"Fast Attacks and Boomers: Submarines in the Cold War": The National Museum of American

History
Author(s): Gary E. Weir
Source: Technology and Culture, Vol. 44, No. 2 (Apr., 2003), pp. 359-363
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press and the Society for the History of
Technology
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25148112
Accessed: 29-09-2015 20:50 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/
info/about/policies/terms.jsp
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

The Johns Hopkins University Press and Society for the History of Technology are collaborating with JSTOR to
digitize, preserve and extend access to Technology and Culture.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 29 Sep 2015 20:50:11 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

REVIEW

EXHIBIT

Fast Attacks and Boomers: Submarines

in the ColdWar
of American

The National Museum

History

E. WEIR

GARY

Tucked away on the upper floor of the Smithsonian's National Museum of

American History, Fast Attacks and Boomers, curated by Barton Hacker
with Paul Johnston and Margaret Vining, offers a truly special view of the
secret world of undersea warfare. Although the handsome color brochure
and the long time line on the introductory wall panel present a brief
overview of the history of American submarines before 1945, this exhibit
dwells on the cold war and the submarines that continued their deterrent
patrols even after the fall of the Berlin Wall.
The cold war theme becomes apparent immediately upon entering the
exhibit. The visitor passes a reproduction of the sail from a modern fast
attack submarine (fig. 1), built to scale but rendered slightly smaller to fit
the museum

space.

Its dive

planes

are

at a down-angle

it leans

and

forward,

as though the vessel were about to submerge beneath the floor, underscor
ing the fact that the natural element of these very potent warships is the
sea,

deep

and

that

they

travel

through

it faster,

longer than even their inventor, John Holland,

turn

of

the

last

venture

deeper,

and

stay

could have imagined at the

century.

Until a few years ago most of the hardware in this exhibit?which

dis
plays critical submarine technology, illustrates the duties and on-board
lifestyle of the crew, and describes the capabilities of these vessels?would
never

have

appeared

in a museum.

survive

Submariners

and

in the

prosper

depths and in the shadows. Personal silence and technical quiet have
ensured their survival for roughly one hundred years, and most of those

Dr. Weir
torical

is branch

head

and historian

D.C.
Center, Washington,
1914-1940
(1991) and An Ocean

He

of science

and

is the author

technology
of Building

at the U.S. Naval

American

in Common: Naval
Officers, Scientists,
1919-1961
of the Richard W. Leopold
Environment,
(2001), corecipient
from the Organization
of American
Historians.
?2003

by the Society for the History

0040-165X/03/4402-0007$8.00

of Technology.

All

rights

His

Submarines,
and the Ocean
Prize

for 2002

reserved.

359

This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 29 Sep 2015 20:50:11 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TECHNOLOGY

AND

CULTURE

APRIL
2003
*

VOL. 44

-#J:

:|||:

:-';|p!;

FIG. 1 Scaled-down
radar masts,
courtesy

of

':;':&-.tSBEBHHBiHHHll'

i^Hli^s^*f
:';,fflf|^^

j?||.

4?

of the sail?the
superstructure
reproduction
a fast-attack
and so on?of
submarine.

periscopes,
the National

Museum

vv=p

JJal

of American

History,

that

encloses

(Illustrations

Smithsonian

Institution.)

who now go to sea in submarines would keep it that way. However, with
changing technologies and new and more difficult Third World targets, this
warfare community needed to make the American people, especially those
on Capitol Hill, understand the submarine's role both inwinning the cold
war and in the current national defense equation. The exhibit thus serves
two essential purposes, educational and political.
With the celebration of the centennial of the American submarine force
in 2000, the resources to create this exhibit and the willingness
of the
to tell their story finally coin
retired and active submarine community
cided. The general public now has a chance to view firsthand what hereto
fore they could only

imagine

through Hollywood

films and Tom Clancy

novels.
Passing

the

reproduction

sail,

the

visitor

moves

across

the

room

to a

time line, replete with excellent still photographs and complemented by a

historical video narrated byWalter Cronkite. This brief chronological treat
ment reaches back to David BushnelTs 1775 Turtle and brings the visitor up
to the conclusion ofWorld War II via Robert Fulton's Nautilus
(1800) and
the inventive Irish-immigrant
teacher John Holland, who sold the U.S.
Navy its first submarine: his Holland VI joined the American fleet in 1900
as the SS-1. (Panels throughout the exhibit as well as the available guest lit
erature introduce the visitor to the many acronyms and cryptic names that
have become second nature in the world of undersea warfare?thus,
for

360

This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 29 Sep 2015 20:50:11 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

WEIR

I Fast Attacks

and Boomers:

in the Cold War

Submarines

for submarine, SSN for the

example, SS is the naval ship designation
nuclear attack submarines, the "fast attacks" of the exhibit's title, and SSBN
for their much larger, ballistic-missile-carrying
siblings, the "boomers.")
move
time
visitors
with
the
line,
very little transition into the
Beyond
cold war

era of Los
Angeles-class

with

the

fast-attack

submarines

boats. The decade from 1945 through

listic missile

first nuclear

submarine

and Ohio-class

1955, which

to sea, witnessed

going

an

bal

concluded

amazing

series

of

changes, but the exhibit does not convey a vivid sense of that revolutionary
decade. Critical German experiments with high-power batteries for speed,
design changes that altered the hull configuration to its sleek present appear
ance,

hydrogen

peroxide

propulsion,

conversions

"Guppy"

of American

World War II fleet submarines to increase speed and range, and advances in
submarine strategy and tactics receive terribly short shrift. The decade fol
lowing the end ofWorld War II has emerged in the historical literature as the
most important in the history of submarines. This exhibit does not ade
quately draw visitors' attention to this vital transitional period.
An additional quandary presents itself at the end of the introductory
time line. Designed
in a loop, the exhibit confronts visitors who have just
concluded the time line with the distraction of a present-day Mark 48 tor
pedo in a very attractive and informative display on the wall opposite.
it might seem natural to continue to the left, following a rough
While
chronological progression, when I returned for my most recent visit Iwit
nessed many visitors immediately walking over to the opposite wall, not
eight feet away, to look at the torpedo. In this way, chronology and the
progress of the story can become a little muddled and random. Each visi
tor must sort out the chronological and developmental
confusion at the
end of the exhibit experience.
The strength of the exhibit emerges as itmoves into the cold war and
life on board

conveys
missions.
lance

Videos
tool.

a submarine?its

Sonar

gives

the

confined

the use

demonstrate
boat

of

acoustic

sound
eyes

its dangers,
spaces,
as a detection
and
for

navigation,

defense,

its

and
surveil

and

Submarine crews are frequently drilled in the use of fire-fighting

equipment, and the exhibit's informative displays of such gear take on an
interesting perspective with the higher visibility of the firefighter since 11
September 2001. lust imagine the danger presented by an on-board fire that
threatens not only to burn but also to consume all of the breathable air in
the very finite space defined by the hull of a submerged ship. Toward the
rear of the exhibit loop, the crew quarters and berthing areas convey a good
sense of the confined living spaces and inevitable lack of privacy that have
over the past century unwittingly contributed to the relative
informality
offense.

and

close

community

valued

by

the

submarine

force.

These

areas

offer

genuine view of submarine life, right down to the unusual "head" or bath
room facilities. The interested public can find these absorbing scenes
nowhere

else.

361

This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 29 Sep 2015 20:50:11 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

EXHIBIT
REVIEW

TECHNOLOGY

AND

CULTURE

APRIL

2003
VOL.44

IKpRMMP
BIB-i

]
'
lis
^UKSSKktR,

:
^'"llii^1

jj|
Afc

^iffe

$jis"- *fc'

-" JMk. Jib

.?w?*a*i
fllifi
,j -i&JIrf
.P*tI;?;^Km '^SliF
mb^^B

. ;".

room scene
control
from a Los Angeles-class
fast-attack
submarine
a view of every
room chatter
the visitor
control
and offers
prerecorded
to sonar from the perspective
to fire control
the com
from navigation
thing
officer.
manding
fig. 2 This

uses

Thanks to the efforts of the U.S. Naval Historical Center's Curator

American
Branch, the Smithsonian used hardware from decommissioned
submarines to illustrate the typical systems panels, weapons
triggers, and
on-board control room scenes (fig. 2). The navy's curators, working with
the relevant technical and operational
rendered even some
commands,
sense
current
while
artifacts
safe?in
the
that,
informing and
fairly
large
no
secrets
the
welfare
of serving
the
that
could
public,
endanger
educating
submariners
appeared in the exhibit spaces. As a result, one can see a
Polaris missile-system
launch panel along with the tactical trigger the com
manding officer of an SSBN would have used to send a weapon from the
silo on board his boat to a target in the former Soviet Union. A control
room scene displays the submarine's helm aswell as the panel used tomon
itor diving and the proper submerged position and attitude. Overhead
directional speakers also bring to the visitor the additional reality of on
board banter; commands and conversation uttered in the submariner's lex
icon during routine activity while submerged. The unusual and unique
artifacts as well as the attractive colors and extraordinary sounds drive this
experience, almost compensating for the rather awkward floor plan.
While this exhibit focuses almost exclusively on the cold war period and
to explore the fascinating continuum of a
certainly misses the opportunity
its shortcomings.
century of submarine history, its strengths outweigh
Most important among the latter is the failure to explore adequately the

362

This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 29 Sep 2015 20:50:11 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

WEIR
period between

revolutionary
to an

amounts
rience

in no

I Fast Attacks

absorbing

other

way.

can

Submarines

in the Cold War

1945 and 1955. But the rest of this exhibit

encounter
One

and Boomers:

that
see, hear,

the

average

feel,

and

American
appreciate

could

expe

life on

board

the stealthy ships that provided the nation's most flexible and survivable
nuclear deterrent after World War II. The cold war has ended. However,
even
patrol

as you
deep

read

this

review,

in the world's

American

fast-attacks

and

boomers

remain

on
EXHIBIT

oceans.

REVIEW

363

This content downloaded from 202.41.10.30 on Tue, 29 Sep 2015 20:50:11 UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions