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Diving planes, also known as hydroplanes, are control surfaces found on a submarine which allow the vessel to pitch its bow and stern up or down to assist in the process of submerging or surfacing the boat, as well as controlling depth when submerged.
For easier berthing close alongside a jetty, submarines have used folding bow planes that retracted alongside the hull. Earlier submarines (to World War II) used vertical-folding planes perpendicular to their surface. US submarines referred to this stowage as 'rigging' the planes, and 'tilting' for their control movement. Later Soviet submarines have tended to fold backwards, into recesses in the casing.
Diving planes located on the sail (conning tower) are called fairwater planes on US Navy submarines. Fairwater planes do not pitch the ship up or down; they cause the boat to rise or sink on a level plane as they are operated.
When operating beneath polar ice, a submarine with planes on the sail must break them through the ice when surfacing. From the they were arranged to be able to be pointed vertically upwards, rather than being rigged or folded in.
Newer boats, starting with the third-flight Los Angeles class subs (or 688is) have eliminated the sail planes, and operate instead with bow planes.
Maintaining depth in a submarine is a sophisticated task. The planesman was provided with a prominent depth gauge to monitor this, usually a circular Bourdon gauge. For precise maintenance at periscope depth an additional shallow-depth manometer, a transparent vertical pipe, would be provided too. With the development of active sonar, depth control became even more complex. Rather than maintaining a simple depth, the planesman must now keep the boat beneath a thermocline in order to hide from sonar. To this end, the helm position may also show external water thermometers and .
Early submarines had separate controls for each pair of planes, bow and stern. Together with the helmsman, this required three naval rating in the already-crowded control room. By the 1960s, combined controls were introduced. These incorporated all planes onto a single aircraft-style control wheel.
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