Development Of The Submarine :: essays research papers

ripening of the SubmarineThroughout history, navies fox do significant impacts in the expertontogenesis of human kind. These impacts range from improvements in metaltechnologies made extent perfecting the cannon to the advent of cybernetics,which allowed more precise targeting of weaponry. One of the more advance(a)developments in naval history has been the invention of the slip. Thesubmarine was born in 1620 as a leather-covered rowboat built by CorneliusDrebbel. After Robert Fulton came up with a more modern prototype in 1800, themilitary advantages of a nearly invisible warship were quickly divined. However,they remained unrealized for quite a while. Although Fulton probably foresawthat his invention would be used for war, he hardly could have envisioned itlaunching projectiles with the capability to level entire countries. However,after a series of innovations in thermonuclear rocket and submarine designs, thesubmarine-launched ballistic missile has become an integral part of our navalweapons arsenal.     To understand the need for the development of nuclear missile submarines,there is a need to examine the semipolitical climate of the world in the era afterWorld cont stamp out II. The realignment of the superpowers after the war resulted in aunique situation. The two study naval powers of the day, Great Britain and theUnited States, were now allied against the greatest dirt power in history in theSoviet Union. In the period from 1955 to 1965, the advantage was heavily infavor of the U.S. As the United States had create the atomic and hydrogenbombs first, they obviously gained a head start which positive into a decisivenuclear advantage. This advantage acted as an effective stoppage to any Sovietmovement into Western Europe. However, as the Soviet nuclear arsenal expanded(mostly during the Kennedy administration), it became necessary to effect abalance in the area of conventional warfare or to make more inroads in nucl earweapons development. Before this could be accomplished, however, advancements insubmarine technology had to made as well.     The submarines of World War II, although effective in their roles, wererather primitive. A noisy, slow, shallow-diving sub would hardly be a capablemissile submarine as it could be easily detected and destroyed. Even so, beforethe end of the war, there were intelligence reports in America that the GermanNavy had developed a U-boat capable of towing or carrying V-2 rockets to launchsites near the U.S. due east coast. Although these reports turned out to be false,the Germans had been developing a type of submersible barge to tow V-2s. Thisscare prompted the American development of ballistic missile submarines.