Guppy/Fleet boat Comparison

[greenman407]

Using photographs to illustrate the modifacations made to fleet boats in order to turn them into a guppy is the point of this post. Especially of concern here is the modifacations to the width and shape of the superstructure or deck if you will.Disregarding the Tang on the left, you can see the great width of the fleet boats deck on the right. Now compare that to the following photos of Guppys.
Fleet snorkle with wide deck

[greenman407]

Once again a frontal view of a fleet boats wide deck.

The deck width has been reduced so much that a handrail is installed on the side of the sail to keep you from falling overboard when you move forward or aft.

[greenman407]

Heres another head on shot of the Tusk, another guppy.

[NavyICman]

Note the torpedo sticking out of the fairwater in the signed picture

[greenman407]

Yes, thats why I originally saved this picture a while back. If memory serves it was a practice torpedo implanted during exercises.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Yes, thats why I originally saved this picture a while back. If memory serves it was a practice torpedo implanted during exercises.

It's a MK-44 exercise torpedo to be specific. Boats like that pictured would be used as ASW targets. We would go out, let the ASW assets know where we were by launching a black smoke, circle around and wait to be attacked. While on the TRUTTA a good portion of our time out of Key West (Squadron 12) we provided ASW services to various units of the Atlantic fleet, air and surface. Most the time while out there playing with the surface pukes we would pretend to be an ECHO -- the much feared formation buster of the time.

Torpedoes configured for exercise had their warhead swapped with an 'exercise head' that recorded weapon performance and had circuitry that would turn the weapon away from the target in the last stage of the run-in -- that turn-away feature sometimes worked, sometimes did not work. Also, the exercise head either made the weapon positively buoyant for recovery by either ejecting a lead weight or by simply increasing the weapons displacement (the exercise head longer than the warhead it replaced).

I remember one strike we got, an Asroc delivered weapon (I think it was an early mod of the MK-46), after acquiring us, ran in and bounced off the turtle-back, not far from where I was sitting in the after torpedo room. The sound was, 'bongggggggg'. A real attention getter!

[greenman407]

Dave, you got to do all the COOL STUFF! And me! I was stuck out in a concrete yard welding on old rusted metal!

[greenman407]

Dave, I'm sure your aware but according to Navsource the Trutta was acquired along with other subs by the Turkish navy and it became the "Cerbe". After some years it was retired and the sail is part of a memorial in Turkey.

[reddevil]

The two uppermost pictures are from submarines in the Spanish Navy. In the first one, cars at the quay are impossible to missidentify: Tipical cars in last fifties 7 first sixties. The second one is taken at Barcelona: In the background you can see the mizzen mast of Columbus' SANTA MARIA replica built to commemorate Fourth Centenary of New World's Dicovery.

[reddevil]

Excuse me, correction: I was talking about the second and third pictures. The second one is of a US submarine in an Spanish port. Have a look at the flag astern and to crew's service dresses; but cars are spanish. The third one is taken at Barcelona and that sub is transferred to our Navy (sailor uniform).

[reddevil]

To be more precise, the sub in the third picture is S 32 ISAAC PERAL (ex USS RONQUIL SS 396). By the way, Isaac Peral was an Spanish Navy officer who built the first operational submarine. It's in display at Cartagena. I've posted pictures of it, and you can see it at Google Earth.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named]

Dave, I'm sure your aware but according to Navsource the Trutta was acquired along with other subs by the Turkish navy and it became the "Cerbe". After some years it was retired and the sail is part of a memorial in Turkey.

A lot of those GUPPY transfers wound up as 'charging barges' -- gutted, tied up to a pier, and their diesels run to death charging up still active boats. Sad.

Yeah, I transferred off TRUTTA just as the Turk's were getting settled in for transfer training. At that time (early 70's) Torpedoman were being wooed off the diesel boats to convert to 'launcher technician' -- in other words, Polaris/Poseidon launcher techs. I took the bait (bonus money) and after a lot of schooling wound up in the other ocean aboard the WEBSTER.

Go figure.

David,