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The Birth of the Fleet Boat
by Robert James Homme, M.A.

After the fiasco of submarine design experienced in the late 1920s, Navy designers finally produced plans for a practical fleet submarine. The epoch was pre-World War Two, or perhaps more accurately post-World War One from a military historian's perspective, and the year was 1933. The plans had finally been drawn for a practical fleet submarine. A fairly trim and maneuverable vessel at 300 feet LOA and 1500 tons (compared with the 381 feet LOA and 2000 tons of the cumbersome and much disliked predecessor, the V-class) the new fleet boats provided sufficient elbow room for long war patrols

The big advance in design was their newly-designed, reliable, light-weight diesel engines. Equipped with four of the new diesels the boats could reach top speeds of over 20 knots and make 10,000 mile cruises without the breakdowns that plagued their predecessors.

Between 1934 and 1941, forty of the new fleet boats (Pike, Salmon, and Tambor class) were constructed. Much of this focus on redesign and submarine fleet expansion was due directly to President Franklin D. Roosevelt who was a forceful proponent of a strong submarine force since his days as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War I. These boats were the backbone of the 56 boat U.S. submarine fleet Pacific when America entered the war in December of 1941.

About the Author
Robert James Homme is a Vietnam Era Submarine Veteran and has a graduate degree in History from Florida International University. Robert has published professionally in a variety of magazines throughout Florida and academically in the Atlantic Millennium (formerly the Southeastern Historical Journal). He is a dual honor society member of OMICRON DELTA KAPPA and PHI ALPHA THETA.

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