SSN 637 accurate drawings out there?

[steh2o]

Hello, I'm looking around for good plans of the Sturgeon class, I'm aware of some plans and drawings as well as of the existence of some scale models of it. In most cases, the greatest discrepancies between them are on the dimensions of the sail (not unexpectedly).
Now during my research on the internet, I have found this:

http://www.history.navy.mil/museums/keyport/pdfs/sturgeonsail.pdf

In the text, the sail height is reported as 18', the length as 30'... that is lower and slightly longer than a 688-class's sail. It seems these figures do not match very well the aspect ratio seen in most photographs of the 637s... also I thought that 637 had taller sails than 688s allowing up-turnable sail planes.
Does anybody here have some reliable information about this point in particular or may point me to reliable plans? Tom perhaps?
Thanks,
regards
Stefano

[salmon]

Re: SSN 637 accurate drawings out there?

Look at SCR back issue #17, I think there is a line drawing in there. Maybe it would help.
Peace,
tom

[tom dougherty]

Re: SSN 637 accurate drawings out there?

[subicman]

Re: SSN 637 accurate drawings out there?

Stephano,

The sails on some of the sturgeons were a all the same size as far as I know, some of the older 1:1 bubbleheads out there can back me up on this. I worked on them but never served on them, I am a 688 and a 774 sailor only. I do know that the fairwater planes on the sturgeons were a lot smaller than a 688's fairwaters. I have one of Thor's 637 kits put together as USS Pogy SSN-647. His kit was put together based off of the old US Navy drawings and is very accurate. I do know that Parche's sail was modified for her conversion to super spook.

Tim

[steh2o]

Re: SSN 637 accurate drawings out there?

Hello all, and thank you for your replies and help!
A few comments:
-Tom(Salmon): I checked SCR-17, thank you, the plans there are nicely done; comparison with plans posted by Tom Dougherty show a rather small sail (about 18.5-19 feet high)
-Tim: a honor for me talking with a real submariner, you're right I noticed that the sail planes on 637s were smaller than on 688s, I suppose on 688s they were increased for better handling. About USS Parche, I too noticed that the sail, now a monument, was cut down several feet. I do not really understand why, perhaps this allowed the sub to operate nearer the surface? I can't think about the amount of rework done to the masts...
-Tom Dougherty, thanks for the plans you posted; yesterday I took some time with caliper and calculator, and I noticed what follows: the first three (I suppose the third drawing is the union of the first two) are titled SSN 687 (Richard B. Russel) a short-hulled Sturgeon, and effectively measure up to about 292'-292'3". The Deep Sea Design version has a different propeller hub design and seems slightly shorter (290-291') but possibly this is due to an error in my measurement. Anyway, the second drawing shows finally a sail height (measured from the main hull diameter to sail top) of 20,1 to 20,4' (or 20'1" to 20'5") and a sail length of about 28'5"-28'6". All of this measurements are based on the maximum hull diameter of 31'8".
The real amazing thing to me is that several years ago I decided to scratchbuild a 1/700th scale Sturgeon-class, drawing myself a ship plan based on the sketch on "US Submarines since 1945" by N. Friedman, on known measurements, and measures deduced from photographs (that is, I deduced the main sail dimensions from the height of crew members seen in pics and so on). Yesterday I checked the dimensions on a resin copy I have, and all of them match with a 0.1-0.3mm maximum error! Here's the manufact, still missing some ant-sized crew member on the sail.



Thanks again to all of you!

[salmon]

Re: SSN 637 accurate drawings out there?

That is so well done! it looks real. Thank you for sharing!