I grew up during World War II and was 10 when it ended. I've always loved submarines: stealthy, dangerous, and (I suppose) phallic weapons. What does this say about me? Actually, it has nothing to do with the fact that these are weapons of mass destruction. Rather, it's that they are wonderful machines. In addition, some of the photos are beautiful as photos! [Loading the thumbnail images takes a few seconds.]

	Fast Attack Submarines
	USS Flasher, SSN 613, really plowing through the waves. [30K jpg]
	USS Gato, SSN 615 (decommissioned).Docked in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Photo George Baggs. [16K jpg]
	USS Gato, SSN 615. Surfaced in the Carribean, a rare hour's treat in the fresh air and sunshine for the crew, on so-called "black beach." Photo George Baggs. [20K jpg]
	Sturgeon Class Attack Submarines
	USS Sturgeon, SSN 637 (decommissioned). [33K jpg]
	USS Sturgeon, SSN 637. [58K jpg]
	USS Sturgeon, SSN 637. [50K jpg]
	USS Grayling, SSN 646, cruising in the Mediterranean, June 1996. [46K jpg]
	USS Pogy, SSN 647, surfaced through Arctic ice at dawn, November 5, 1996. [18K jpg]
	USS Archerfish, SSN 678 [68K jpg].
	USS William H. Bates, SSN 680, on the way in or out. [146K jpg]
	USS Tunny, SSN 682, about to dock, having just come home from WestPac, after a six-month cruise. These pictures are apparently the only ones of the Tunny on the net; they were sent to me by a former crewman, EM2 (SS) Tom Jordan, who tells me he would like other guys from the boat to email him at tomj@flash.net or check out his Tunny web site. [59K jpg]
	USS Tunny, SSN 682, docked at Pearl. Tom sent me these pictures of her, and he explained the letters painted on the sail, which indicate awards presented the boat in competition with other boats in the squadron, this way -- the letters mean best in squadron for: DC = Damage Control, E = Battle Efficiency, E = Engineering "E" Efficiency, and T = Tactical. These were shown only in port as a form of boasting to other boats. [272K jpg]
	[45K jpg] USS Tunny, SSN 682, off Maui.
	USS Tunny, SSN 682, off Maui. [44K jpg]
	Strategic Missile Submarines
	The USS Lafayette, SSBN 616. Seen in drydock, you get a real sense of the size of the boat. Note the netting above, intended to keep objects from rolling off and injuring anyone down below. [168K jpg]
	The USS Lafayette, SSBN 616, in port in Lisbon, Portugal. Photo: Roy Grossinger (see link below). [39K jpg]
	USS Benjamin Franklin, SSBN 640, not at all or just barely underway. [16K jpg]
	USS Benjamin Franklin, SSBN 640, a much more dramatic view. [31K jpg]
	Ohio Class Strategic Missile Submarines
	USS Georgia, SSBN 729. The rapid surfacing maneuver must be quite a sensation from inside the boat, and from outside (like the Grand Canyon) something you have to see with your own eyes to grasp. [24K jpg]
	USS Alabama, SSBN 731. [16K jpg]
	USS Tennessee, SSBN 734. [43K jpg]
	USS Pennsylvania, SSBN 735. [191K jpg]
	USS West Virginia, SSBN 736. [44K jpg]
	USS Kentucky, SSBN 737.[28K jpg]
	USS Maryland, SSBN 738. [314K jpg]
	USS Nebraska, SSBN 739. [39K jpg]
	USS Rhode Island, SSBN 740. 15th of 18 Ohio Class ballistic missile submarines authorized by Congress. [26K jpg]
	USS Rhode Island, SSBN 740. In this perspective, the 560-foot length of the boomer is even more highlighted. [45K jpg]
	USS Rhode Island, SSBN 740. Lovely shot, showing a long s-shaped wake. [16K jpg]
	USS Maine, SSBN 741. [39K jpg]
	USS Maine, SSBN 741, during surface operations off Puerto Rico, November 13, 1996. [41K jpg]
	USS Wyoming, SSBN 742. It doesn't really show here, but Ohio class boats are mammoth: over 18,000 tons submerged. [39K jpg]
	USS Wyoming, SSBN 742. This dockside shot gives some notion of the bulk of the 42-foot beam; length is 560 feet. [39K jpg]
	The last of the 18 Ohio class Trident submarines, under construction. [48K jpg]
	View from aft, showing 24 open missile launch tubes. [21K jpg]
	Los Angeles Class Attack Submarines
	USS Los Angeles, SSN 688. [52K jpg]
	USS Los Angeles, SSN 688. [61K jpg]
	USS Birmingham, SSN 695. [44K jpg]
	USS Hyman G. Rickover, SSN 709. I love shots like this; the boat really looks like it's drilling through the water. [43K jpg]
	USS Honolulu, SSN 718. [34K jpg]
	USS Oklahoma City, SSN 723, in the Suez Canal with a carrier. [79K jpg]
	USS Helena, SSN 725, a very dramatic photo. [276K jpg]
	San Juan Improved Los Angeles Class Attack Submarines
	USS Albany, SSN 753. The improvement was to move the diving planes from the sail to the hull, for better slow-speed control submerged. Photo: Newport News Shipbuilding [105K jpg]
	USS Scranton, SSN 756, during an at-sea mail call, February, 1996. [42K jpg]
	USS Annapolis, SSN 760. [22K jpg]
	USS Columbus, SSN 762, a pretty unusual view. [147K jpg]
	USS Montpelier, SSN 765, for some reason, an angle not usually seen. [50K jpg]
	USS Columbia, SSN 771, being launched. [44K jpg]
	Seawolf: The Latest, Maybe Last Class
	USS Seawolf, SSN 774/021, final stages of construction at Electric Boat. [62K jpg]
	USS Seawolf, SSN 774/021, docked after launch. The many new features of this submarine represent a dramatic improvement over earlier designs. Today's role for Seawolf has not been publicly defined. [73K jpg]
	USS Seawolf, SSN 774/021, docked after launch, another angle. [67K jpg]
	USS Seawolf, SSN 774/021, at her sea trials. [58K jpg]
	USS Seawolf, SSN 774/021, en route to her first sea trials, July 3, 1996. [73K jpg]
	Other Boats
	This is the USS Thresher, SSN 593, tragically lost in an implosion accident in 1963, carrying 16 officers, 96 enlisted men and 17 civilian technicians to their final resting place in 8500 feet of water. The last moments might be imagined from this SubNet account: "Fifteen minutes after reaching her assigned test depth, the submarine communicated with Skylark by underwater telephone, apprising the submarine rescue ship of difficulties. Garbled transmissions indicated that -- far below the surface -- things were going wrong. Suddenly, listeners in Skylark heard a noise 'like air rushing into an air tank,' -- then, silence." [17K jpg]
	This is the USS Permit, SSN 594 the first of a class by default; the Thresher was the actual beginning of the line, but with her sinking, the designation went to the next boat. [29K jpg]
	The USS Patrick Henry, SSBN 599. [43K jpg]
	USS Glenard P. Lipscomb, SSN 685. This boat, I'm informed by a former CO, was decommissioned owing to maintenance problems with her electric drive generators at the end of her active service. Subsequently I learned that the boat was broken up in 1989-90. [180K jpg]
	Historic Pictures
	The launch of USS Nautilus, SSN 571. The world's first boat with a nuclear power plant. [199K jpg]
	USS Nautilus, SSN 571, cruising on the surface. Designated a National Historic Landmark by the Secretary of the Interior in 1982, she was towed to Groton in 1985. [21K jpg]
	Albacore was a radical departure in submarine design, necessitated by rethinking the whole underwater warship enterprise. Whereas earlier submarines were optimized for surface operations, submerging only when necessary, later designs, many of them tested for the first time in the various phases of the Albacore project, when coupled with nuclear propulsion allowed submarines to operate to best advantage, both strategically and tactically, while submerged. The main innovations were the teardrop shaped hull, a new steel for the pressure hull, and on-axis propellers. [133K jpg]
	A stern view of Albacore, showing her counter-rotating on-axis propellers and X-shaped aft control surfaces, a feature used on no other US submarine. [192K jpg]
	Albacore's one-man driving station, one of a number of aircraft-inspired features of this unique boat. Other US submarines have opted for a two-man driving crew, however. [130K jpg]
	One of the oddest-looking smaller boats, the 2600-ton USS Tullibee, SSN597. [23K jpg]

There are quite a few submarine-related pages on the net. Real afficionados probably know about them, but here are a couple links I discovered while looking for these photos.

• U.S. Navy Digital Imagery: Submarines.
• Ron Martini's Navy Submarine Base. In the corner of Wyoming, believe it or not, is the richest source of submarine lore I found, with links to just about everywhere else of interest.
• The Silent Service -- The Submarine. Roy Grossinger's fascinating and detailed accounts of his tours as an ELT.
• Cyberspace Association for U.S. Submariners (how's that for a modern handle?), the most complete photo archive I've seen of SSs, SSNs, and SSBNs, memorials to lost boats and crews, a national directory of submariners, and much more.