USS Becuna (SS-319)

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Career

Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut ^[1]
Laid down:	29 April 1943 ^[1]
Launched:	30 January 1944 ^[1]
Commissioned:	27 May 1944 ^[1]
Decommissioned:	7 November 1969
Struck:	15 August 1973 ^[1]
Fate:	Museum ship in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania since 21 June 1976 ^[1]
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 tons (1550 t) surfaced 2,424 tons (2460 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 9 in (95.0 m) ^[1]
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.3 m) ^[1]
Draft:	16 ft 10 in (5.1 m) maximum ^[1]
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16 V16 diesel engines, total 5,400 bhp (4.0 MW) 4 × General Electric electric motors, total 2,740 bhp (2.0 MW) two propellers ^[1]
Speed:	20.25 knots (37 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nm (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	400 ft (120 m)
Complement:	6 officers, 60 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft) 24 torpedoes 1 × 5 in (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun four machine guns

Philadelphia Portal

USS Becuna (SS/AGSS-319), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the becuna, a pike-like fish of Europe.

Becuna (SS-319) was launched 30 January 1944 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. George C. Crawford, wife of Commander Crawford, and commissioned 27 May 1944, Lieutenant Commander H. D. Sturr in command.

Becuna departed New London 1 July 1944 and arrived at Pearl Harbor 29 July. Her war operations extended from 23 August 1944 to 27 July 1945. During this period she completed five war patrols in the Philippines, South China Sea, and Java Sea. Becuna is credited with having sunk two Japanese tankers totaling 3888 tons. For detailed accounts, see ^[2] and ^[3].

The submarine arrived at Subic Bay, Luzon, from her last war patrol 27 July 1945. In September 1945 she arrived at San Diego, California. Becuna continued to operate with Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet, until April 1949 when she was ordered to Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet, as a unit of Submarine Squadron 8.

Between May 1949 and May 1950 she conducted refresher training exercises and also assisted in training of student officers and men at New London, Conn. In November 1950 she returned to Electric Boat Co., for a complete modernization overhaul, being refitted as a GUPPY-type submarine. Overhaul completed in August 1951, Becuna sailed to the Caribbean for shakedown. She returned to New London in September 1951.

Becuna operated with the Atlantic Fleet, making two cruises with the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean and one to Scotland. Other than these extended cruises, the majority of Becuna's service was at New London as a training submarine.

Becuna was reclassified an Auxiliary Submarine, AGSS-319, in 1969. She was decommissioned, 7 November 1969, and laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. She reverted to SS-319 in 1971. She was struck from the Naval Register, 15 August 1973. Becuna was placed on permanent display at the Independence Seaport Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 21 June 1976, where she has been designated a National Historic Landmark.^[4]