Tambor-class submarine
USS Tambor (SS-198)
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Tambor class |
| Builders: | Electric Boat Company, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Mare Island Naval Shipyard |
| Operators: |
 United States Navy
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| Preceded by: | Sargo class |
| Succeeded by: | Mackerel class |
| Built: | 1939–1941 |
| In commission: | 1940–1946 |
| Completed: | 12 |
| Lost: | 7 |
| Retired: | 5 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement: | |
| Length: | 307 ft 2 in (93.62 m) |
| Beam: | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) |
| Draft: | 14 ft 7 1⁄2 in (4.458 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Complement: | 6 officers, 54 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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The Tambor-class submarine was a United States Navy submarine design, used primarily during World War II. It was the USN's first fully successful fleet submarine, and began the war close to the fighting. Six of the class were in Hawaiian waters or the Central Pacific on 7 December 1941, with Tautog at Pearl Harbor during the attack. They went on to see hard service; seven of the twelve boats in the class were sunk before the survivors were withdrawn from front-line service in early 1945; this was the highest percentage lost of any US submarine class. Tautog was credited with sinking 26 ships, the largest number of ships sunk by a US submarine in World War II. The Tambors retained the top speed of 21 knots (39 km/h) and range of 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) (allowing patrols in Japanese home waters) of the preceding Sargo class, and improvements included six bow torpedo tubes, a more reliable full diesel-electric propulsion plant, and improved combat efficiency with key personnel and equipment relocated to the conning tower. In some references, the Tambors are called the "T Class", and SS-206 through SS-211 are sometimes called the "Gar class".
Early U.S. submarine designs of World War I assigned to escort shipping revealed that they had minimal ability to deter an aggressive threat. Despite the fact that German U-boats proved beyond a doubt that no navy could be a world sea power without submarines, the role played by U.S. submarines in the defense of the Pacific would have to be rethought by Navy planners.
Following the Armistice, and after testing the capabilities of German design via captured U-boats, the U.S. Navy began to see the potential for extended offensive submarine operations. Submarine operations with the fleet required boats with both a high speed of 21 knots so that they could maneuver with the Standard-type battleships. A high endurance was also desired to enable sustained patrols in Japanese home waters, hopefully providing warning of enemy operations as well as sinking warships close to home. These qualities would later prove vital in commerce raiding during World War II, though this was largely absent from prewar planning due to the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty. The huge advancement in American technology required to fill that role with "a new all-purpose fleet submarine" also became apparent.
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