SUBMARINE

a naval vessel capable of operating underwater for sustained periods of time. Submarines played a major role in naval warfare during both world wars. Germany's submarines, called U-boats, were especially important. (See U-boat.) Conventionally powered submarines used diesel engines for propulsion while on the surface of the water and battery-powered electric motors for propulsion while submerged. These submarines sank enemy merchant vessels by launching torpedoes at them. Diesel-electric submarines usually traveled on the surface and could operate at high speed for only a few hours while submerged. Although many smaller navies still build conventionally powered submarines, the nuclear-powered submarine, capable of operating at high speeds underwater for months at a time, has become a more important weapon system and is regarded by some naval strategists as the most potent of all naval warships. any naval vessel that is capable of propelling itself beneath the water as well as on the water's surface. This is a unique capability among warships, and submarines are quite different in design and appearance from surface ships. Submarines first became a major factor in naval warfare during World War I (191418), when Germany employed them to destroy surface merchant vessels. In such attacks submarines used their primary weapon, a self-propelled underwater missile known as a torpedo. Submarines played a similar role on a larger scale in World War II (193945), in both the Atlantic (by Germany) and the Pacific (by the United States). In the 1960s the nuclear-powered submarine, capable of remaining underwater for months at a time and of firing long-range nuclear missiles without surfacing, became an important strategic weapon platform. Armed with torpedoes as well as antiship and antisubmarine missiles, the nuclear attack submarine has also become a key element of naval warfare. Following is a history of the development of submarines from the 17th century to the present. For a history of other warships, see naval ship. For the weaponry of modern attack and strategic submarines, see rocket and missile system. Additional reading The engineering characteristics of submarines are explored in Ulrich Gabler, Submarine Design (1986; originally published in German, 1964); Norman Friedman, Submarine Design and Development (1984); Eberhard Rssler, The U-Boat: The Evolution and Technical History of German Submarines (1981; originally published in German, 1975); and John D. Alden, The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy: A Design and Construction History (1979). Erminio Bagnasco, Submarines of World War Two (1977; originally published in Italian, 1973); Dorr Carpenter and Norman Polmar, Submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1986); and Richard Compton-Hall, The Underwater War, 19391945 (1982), discuss underwater naval operations during this specific period. Antisubmarine warfare is the subject of Richard Compton-Hall, Submarine Versus Submarine: The Tactics and Technology of Underwater Warfare (1988). Norman Friedman