United States G-class submarine

The G-class submarines were a class of four United States Navy submarines. While the four G boats were nominally all of a class, they differed enough in significant details that they are sometimes considered to be four unique boats, each in a class by herself.^[1] They were the result of agitation (presumably from industry and Congress) for competition in submarine design; all previous US submarines were designed by Electric Boat.^[2] G-1, G-2, and G-3, were designed by Simon Lake, of the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, while G-4 was designed by American Laurenti. G-1 and G-2 were built by Newport News, G-3 by Lake, completed at the New York Navy Yard due to Lake's temporary dissolution,^[3] and G-4 by Cramp.^[2]

G-1, G-2, and G-4 were the last gasoline engine powered submarines in the US Navy. The Lake-designed G-1 was equipped with three sets of diving planes spaced along the midships part of the hull, and no bow planes. This was to facilitate level diving, which Lake thought was safer than the angle diving of the numerous Electric Boat designs. During World War I, G-1, G-2, and G-3 were fitted with "chariot" bridge shields for improved surface operation in rough weather,^[4] although they were not deployed overseas.

G-1 was built under a contract with such high performance specifications that the Navy expected Lake to fail, so as a result the boat was not initially assigned a hull number. When Lake did eventually complete the boat, the awkwardness of the situation caused the Navy to assign the boat hull number 19½, an unprecedented move.^[5] By the time the Navy's designation system was overhauled in 1920, F-1 had been lost, so G-1 became SS-20 at that time.^[2] G-1 had four 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes: two in the bow, and two in two trainable mounts in the superstructure. These mounts could only fire at angles abeam, not directly ahead or astern.^[6]

G-2 had four 18-inch torpedo tubes: two bow internal, one bow external, and one stern external, with 8 torpedoes. She had four engines installed, in tandem, two on each shaft with a clutch between them. This would create severe vibrations in operation, as it was impossible to perfectly synchronize the engines, a problem the later AA-1-class submarines experienced.^[7][8]

G-3 had six 18-inch torpedo tubes: two bow internal, two bow external, and two stern external, with 10 torpedoes. She was the only one of the class with diesel engines. With G-3 still on the building ways, Lake was forced to declare bankruptcy, a decision brought on by deferred payments from the two earlier boats and from poor management of the yard. The Navy moved in, launched the boat, and towed her to the Brooklyn Navy Yard where she was completed. Her post commissioning trials in 1915 showed that she had considerable issues with stability. She was returned to the now reorganized and revitalized Lake yard in Bridgeport, where she was hauled out and fitted with sponsons to each side of the hull to improve stability.^[4][9]

G-4 had two bow and two stern 18-inch internal torpedo tubes, with 8 torpedoes. By commissioning date she was the first US submarine with a stern tube.^[10] Four engines were installed, in tandem as in G-2, except there was no clutch between them. This created severe vibrations in operation, as it was impossible to perfectly synchronize the engines, a problem the later AA-1 class experienced.^[11] She was the only submarine built to a foreign design ever commissioned into the United States Navy.^[12]

The following ships of the class were constructed. ^{[13] [14] [15] [16]}

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