US BARBEL class SS
 

Once upon a time a submariner named Leon Figurido created the insignia "DBF"... Diesel Boats Forever, and many fellow submariners were proud to wear it even after being passed to the shiny nukes of the modern "Rickover" era.

The US Barbel class while preserving a conventional machinery incorporated the hydrodynamic performances of an "Albacore" hull thanks to which she could reach a top speed just a little inferior to some of her contemporary nuke siblings.

I'm honoured to present you...: the Barbel!

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Soon on the Cold Water's screens with DOT MOD Project's next release!

Pioneers
 

Designed under project SCB 150 the Barbel class overall was a somewhat smaller diesel-powered version of the Skipjack-class nuclear submarines

the first of which entered service only three months after Barbel, having been laid down only 11 days later. Several features of the experimental Albacore were used in the Barbel-class design, most obviously the fully streamlined "teardrop" hull. Albacore's single-shaft configuration, necessary to minimize drag and thus maximize speed

was also adopted for the Barbels, Skipjacks, and all subsequent US nuclear submarines. This was a matter of considerable debate and analysis within the Navy, as two shafts offered redundancy and improved maneuverability For the first time, the Barbels also combined the functions of conning tower attack center, and control room in the same space

another feature adopted for all subsequent US submarines. This was facilitated by the adoption of "push-button" ballast control, another feature of Albacore.

Previous designs had routed the trim system piping through the control room, where the valves were manually operated. The "push-button" system used hydraulic operators on each valve, remotely electrically operated (actually via toggle switches) from the control room.

This greatly conserved control room space and reduced the time required to conduct trim operations. The overall layout made coordination of the weapons and ship control systems easier during combat operations.

The torpedo tube arrangement of the Barbels was the same as the Skipjacks', with six bow tubes in a three-over-three configuration. These (and the Skipjack-derived George Washington-class SSBNs) were the only US Navy classes to have this configuration, as subsequent SSN designs used four angled midships torpedo tubes to make room for a large bow sonar sphere, and most SSBNs had four bow tubes.

The Barbels were built with bow mounted diving planes, but these were replaced by sail planes (aka fairwater planes) within a few years. This feature was standard on US Navy submarines until bow planes returned with the improved Los Angeles class, the first of which was launched in 1987.


I made Kit Bashes of these boats Quite a Long time ago so having this Class Actually Modeled in Game at last will be nice as this is my Favorite Diesel Class of all time with the Skipjacks being my Favorite Nuclear Boat.


Steel Shark