USS Albacore

The USS Albacore is a decommissioned research submarine displayed in a purpose-built park near the Portsmouth waterfront. Visitors can board and walk through the vessel, which gives a visceral sense of the claustrophobic conditions aboard a working submarine. The hull has been cut open in sections to show the interior machinery and crew quarters, and the exhibits explain the vessel's role in shaping modern submarine design.

The park includes a small museum with models, photographs, and historical documents about the ship and about submarine development generally. The Albacore is maintained by the Portsmouth Submarine Memorial Association and draws a particular audience interested in naval technology and the Cold War. The exterior of the hull is impressive even from the outside — the teardrop form is strikingly different from the boxy, conventionally-shaped submarines of earlier eras.

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A story
When the Albacore was launched in 1953 it was the fastest submarine in the world, using a radical teardrop hull form that departed entirely from conventional submarine design. The hull shape it pioneered became the template for all subsequent American nuclear submarines. The Albacore itself was never armed — it was a pure research vessel, testing concepts that would eventually determine the form of every submarine that followed.