What
do teeth-whitening treatments and an old diesel submarine have in common? How
about wound disinfection and extended underwater operations? The answer is
available at the Submarine Force Library & Museum in Groton, Connecticut.
Located on the Thames
River, this U.S. Navy
facility bills itself as "the world's finest collection" of
submarine-related materials. But you don't have to comb through old manuals for
the answer to this submariner's riddle. Just step outside and take a look at
the placard next to the Navy's first midget submarine.
What's in the Bottle?
Hydrogen
peroxide, a powerful bleaching agent and antiseptic, has a great many uses. That
brown bottle in your upstairs bathroom contains the same substance that is used
as a rocket propellant. Before the U.S. Navy launched its first nuclear-powered
submarine in 1955, hydrogen peroxide was used in the propulsion system of a
non-commissioned experimental submersible. As a placard next to the USS X-1
(SSX-1, SS X-1) explains, "a unique engineering feature was a closed-loop
hydrogen peroxide system that allowed the use of the diesel engine under the
water independent from an external air source".
Oxygen and Energy
More
specifically, this special hydrogen peroxide system generated the oxygen that
the submarine's diesel engine needed while the ship was submerged. As with
other internal combustion engines, diesel engines release energy in a series of
explosions as diesel fuel reacts chemically with oxygen in air. (Older diesel
engines were louder and dirtier than their modern-day successors, of course,
but the basic principle of operation was the same.) When hydrogen peroxide
decomposes exothermically, the result is water and oxygen gas. By using the
oxygen that its closed-loop system provided, the USS X-1 could operate
underwater for longer periods of time than conventional diesel-electric
submarines and at greater speeds.
Tragedy Averted
Unfortunately,
periodic problems with the submarine's propulsion system culminated in the
explosion of a hydrogen peroxide storage cell in May 1957. The bow section of
the ship was damaged, but no injuries occurred. Later, the U.S. Navy converted the
USS X-1 to a diesel-electric drive and relegated it to conducting oceanographic
research for the U.S. Naval Laboratory. Plans for a hydrogen-peroxide propelled
submarine that could spend extended periods of time at sea went down the drain
like so much mouthwash.
Additional
Readings:
http://www.using-hydrogen-peroxide.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org
/wiki/Hydrogen_peroxide
http://www.williammaloney.com/Aviation/SubmarineUSSNautilus/SSX1/index.htm
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