Construction
The first submarine commissioned in this class was the ill-fated Thresher, and so the class was known by her name. When Thresher was lost, the class took the name of the second ship in the class, Permit, and the SUBSAFE program began. SUBSAFE includes specific training of SUBSAFE quality assurance inspectors in the engine room crew, and tracks extremely detailed information about every component of a submarine's engine room that contacts seawater. Joints in any equipment carrying seawater must be welded (not brazed), and every hull penetration larger than a specified size can be quickly shut by a remote hydraulic mechanism.
The engine room of Jack was lengthened by ten feet to accommodate an experimental direct-drive propulsion system using concentric counter-rotating propellers. Although counter-rotating propellers produced impressive gains in speed on the experimental Albacore, in Jack the results were disappointing because of the difficulty in sealing the shaft. Jack was also used to test polymer ejection that could reduce flow noises that degraded sonar performance.
Flasher, Greenling, and Gato were fitted with heavier machinery and a larger sail, to house additional masts, and made ten feet longer than the other units of the class to more SUBSAFE features, additional reserve buoyancy, more intelligence gathering equipment and improved accommodations.
Read more about this topic: Thresher/Permit Class Submarine
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