The USS Albacore was designed and built for speed, and proved it! Built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, this experimental craft set the submerged speed record as early as 1956, and held that record with improved speeds in the following years. Albacore’s speed records were first surpassed by USS Skipjack (SSN-585) which was built in Groton, Connecticut in 1959. Then in the summer of 1965 Albacore conducted tests for steering, stability control, noise reduction, and speed. During those tests she beat Skipjack’s record and was again the holder of the speed record through 1967.

We don’t know the exact speeds of all those records because at the time they were kept secret. We do know that in 1966 her record was 34.8 knots, or about 40 miles per hour. Crew recollections on speed attribute her success to the silver-zinc batteries installed in 1962. The batteries could have generated even more speed, but they became so hot they started causing electrical problems. Lieutenant Heinz, engineering officer, best described the submarine: “Albacore was like a thoroughbred, the faster it went, the smoother the ride.”

USS Albacore is now the main feature of Albacore Park, in Portsmouth, NH.