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USS Lionfish (SS-298)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Image:USS Lionfish (SS-298).jpg | |
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine [1] |
| Laid down: | 15 December 1942 [1] |
| Launched: | 7 November 1943 [1] |
| Commissioned: | 1 November 1944 [1] |
| Decommissioned: | 16 January 1946 [1] |
| Recommissioned: | 31 January 1951 [1] |
| Decommissioned: | 15 December 1953 [1] |
| Struck: | 20 December 1971 [1] |
| Fate: | Museum ship at Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts since 30 August 1972 [2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Balao-class diesel-electric submarine [2] |
| Displacement: | 1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced [2] 2,424 tons (2,460 t) submerged [2] |
| Length: | 311 ft 6 in (95.0 m) [2] |
| Beam: | 27 ft 3 in (8.3 m) [2] |
| Draft: | 16 ft 10 in (5.1 m) maximum [2] |
| Propulsion: | 4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 9-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators[2][4] 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries[3] |
| Speed: | 20.25 knots (37 km/h) surfaced [3] 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged [3] |
| Range: | 11,000 nm (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h) [3] |
| Endurance: | 48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged [3] 75 days on patrol |
| Test depth: | 400 ft (120 m) [3] |
| Complement: | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted [3] |
| Armament: | 10 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft) 24 torpedoes [3] 1 × 5 in (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun [3] four machine guns |
USS Lionfish (SS-298), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the lionfish, a scorpaenoid fish found in the West Indies and the tropical Pacific.
Lionfish was laid down on 15 December 1942; launched on 7 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Harold C. Train; and commissioned on 1 November 1944. Her first captain was Lieutenant Commander Edward D. Spruance, son of the famous World War II admiral, Raymond Spruance.
After completing her shakedown cruise off New England, she began her first war patrol in Japanese waters on 1 April 1945. Ten days later, she dodged two torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine and on 1 May destroyed a Japanese schooner with her deck guns. After a rendezvous with the submarine Ray, she transported B-29 survivors to Saipan and then made her way to Midway Island for replenishment.
On 2 June she started her second war patrol, and on 10 July fired torpedoes at a surfaced Japanese submarine, after which Lionfish's crew heard explosions and observed smoke through their periscope. She subsequently fired on two more Japanese submarines and ended her second and last war patrol performing lifeguard duty (the rescue of downed fliers) off the coast of Japan. When hostilities ended on 15 August she headed for San Francisco and was decommissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on 16 January 1946.
Lionfish was recommissioned on 31 January 1951, and headed for the East Coast for training cruises. After participating in NATO exercises and a Mediterranean cruise, she returned to the East Coast and was decommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 15 December 1953.
In 1960, the venerable submarine was called to duty again, this time serving as a reserve training submarine at Providence, Rhode Island. In 1971, she was stricken from the Navy Register, and in 1973, she was unveiled for permanent display as a memorial at Battleship Cove, where she has evolved into one of the museum’s most popular exhibits and a revered monument to all submariners.
- USS Lionfish (SS-298) is at coordinates Coordinates:
- ^ a b c d e f g h Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, pp. 285-304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, pp. 275-280. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
- ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
- http://www.battleshipcove.com/ss298-history.htm
- USS Lionfish Photos on board the Submarine USS Lionfish SS-298 in Fall River, MA
- Lionfish on Deep Domain The (Unofficial) Lionfish Homepage
- HNSA Web Page: USS Lionfish