I've driven by the Albacore more than once, but never seen the inside.
http://www.youvisit.com/tour/ussalbacore
Nice find, Mirth.
If you like ship development, the gift shop sells a book on Albacore. When it was first tested, the experienced captain termed the phrase "aquabatics" to show how advanced it's maneuverability was. It quite literally ran rings around World War II type submarines.
Quote from: mirth on August 28, 2015, 11:18:24 AM
I've driven by the Albacore more than once, but never seen the inside.
http://www.youvisit.com/tour/ussalbacore
A wood-trimmed dashboard...
Luxury!
Yeah, but those pancake diesels were crap.
Quote from: besilarius on August 28, 2015, 07:54:15 PM
Yeah, but those pancake diesels were crap.
Is that why she was the only one of her class?
Albacore was always meant to be an experimental design to try new developments and equipment.
The diesels were part of an ongoing effort to develop a high performance diesel that was also small. The pancake design had been tried on one class of submarines in World War II (cannot recall the name of the class, Clay Blair goes into it) that were dangerous because they broke down regularly on patrol.) Albacore's were improved but ultimately not successful as at least twice she lost all power and had to be towed into port.
Other than the diesels, the ship was very successful and proved a great test bed.
First to use the teardrop hull design, I believe.