Editing Balao-class submarine (section)

===Radar picket===

The advent of the ''[[kamikaze]]'' demonstrated the need for a long range radar umbrella around the fleet. [[Radar picket]] destroyers and destroyer escorts were put into service, but they proved vulnerable in this role as they could be attacked as well, leaving the fleet blind. A submarine, though, could dive and escape aerial attack. Four submarines including the ''Balao''-class boat ''Threadfin'' prototyped the concept at the end of World War II but were not used in this role.<ref>Friedman since 1945, p. 253</ref> Ten fleet submarines were converted for this role 1946-53 and redesignated SSR as radar picket submarines. {{USS|Burrfish|SS-312|2}} was the only ''Balao''-class SSR. Experiments on the first two SSR submarines under the appropriately named [[Radar picket#Converted and purpose-built submarines|Project Migraine I]] showed that placement of the radars on the deck was inadequate and that more room was needed for electronics. Thus ''Burrfish'' was given the Migraine II (project [[Ship Characteristics Board|SCB 12]]) conversion, which placed a [[Combat Information Center]] (CIC) in the space formerly occupied as the aft battery room. The after torpedo room was stripped and converted into berthing, and the boat lost two of her forward torpedo tubes to make room for additional berthing and electronics. The radars were raised up off the deck and put on masts, giving them a greater range and hopefully greater reliability.<ref name="Friedman since 1945, pp. 35-43"/>

The SSRs proved only moderately successful, as the radars themselves proved troublesome and somewhat unreliable, and the boats' surface speed was insufficient to protect a fast-moving carrier group. The radars were removed and the boats reverted to general purpose submarines after 1959. ''Burrfish'' was decommissioned in 1956 and, with her radar equipment removed, transferred to Canada as HMCS ''Grilse'' (SS-71) in 1961.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_14/coldwar.html |title=Whitman, Edward C. "Cold War Curiosities: U.S. Radar Picket Submarines", ''Undersea Warfare'', Winter-Spring 2002, Issue 14 |access-date=24 November 2014 |archive-date=10 October 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121010150930/http://www.navy.mil/navydata/cno/n87/usw/issue_14/coldwar.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>