Reassigned to SubDiv 13 at San Diego, California, 1935–1938, then re-homeported at Pearl Harbor, she maintained a regular schedule of training activities and fleet exercises and problems throughout the decade. She proceeded to Pearl Harbor where she became flagship of Submarine Division 12 (SubDiv 12). She was renamed Nautilus on 19 February and given hull number SS-168 on 1 July. V-6 operated out of New London, conducting special submergence tests, until March 1931. The inner and outer hulls were still entirely riveted. Welding was used to join the vertical keel plates, and also in other non-critical areas like the superstructure, piping brackets, and support framing. Similar to her sister built at Portsmouth, V-6 was built to a partial welded/partial riveted construction method. The auxiliary engines were for charging batteries or for increased surface speed via a diesel-electric system providing power to the main electric motors. The as-built engine specifications were two BuEng-built, MAN-designed direct-drive 10- cylinder 4-cycle main diesel engines, 2,350 hp (1,750 kW) each, with two BuEng MAN 4-cycle 6-cylinder auxiliary diesel engines, 450 hp (340 kW) each, driving 300 kW (400 hp) electrical generators. The engineering plant was replaced in 1941-42. ![]() Unfortunately, the specially-built engines failed to produce their design power, and some developed dangerous crankcase explosions. V-6 and her near-sisters V-4 ( Argonaut) and V-5 ( Narwhal) were initially designed with larger and more powerful MAN-designed diesel engines than the Busch-Sulzer engines that propelled earlier V-boats, which were failures. A raised gun platform was provided around the conning tower, and deck stowage for spare torpedoes was included under the platform and in the superstructure. The design was possibly influenced by the German "U-cruisers" of the Type U-139 and Type U-151 U-boat classes, although V-4, V-5, and V-6 were all larger than these. This factor, and the implications of the 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, suggested the need for long-range submarine "cruisers", or "strategic scouts", as well as long-range minelayers, for which long endurance, not high speed, was most important. The configuration of V-4, V-5, and V-6 resulted from an evolving strategic concept that increasingly emphasized the possibility of a naval war with Japan in the far western Pacific. She was launched on 15 March 1930 sponsored by Miss Joan Keesling, and commissioned on 1 July 1930 with Lieutenant Commander Thomas J. Her keel was laid on by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard of Vallejo, California. Nautilus was originally named and designated V-6 (SF-9), but was redesignated and given hull classification symbol SC-2 on 11 February 1925.
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