During 1948, faced with intelligence estimates that the Soviets would have 360-2,000 submarines by the end of the 1950s, the U.S. Navy concluded it would need 250-970 specialized antisubmarine killer submarines to counter the threat. Some would be conversions from existing fleet submarines, and the remainder new small, lightly armed, and easily constructed diesel boats, the SSK-1 class.
As the SSK project went through definition, the design grew from a 350-ton boat with two torpedo tubes and four passive-homing torpedoes to a 765-ton (1,160 tons submerged) craft with four torpedo tubes and up to 16 torpedoes. What drove up size was the need for space and power to incorporate a bulky and complex sonar suite; operating range (9,000 nautical miles surfaced) and maximum operational depth (400 feet) had to be sacrificed to cost and producibility considerations. Only three of the small hunter-killer boats were ordered, and although they proved very effective in detecting and tracking targets at ranges up to 60,000 yards, they had brief operational careers as front-line submarines.
The K-1 (SSK-1) was built by Electric Boat and launched on 2 March 1951. The K-2 (SSK-2) and K-3 (SSK-3) were assigned to New York Shipbuilding at Camden, New Jersey, and Mare Island Naval Shipyard in California, respectively, to prove that private and public yards inexperienced in submarine construction could build the relatively simple boats. The K-2 was reassigned to Mare Island before construction got under way, and she and the K-3 were launched on 2 May and 21 June 1951. The K-1 was assigned to Submarine Development Group Two at New London, Connecticut, and conducted the bulk of the trials of the small SSK concept in a series of very successful exercises during 1952-1954. The K-2 and K-3 were based at Pearl Harbor and used primarily on local training duties. On 15 December 1955, the trio were given names, becoming, in order, the Barracuda, Bass, and Bonita. The Pacific Fleet pair were decommissioned to reserve on 1 October 1957 and 7 November 1958, respectively, and both were stricken on 1 April 1965. The Barracuda, however, was reconfigured for a new role. Stripped of most sonar gear and all but one torpedo tube and renumbered SST-3, she was assigned for target training duties, operating primarily in support of the Antisubmarine School at Key West. She was decommissioned and stricken on 1 October 1973. The small SSK concept had been overtaken by the superior performance of the converted fleet-boat SSKs, the Soviet’s failure to build boats in the numbers projected, and the introduction of nuclear-powered attack submarines, which could perform both antisubmarine and antisurface target duties.
The K-3 (SSK-3)—shown on 11 February 1952, one month after her commissioning—and her sisters were powered by three 375-brake-horsepower General Motors 8-268 diesels for surface speeds up to 13 knots. For underwater operations, the three 300-kw generators either powered the two 525-shaft-horsepower electric motors directly or recharged the two sets of batteries totaling 126 cells. Top submerged speed was 8.5 knots, and on battery power, the three were virtually undetectable by contemporary sonars. A crew of 4 officers and 33 enlisted personnel was carried. Armament was four 21-inch Mk 47 pneumatic-launch torpedo tubes.
The Barracuda (SST-3, ex-SSK-1), running on the surface near Key West in August 1964, had all sonar equipment except for the small BQR-3A passive set and two underwater telephone sets removed. Despite that, two Mk 37 antisubmarine torpedoes could be carried in the remaining tube, and two reloads stowed in the torpedo room. The small SSKs were 194-feet, 1-inch, overall as completed, with a beam of 24 feet, 7 inches.
The huge transducer array for the BQR- 4 passive sonar was mounted atop the bow; the smaller BQR-2 array was in a dome beneath the hull. The small, drum-shaped, canvas-covered transducer atop the BQR-4 array was for the BQS-3 active searchlight attack sonar, while the trainable “handlebar” array to port forward of the sail was for the BQR-3 passive set. The K-2 is seen here on 5 January 1952 at Mare Island; she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 23 May 1952 and was assigned to Submarine Division 72.