Submarine

Submarine

A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

s of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

are built in classes, using a single design for a number of boats. Minor variations occur as improvements are incorporated into the design, so later boats of a class may be more capable than earlier. Also, boats are modified, sometimes extensively, while in service, creating departures from the class standard. However, in general, all boats of a class are noticeably similar.

Experimental use: an example is , which used an unprecedented hull design. In this list such single boat "classes" are marked with "(unique)".

Pre–World War I

	1	1861	1862	First submarine in the U.S. Navy. Purpose was to protect wooden ships against ironclads.
	1	1896	1900	5 others were made; only entered the U.S. Navy as it was the first officially commissioned submarine purchased on 11 April 1900.
Plunger Plunger class submarine The Plunger-class was an early class of United States Navy submarines, used primarily as training vessels for the newly formed "silent service" to familiarize navy personnel with the performance and operations of such craft. Most of these "A-class" submarines ended up being stationed in the...	7	1900	1903	Later renamed A class in November 1911, when Navy stopped naming submarines. Essentially enlarged, more powerful Holland.
B United States B class submarine The B class submarines were three boats built for the United States Navy by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts, under a subcontract from the Electric Boat Company....	3	1905	1907	"Turning point" in submarine design; first to feature sleek porpoise-like design. Last in series of Holland-like submarines. Originally known as Viper class.
C United States C class submarine The C class submarines were five boats built for the United States Navy by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts, under a subcontract from the Electric Boat Company. Built between 1906–1909, and in commission from 1908–1919, all five were subsequently sold for...	5	1905	1910	Designed by Lawrence York Spear. Originally known as the Octopus class.
D United States D class submarine The D-class submarines were a class of three United States Navy submarines, built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy, Massachusetts, under a subcontract from the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. All three ships served during World War I providing training for crews and...	3	1908	1910	Originally known as the Narwhal class. Designed to survive flooding in one compartment.
E United States E class submarine The United States E class submarines were used as coastal and harbor defense submarines prior to World War I. When hostilities broke out, the E class were used as training boats.The submarines of this class were the first diesel-powered submarine...	2	1909	1912	First diesel Diesel engine A diesel engine is an internal combustion engine that uses the heat of compression to initiate ignition to burn the fuel, which is injected into the combustion chamber... -powered submarine. Known as "pig boats", or "boats", due to foul living quarters and unusual hull shape.
F	4	1909	1913	In 1920, the class was designated SS-20–SS-23.
G United States G class submarine The G class submarines were a class of four United States Navy submarines. While the four G-boats were nominally all of a class, they differed enough in significant details that they are sometimes considered to be four unique boats, each in a class by herself....	4	1909	1914	Used gasoline engine. set the submerged depth record in 1915, 256 feet (78 m). was given the number 19½ because SS- numbers were given after her decommissioning; she was between SS-19 & SS-20.
H United States H class submarine The United States H class submarines were Holland 602 type submarines used by the United States Navy.The first three submarines of the class were laid down in March-April 1911 as , and Garfish, and were renamed H-1, H-2 and H-3 while still under construction...	9	1911	1918	Three originally ordered by U.S. Navy. 18 ordered by the Imperial Russian Navy Imperial Russian Navy The Imperial Russian Navy refers to the Tsarist fleets prior to the February Revolution.-First Romanovs:Under Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich, construction of the first three-masted ship, actually built within Russia, was completed in 1636. It was built in Balakhna by Danish shipbuilders from Holstein... , 12 delivered. Other 6 bought by U.S. Navy. Known as "pig boats", or "boats", due to foul living quarters and unusual hull shape.
K United States K class submarine The K class submarines were a class of eight submarines of the United States Navy, serving between 1914 and 1923.-Ships: -See also:...	8	1912	1912	Known as "pig boats", or "boats", due to foul living quarters and unusual hull shape. , , , were the first U.S. submarines to see action in World War I.
L United States L class submarine The United States L class submarine was the United States Navy's first attempt at designing and building ocean-going submarines, which at the time was a yawning gap in capability compared with other major navies...	11	1914	1918	Known as "pig boats", or "boats", due to foul living quarters and unusual hull shape. Designed for coastal defense.
	1	1914	1918	Double-hull design. Twenty percent larger than the K class. Known as "pig boats", or "boats", due to foul living quarters and unusual hull shape. Considered failure by the submarine community.
N United States N class submarine The United States N class submarines were a class of seven coastal defense submarines of the United States Navy.The boats were constructed by two companies to slightly different specifications; N-1, N-2, and N-3 by the Seattle Construction and Drydock Company of Seattle, Washington, and N-4, N-5,...	7	1915	1918	Known as "pig boats", or "boats", due to foul living quarters and unusual hull shape. Used for coastal patrol.
O United States O class submarine The United States Navy's O class submarines were created out of the lessons learned from the United States L class submarine. The O class were more robust with greater power and endurance for ocean patrols. The O class were built much faster than previous classes and were commissioned in 1918. The...	16	1916	1918	Each cost $550,000. First submarines with reliable diesel engines. Every man had his own berth and locker. Known as "pig boats", or "boats", due to foul living quarters and unusual hull shape. O-11 through O-16 also known as the "modified O-class". Modified boats proved to be disappointing.
AA-1 AA-1 class submarine The AA-1 class was a class of three experimental submarines of the United States Navy, built toward the end of World War I, between 1916 and 1919. The design was not a success and none of the submarines saw active service...	3	1916	1922	Later renamed T class. Designed for 5540 miles (8,915.7 km) at 14 knots (7.6 m/s), but performed 3000 miles (4,828 km) at 11 knots (6 m/s). Prototype "fleet submarines"—submarines fast enough (21 knots (11.4 m/s)) to travel with battleships. Twice the size of any concurrent or past U.S. submarine.

World War I

Class name	|No.	|Laid down	|Last comm.	R United States R class submarine The R-class submarines were a class of United States Navy submarines active from 1918 until 1945. The R-boats R-21 to R-27, built by Lake Torpedo Boat, slightly smaller and faster than the others, are sometimes regarded as a separate class from R-1 to R-20 built by Fore River Shipyard and Union...	20	1917	1918	Known as a "pig boat", or "boat", due to foul living conditions and unusual hull shape. Designed by Simon Lake Simon Lake Simon Lake was a Quaker American mechanical engineer and naval architect who obtained over two hundred patents for advances in naval design and competed with John Philip Holland to build the first submarines for the United States Navy.Born in Pleasantville, New Jersey, Lake joined his father's... . Larger conning tower to serve as commanding officer's battle station. Fired Mk10 torpedoes and traveled 5000 miles (8,046.7 km) at 10 knots (5.4 m/s).
R-21	7	1917	1919	Similar to R-class. Known as a "pig boat", or "boat", due to foul living conditions and unusual hull shape.
S United States S class submarine The United States' S-class submarines, often simply called S-boats , were the first class of submarines built to a United States Navy design....	51	1917	1922	The S class is subdivided into four groups of different designs.

Between the world wars

Class name	No.	|First ship laid down	|Last ship commissioned	Narwhal Narwhal class submarine Narval-class submarine may refer to:* French Narval-class submarine, a six-boat French Navy submarine class built in the 1950s* Russian Narval-class submarine, a three-boat Imperial Russian Navy submarine class built during World War I...	2	10 May 1927	1 July 1930
	1	14 June 1930	1 June 1932	Unique submarine
Cachalot Cachalot class submarine The Cachalot-class submarines were a pair of medium-sized submarines of the United States Navy built under the tonnage limits of the London Naval Treaty of 1930...	2	7 October 1931	8 June 1934
Porpoise United States Porpoise class submarine The Porpoise class were submarines built for the United States Navy in the late 1930s, and incorporated a number of modern features that would make them the basis for subsequent classes such as the Salmon, Tambor, Gato, Balao, and Tench classes...	10	24 October 1933	12 June 1937
Salmon Salmon class submarine The United States Navy Salmon-class submarines were an important developmental step in the design of the "Fleet Submarine" concept during the 1930's...	6	15 April 1936	30 June 1938
Sargo Sargo class submarine The Sargo-class submarines were the first US submarines to be sent into action after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, starting war patrols the day after the attack...	10	12 May 1937	1 December 1939
Tambor Tambor class submarine The Tambor class submarine was a United States Navy submarine design, used primarily during World War II. It was the USN's first practical fleet submarine and formed the core of the United States Pacific submarine fleet at the time of the US entry into World War II.-Design history:Early U.S...	12	16 January 1939	30 June 1941
Mackerel Mackerel class submarine The Mackerel class submarines were a pair of experimental prototype submarines built just prior to the World War II. The two submarines were similar in size and capability to the S class submarines built at the end of World War I, and had been ordered to test the feasibility of using mass...	2	6 October 1939	1 August 1941
Gato Gato class submarine The United States Navy Gato class submarine formed the core of the submarine service that was largely responsible for the destruction of the Japanese merchant marine and a large portion of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II...	77	11 September 1940	21 April 1944

World War II

Class name	|No.	|First ship laid down	|Last ship commissioned	Balao Balao class submarine The Balao class was a successful design of United States Navy submarine used during World War II, and with 122 units built, the largest class of submarines in the United States Navy. An improvement on the earlier Gato class, the boats had slight internal differences...	128	31 March 1942	1 September 1948
Tench Tench class submarine Tench-class submarines were a type of submarine built for the United States Navy between 1944 and 1951. They were an evolutionary improvement over the Gato and Balao classes, only about 35 to 40 tons larger, but more strongly built and with a slightly improved internal layout...	29	, , , and 8 February 1944	10 February 1951

Cold War

Class name	No.	|First ship laid down	|Last ship commissioned	Tang Tang class submarine The Tang class submarines were a product of the Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program , which incorporated German U-boat technology into the United States Navy's submarine design...	6	18 April 1949	21 November 1952
	1	15 March 1952	6 December 1953	Unique submarine
T-1 T-1 class submarine The T-1 class submarines were a pair of submarines built for the United States Navy in the early 1950s for use in training submarine personnel and testing submarine equipment. Both submarines of the class served in these roles for over 19 years....	2	USS T-1, later 1 April 1952	USS T-2, later 20 November 1953	Training and experimental submarines
	1	14 June 1952	30 September 1954	First U.S. Navy nuclear submarine; Hull based on fleet boat
Sailfish Sailfish class submarine The Sailfish-class submarines of the United States Navy were the first to be built expressly for radar picket service and, at the time, were the largest conventionally powered submarines in the United States Navy...	2	8 December 1953	25 August 1956	Radar picket
Grayback Grayback class submarine Grayback class submarine was a class of two guided missile carrying submarines of the United States Navy.These submarines carried the primitive short-lived Regulus cruise missiles that were quickly phased out by Polaris SLBMs...	2	1 July 1954	30 August 1958
	1	7 December 1953	30 March 1957	Unique submarine
	1	10 November 1954	20 October 1956	Unique submarine
Skate Skate class submarine The Skate-class submarines were the United States Navy's first production run of nuclear powered submarines. They were an evolution of the Tang class in everything but their propulsion plants, which were based on the experimental . The four Skate class boats re-introduced stern torpedo tubes...	4	21 July 1955	5 December 1959
Barbel Barbel class submarine The Barbel class of submarines, the last diesel-electric propelled attack submarines built by the United States Navy, incorporated numerous, radical engineering improvements over previous classes...	3	18 May 1956	15 October 1959	U.S. Navy's last conventionally powered submarines
Skipjack Skipjack class submarine The Skipjack class was a class of United States Navy nuclear submarines. This class was named after its lead ship, the . This new class introduced the teardrop hull and the S5W reactor to U.S. nuclear submarines. The Skipjacks were the fastest U.S...	6	29 May 1956	24 October 1961	USS Scorpion lost at sea
	1	29 May 1956	10 November 1959	Unique submarine; Radar picket
	1	11 April 1957	4 January 1960	Unique submarine; cruise missile submarine
Thresher/Permit Thresher/Permit class submarine The Thresher/Permit-class was a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy from the 1960s until 1994. They replaced the class...	14	28 May 1958	25 January 1968	Known as Thresher class until the loss of the USS Thresher
	1	26 May 1958	9 November 1960	Unique submarine
George Washington George Washington class submarine The George Washington class was a class of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines deployed by the United States Navy. The Navy ordered a class of nuclear-powered submarines armed with long-range strategic missiles on 31 December 1957, and tasked Electric Boat with converting two existing...	5	20 May 1958	11 March 1961
Ethan Allen Ethan Allen class submarine The Ethan Allen class of fleet ballistic missile submarine was an evolutionary development from the George Washington class. The Ethan Allen, together with the , , , and classes comprise the "41 for Freedom."...	5	14 September 1959	4 January 1963
Lafayette Lafayette class submarine The Lafayette class of submarine was an evolutionary development from the of fleet ballistic missile submarine, slightly larger and generally improved...	9	17 January 1961	12 May 1964
James Madison James Madison class submarine The James Madison class of submarine was an evolutionary development from the of fleet ballistic missile submarine. They were identical to the Lafayettes except for being designed to carry the Polaris A-3 missile instead of the earlier A-2. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, select units were...	10	6 February 1962	19 December 1964
Sturgeon Sturgeon class submarine The Sturgeon class were a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy from the 1960s until 2004. They were the "work horses" of the submarine attack fleet throughout much of the Cold War...	37	10 August 1963	16 August 1975
Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin class submarine The Benjamin Franklin class of submarine was an evolutionary development from the of fleet ballistic missile submarine. Having quieter machinery and other improvements, they are considered a separate class. A subset of this class is the re-engineered 640 class starting with...	12	17 April 1963	1 April 1967
	1	17 January 1966	12 July 1969	Unique submarine
	1	5 June 1971	21 December 1974	Unique submarine
Los Angeles Los Angeles class submarine The Los Angeles class, sometimes called the LA class or the 688 class, is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines that forms the backbone of the United States submarine fleet. With 43 submarines on active duty and 19 retired, the Los Angeles class is the most numerous nuclear powered...	62	8 January 1972	13 September 1996
Ohio Ohio class submarine The Ohio class is a class of nuclear-powered submarines used by the United States Navy. The United States has 18 Ohio-class submarines:...	18	10 April 1976	6 September 1997
Seawolf Seawolf class submarine The Seawolf class is a class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarines in service with the United States Navy. The class was the intended successor to the , ordered at the end of the Cold War in 1989. At one time, an intended fleet of 29 submarines was to be built over a ten-year period, later...	3	25 October 1989	19 February 2005

Post–Cold War

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