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AGSS-569 Albacore 1969-1971 - Phase V - Drag Reduction

A final series of tests made up Phase V. These involved installation of a classified system for attaining very high speeds. The nature and the results of this test remained classified for many years. Ship design expert Norman Friedman gives Albacore's top speed when built as 26 knots and 33 knots when equipped with the silver-zinc batteries. The top speed of Albacore or any other submarine is stated by the Navy as "in excess of 20 knots." One former Albacore officer, forbidden to state any specific speed, said "Albacore has gone more in excess of twenty knots than any other submarine."

In Phase V, August 1969 to August 1971, the designers attempted to push Albacore even faster by lowering the friction of the water flowing over the hull in an early drag-reduction technique. The full scale testing of a submarine by the US Navy has shown that polymer ejection has the potential to reduce the self-noise, drag and radiated noise generated by the propellor. For nearly two decades, from 1953 to 1972, Albacore was used as a test platform to validate design features and techniques that made possible the advances in speed, maneuverability, and depth capability enjoyed by today's Submarine Force. During that period, Albacore went through five design phases and a series of corresponding underwater trials.

Her crew called it the "Slippery Water" project, and it included the release of a viscous polymer liquid that would stream down the hull and reduce drag. Some drag reduction was observed, but so much polymer had to be ejected, and stored on board, that this method was deemed impractical. Since then, many tests have been done to develop a more efficient approach, but to date, no drag reduction schemes of this type have been deployed operationally.

During the early 1970s, Albacore was again modified to participate in the research and development Project SURPASS, a research and development project sponsored by the Naval Ship Research and Development Center at Carderock, Maryland. She remained inactive for the most part until 2 February 1970 when she began an overhaul m drydock and modifications to prepare her for Project SURPASS, a research and development project sponsored by the Naval Ship Research and Development Center at Carderock, Md. The ship left drydock on 16 April 1971, commenced sea trials on 22 July, and completed them on 29 August. Early in October 1971, she operated off Provincetown, Mass., to calibrate her sonar and radar equipment.