“Forerunner of the Future”: The History of the USS Albacore

The third Navy vessel to bear the name, the Auxiliary General Submarine (AGSS) Albacore holds a place in history as the first Navy-designed vessel with a true underwater hull of cylindrical shape that has become the standard for today's submarines worldwide.

Designed, built, and maintained by the skilled engineers and craftsmen of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Albacore served as a sea-going test platform from 1953 to 1972. Albacore's teardrop-shaped hull was the prototype for the Navy's nuclear powered submarine force and was the first boat built specifically to operate underwater. Prior to Albacore, submarines had been characterized as surface vessels that could submerge. With her revolutionary hull design and state-of-the-art systems, Albacore provided the Navy with an engineering platform to evaluate systems and design features before including them in future classes of submarines. Her motto was Praenuntius Futuri (Forerunner of the Future) and her mission was experimental.

Commissioned in December of 1953, Albacore was only 2/3rds the length of a World War II Fleet Boat and, when outfitted with her special high capacity silver-zinc battery, could outrun a contemporary nuclear submarine. In 1966, she set the record as the world's fastest submarine having attained an underwater speed of nearly 40 miles per hour.

Used for testing control and propulsion systems, sonar equipment, dive brakes, escape mechanisms, and various innovative theories and equipment, Albacore was truly a unique Navy floating laboratory.

In September of 1972, Albacore was decommissioned and placed in reserve at the Inactive Ship Facility in Philadelphia. Ten years later, Portsmouth City Councilman Bill Keefe began an effort to return Albacore to her place of birth as a permanent display. It took two years, lots of paperwork, and committee meetings before Albacore was towed from Philadelphia to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. In May of 1985, Albacore was maneuvered through a dismantled railroad bridge and a cutout section of four lane highway toward her final resting place. It took nearly six months and a system of locks before she finally was settled on a concrete cradle at Albacore Park.

Learn More:

Click here for the story of how Albacore was built and modified through various experimental stages.

Click here to learn how Albacore was rescued from the scrap yard and transported to Portsmouth.

Click here to read Albacore Captain James Ferrero’s writings on the Albacore.

Click here to read shipmate Dan Gasmire’s recollections of his time on the Albacore

Click here to purchase the Friends of Albacore’s Oral History book, featuring interviews with sailors who served on her from the earliest days to her retirement, as well as several Portsmouth Naval Shipyard personnel closely associated with the vessel's design and development.

Click here to read the PDF file of the Oral history book.