Torpedos Away
Subs are fascinating ships. Submarines are ships that can function under water. They are used for war and research. The first submarine may have been made about 2,300 years ago by the Ancient Greek king, Alexander the Great. The first documented sub made and used was the Odyssey, a closed in row boat with an air tube. It was made in 1620 by the English.
Submarines have changed a lot over the years. They have gone from a covered row boat to sleek, metal machines. The first subs were powered by humans, then came the diesel-powered subs, and finally the nuclear powered ones. The first nuclear powered sub was launched in 1954. It was the USS Nautilus, an American submarine.
The sub I’m going to talk about this week is the diesel-powered Gato Class sub. Diesel powered subs came out in the United States in 1909 and were used for about fifty years. The Gato Class sub has a crew of sixty people. One of them is the captain. Others are engineers. There is also the radar crew. It can travel at a speed of twenty-one knots while surfaced, and nine knots submerged. This was faster than the German sub, the VIIC used during World War II, which could travel 17.6 knots surfaced and 7.7 knots submerged. The Gato Class sub could be up to 95m (311 ft) long. It was used during the Second World War to attack German teams called Wolf Packs. A Wolf Pack is a team or squad of German u-boats. They were also used to attack Japan from Hawaii. They were heavily armed. They were larger than other subs built during this time. Because of their larger size, they could not turn as fast as other submarines and it took them longer to dive. These subs were used from 1943 to 1969 by the U.S. military. Now go out and impress your friends.
