It was based on a six stage high pressure centrifugal pump, driven by a 10 to 25 HP electric motor. That pump system was critical to reaching the surface. Compressed air at several different pressures was delivered from the various stages of a four stage piston pump, driven by a 55 HP electric motor.īuoyancy control was by transfer of water between internal trim tanks and the sea. You cannot beat the original training manuals.Ĭompressed air was used to “blow” the main ballast tanks when near the surface and 600 psi pressure was available. I'd love to hear your answer confirmed by someone with more direct knowledge, but your explanation does at least makes perfect sense. The chlorine gas produced may prevent access for repair.ĭamage to the pressure hull, that allows too great a mass of water to enter, may make it impossible to surface using the trim tanks.ĭamage to the side tanks (for example by gunfire) may allow air to escape, so the submarine lies 'in' the surface, usually leaning to one side, but not much above it. Batteries do not go “completely flat”, but they can be damaged beyond repair.
Water entry to the pressure hull that reaches the battery banks produces toxic gasses.
Physical damage to the batteries (by nearby depth charges) can be repaired by re-configuring the battery to isolate damaged cells. Once at the surface they can be blown with low pressure air to displace the water, so raising the submarine deck above the sea surface, giving freeboard. The second buoyancy system involves the huge external pannier or side tanks, always open below to the sea. That can be done with very little electrical energy, maybe even by hand. To reach the surface, only the trim tanks need to be pumped out. They are used to trim the buoyancy either side of zero, by pumping small volumes of water between the sea and the trim tanks. The first involves fine balance, with internal high pressure trim tanks at each end of the vessel. I think you will find there are two different buoyancy systems, and two modes of battery failure.
GATO CLASS SUBMARINE GENERATOR
There's an emergency generator for starting the engines without sufficient battery power, but that doesn't prove anything as the threshold for starting engines might be above a hypothetical threshold for surfacing - if indeed some battery power is required to surface.īut some accounts suggest that if the batteries die while underwater it's automatic death - no "blowing the tanks" and rising to the surface staring worriedly into each others' flashlights on a dead battery. If the battery dies while underwater, does that mean the submarine CANNOT surface or does it mean it must blow the tanks and surface, whatever the risk, because the crew isn't going to last long with dead batteries? What I've read seems to be interpretable both ways, and the fact that there's very little practical difference between the two is certainly what makes the accounts seem so vague. Dead battery = can't as in CANNOT surface AT ALL = dead boat. But some accounts suggest that if the batteries die while underwater it's automatic death - no "blowing the tanks" and rising to the surface staring worriedly into each others' flashlights on a dead battery. From the skipper's point-of-view it makes almost no difference: there's one solution to one problem, so indeed whether the batteries are dead or merely dying you do quite soon need to surface and recharge. Dead batteries are certainly a big problem obliging time on the surface recharging, but the consequences of the batteries dying while submerged is the ambiguous part. A lot of you are diesel experts, so maybe someone here knows? The Balao-class had ten 21 inch torpedo tubes, a 5 inch/25 caliber deck gun and either two Oerlikon AA guns, two Bofors AA guns anti-aircraft guns, or one of each.I've read a lot about Gato / Balao / Tensch class submarines, the ones America used in WWII, and I can't seem to sort out the specific consequences of a dead battery. The Balao-class has a crew of eighty to eighty-one people. The Balao-class had a speed of 20.25 knots surfaced and 8.75 knots submerged. The Balao-class used four diesel engines, two 126-cell Sargo batteries, four high speed electric motors with reduction gears or two low speed electric motors, and two propellers. The Balao-class had a beam length of 8.3 meters, with a 5.13 meter draft. The Balao-class had a displacement of 1,526 tons while surfaced and 2,391-2,24 tons while submerged.
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