USS SHARK SUBMARINE
![](shark/uss-shark.jpg)
USS Shark (SSN-591) was a Skipjack-class
submarine. Shark′s keel was laid down on 24 February
1958 by the Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock
Company in Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on
16 March 1960 and commissioned on 9 February 1961.
The Skipjack-class submarines were the
first truly modern postwar submarines of the U.S. Navy.
The class was an example of how innovative new
technologies can combine to produce a weapons system
with vastly improved characteristics.
Two US important innovations -- nuclear
power and the teardrop hull -- proved complementary in
the Skipjack class. The design was so successful that it
provided a basis for future submarines, not only in the
United States, but elsewhere around the world. Thus came
Skipjack’s motto “Radix Nova Tridentis,” or “Root of a
New Sea Power.”
USS Shark’s sensor suite was centered
around the BQS-4 active/passive sonar array, which had a
range of six to eight thousand yards. It also had a
BQR-2 passive array with a maximum detection range of
thirteen thousand yards. It also had search and attack
periscopes in the sail and a surface radar for
navigating on the surface.
The Shark submarine was also well armed,
with six Mk. 59 bow torpedo tubes. Unlike previous
classes, they did not have aft-firing torpedo
tubes—their large single propeller made firing torpedoes
rearward hazardous. The class could also launch the Mark
45 ASTOR antisubmarine wire-guided nuclear torpedo,
which had a range of eight miles and packed an
eleven-kiloton nuclear warhead.
![](shark/uss-shark-model.jpg)
We accept your
commissions to build the
USS
Shark submarine
at
15" long (1/200 scale)
for $1,590,
21" long (1/144 scale) $1,970, and 30" long
(1/100 scale) $2,500. Other sizes, please
contact us for a quote:
services@ModelShipMaster.com.
ModelShipMaster.com builds any
submarine models, at virtually any sizes. When you are choosing
a reputable builder for your favorite submarine,
look for large photos showing details to verify if a
model is worth the title "museum quality" as wildly
claimed by some. Do not assume a model that looks
good from far away (in smaller photos) is actually good.
It's the accuracy and craftsmanship that count and only
large photos can tell you that.
Learn
more about the USS Shark here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Shark_(SSN-591)
|