Category: Pigboats

Vison Below The Surface – The Submarine Leadership of Admiral Samuel Shelburne Robison

In the fog of the Atlantic and beneath the waves, a quiet revolution was underway. As the United States entered World War I in 1917, its submarine force was still in its infancy—limited in number, rudimentary in design, and scattered in command. The boats were short-ranged, poorly coordinated, and used mostly for coastal defense. But at the helm of its transformation stood a man few have heard of, yet whose legacy shaped the very heart of the Silent Service: Admiral Samuel Shelburne Robison.

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The Silent Service Breaths

There was a time when submariners went to sea knowing that if disaster struck, they were likely never coming home. In the early days of the Silent Service, a sunken submarine was a steel tomb. Rescue was often impossible. Escape was unheard of. The ocean was merciless, and technology had not yet caught up to the bravery of the men who dared to ride beneath the waves. That is what made the invention and testing of the Momsen Lung on May 8, 1929, such a watershed moment in naval history. It was a turning point in the age-old struggle to wrest survival from the deep.

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USS Tarantula (B-3) SS-12

In the dawn of the twentieth century, submarines were something between daring science fiction and mechanical gamble. For the United States Navy, the dream of underwater warfare was becoming real—though not without growing pains, near-disasters, and more than a few hard-earned lessons.

One of the Navy’s early forays into undersea warfare was the B-class submarine—three compact, steel-hulled pioneers that marked a turning point in submarine design. Among them was USS Tarantula (SS-12), a vessel whose name alone evoked a certain predatory elegance. She was laid down in Quincy, Massachusetts, and launched on March 30, 1907. The Navy would later simplify her name to B-3, but those who served aboard her knew exactly what she was: a trailblazer.

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