up. That, too, had to be calculated and tracked. If the boat became too heavy on one side or one end, it could make a dive or surface an even more challenging adventure than it was already.
Oddly, even though they were built to run on and under the sea, water was a precious commodity aboard submarines. Seawater could not be used in the storage batteries, of course. Only distilled water was pure enough for that purpose. Submarines carried distilling systems that converted seawater to pure, clean distilled water.
The old joke among submariners was that if the distilled water was pure enough, they used it in the batteries. If it was not, they used it for drinking and cooking. That joke was not far-fetched at all.
Notice no mention of water for laundry or bathing. A shower aboard a submarine was a rare luxury. It was far more common for the crew to grab a quick bath while running through a rainstorm than to be able to take much more than a spit bath. In reality, when leaving port, the enlisted men’s double shower stalls were usually crammed full of potatoes and other stores. They would not use them for their intended purpose anytime soon—if at all—after heading out on patrol.
Another old joke was that showers were not necessary. That nobody noticed body odor aboard the boats. The diesel fumes and battery acid and other assorted aromas pretty well took care of covering that up.
Like her sisters, Billfish sported four huge diesel engines, very similar to those that propelled locomotives. These engines, contained in two engine rooms with one on each side of the boat in each compartment, did not directly drive the screws. They hooked instead to a high-powered electrical generator. Output from the generators created power to operate electrical motors in the motor room when the boat was on the surface, as well as
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