L’idrovolante quadrigetto posamine Martin P6M Seamaster e la Seaplane Striking Force (SSF)

Abstract

The High Speed Minelayer (HSML) was a U. S. Navy program for a high-performance, high-speed jet-powered flying boat, intended primarily for mine-laying and long-range reconnaissance missions, with a secondary nuclear strike capability. Unlike pre-war seaplanes, the HSML was competitive with contemporary jet-powered land bombers and also contributed to exacerbating the rivalry between the U. S. Navy and the U. S. Air Force, which was intent not only on defending its initial monopoly on nuclear weapon carriers, but also on depriving the navy and marines of their respective air components. The four-engine jet seaplane was built by the Glenn L. Martin Company and in 1955 the sleek and elegant Martin XP6M-1 Sea-master made its first flight. The Seamaster benefited from the improvement in the hydro- and aerodynamic characteristics of seaplanes brought about by seaplane performance studies conducted in Britain and Germany in the 1930s and early 1940s and continued in the USA in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Although the first two prototypes crashed, the Seamaster programme continued and by 1959, 16 Seamaster had been built before the programme was cancelled due to financial constraints. The Seamaster was supposed to be the mainstay of the Seaplane Strike Force, a concept which envisaged advanced mobile sea bases consisting of seaplane tenders and submarines to maintain, rearm and resupply seaplanes at sea in secluded and uninhabited stretches of water near the enemy coast.