Balao Class Submarine - Propulsion

Propulsion

The propulsion of the Balao-class submarines was generally similar to that of the preceding Gato-class. Like their predecessors, they were true diesel-electric submarines: their four diesel engines powered electrical generators, and electric motors drove the shafts. There was no direct connection between the main engines and the shafts.

• General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engine

Balao-class submarines received main engines from one of two manufacturers. Fairbanks-Morse supplied Model 38D8⅛ opposed piston engines, and General Motors' Cleveland Diesel division supplied Model 16-248 and 16-278A V16 engines. Earlier Fairbanks-Morse boats received a 9-cylinder version of the Model 38D8⅛, while boats from USS Sand Lance (SS-381) onward received 10-cylinder engines. Earlier GM boats received Model 16-248 engines, but beginning with USS Perch (SS-313) Model 16-278A engines were used. In each case, the newer engines had greater displacement than the old, but were rated at the same power; they operated at lower mean effective pressure for greater reliability. Both the F-M and GM engines were two-stroke cycle types.

Two submarines, USS Unicorn (SS-429) and USS Vendace (SS-430), were to receive Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) diesels, but both boats were cancelled.

Two manufacturers supplied electric motors for the Balao-class. Elliott Company motors were fitted primarily to boats with Fairbanks-Morse engines. General Electric motors were fitted primarily to boats with General Motors engines, but some Fairbanks-Morse boats received GE motors. Allis-Chalmers motors were to be used in SS-530 through SS-536, but those seven boats were cancelled before even receiving names.

Earlier submarines carried four high-speed electric motors (two per shaft), which had to be fitted with reduction gears to slow their outputs down to an appropriate speed for the shafts. This reduction gearing was very noisy, and made the submarine easier to detect with hydrophones. A handful of late Balao-class submarines received low-speed double armature motors which drove the shafts directly and were much quieter, but this improvement was not universally fitted until the succeeding Tench class. As the diesel engines were not directly connected to the shafts, the electric motors had to drive the shafts all the time.

The Balao class was successful, and one of its class USS Archer-Fish (SS-311) brought down what remains the largest ship sunk by a submarine, the Japanese aircraft carrier Shinano (59,000 tons).