America’s first true attack boat at 75 (and she is still around)
Some 75 years ago this week, the first American submarine designed (not modified) for underwater performance rather than surfaced attacks under the GUPPY program entered service.
USS Tang (SS-563) was commissioned at Portsmouth Naval Yard on 25 October 1951.
USS Tang (SS-563), underway, circa post-1950s in an official Navy photo.
The 1,600 ton (2,100 submerged) 269-foot boat was smaller than the Navy’s WWII-era fleet boats but were quieter, much faster underwater (18.3 knots vs 9 knots) and could dive nearly twice as deep (700 feet vs 400), all courtesy of the cues derived from the advanced later war high-speed German Type XXI U-boats, of which two, U-2513 and U-3008, were studied directly by the Navy as prizes for a decade.
Just look at Tang’s original profile, which resembles most of today’s better SSKs.
Now compare that to a German Type 212A SSK of today:
German U-35 leaving eckenförde for Operation Irini in the Mediterranean Sea (Type 212A)
After an impressive 28 years of service, including earning four battle stars during Vietnam, Tang was decommissioned in December 1980 and transferred to Turkey.
After another 24 years under the White Crescent flag as TCG Piri Reis (S 342), she was decommissioned a second time in 2004 and preserved as a museum ship.
Ex-TCG Piri Reis (S 342), formerly USS Tang (SS 563), alongside the ex-TCG Ege (F 256), formerly USS Ainsworth (FF 1090), at the İnciraltı Sea Museum in İzmir, Turkey, where they have been on display together for 20 years.