INTRODUCTION 



An interesting discussion of the role played by the submarine during 

 World War II and the changes which have taken place in design philosophy 

 since 1941 may be found in Reference l''~ together with some comments on 

 the circumstances which have led to these changes. A digest of funda- 

 mental principles underlying the design of submarine pressure hulls is 

 given in Reference 2, from the point of view of the naval architect. 



Wenk has presented an outstanding report in the open literature on 

 the feasibility of pressure hulls for ultradeep running submarines; he dis- 

 cusses some of the motivations for operating deeper, and presents the 

 results of strength-weight calculations for different hull configurations 

 and promising new hull materials. Although very little test data had been 

 available with which to check the underlying assumptions and compare the 

 various design concepts proposed by Wenk, his paper is an outstanding 

 contribution to the literature in that it documents new ideas and construc- 

 tion techniques which may constitute the basis for realizing the deep- 

 diving submersible. Other feasibility studies, notably those conducted 

 about the same time at the Bureau of Ships and the David Taylor Model 

 Basin, have led to similar results and to the formulation of detailed pro- 

 grams of research into new and untried hull structures and materials 

 which are presently underway at the Model Basin. In Reference 4 Wenk 

 sets forth some basic principles of pressure-hull engineering which, in 



* References are given on page 134. 



2 



