Hi everybody! I am standing in front of a REAL submarine!!! Can you see me? If you look closely, you can see me standing near the middle of the boat. Look at how small I am compared to this big submarine! (Ok well, it’s not so big, compared to other submarines, but it’s still bigger than I am.) This is the SS X-1 and it was an experimental submarine. It was built for the Navy, by the Fairfield Engine and Airplane Corporation, in 1955. It is about 50 feet long and its beam is 7 feet. It was used to go into shallow waters and harbors, where other big submarines couldn’t go. (The X-1 is sort of like me….I can go places that my non-flattened friends can’t go.) =)
The X-1 is so neat! Unlike the other submarines at the time, it had a closed-loop hydrogen peroxide system that made it so the diesel engine could be used without an outside air source. OK, to be honest, I don’t completely understand why that is so cool, but my friends here told me that is was, and I believe them. They said that I will understand it better when I’m older…how come all of the good stuff happens when you’re older? Oh well, I can wait. Anyway, it doesn’t have the hydrogen peroxide system anymore because I guess there was an accident and when they fixed the boat they changed the system.
Well, I think that’s all for the X-1. There are still other things to see outside, so I’m going to go look at them. Talk to you later, alligator.
Stanley
