USS Lionfish (SS-298)

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USS Lionfish (SS-298)
USS Lionfish
USS Lionfish
Career
Builder: Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania / Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth New Hampshire (Now Kittery, Maine)1
Laid down: 15 December 19421
Launched: 7 November 19431
Sponsored by: Mrs. Harold C. Train
Commissioned: 1 November 19441
Decommissioned: 16 January 19461
Recommissioned: 31 January 19511
Decommissioned: 15 December 19531
Struck: 20 December 19711
Status: Museum ship at Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts since 30 August 19722
General characteristics
Class & type: Balao-class submarine2
Displacement: 1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced2
2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged2
Length: 311 ft 6 in (94.95 m) 2
Beam: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) 2
Draft: 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum2
Propulsion: 4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 9-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators23
2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries4
4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears2
two propellers2
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced2
2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged2
Speed: 20.25 knots (37.50 km/h; 23.30 mph) surfaced4
8.75 knots (16.20 km/h; 10.07 mph) submerged4
Range: 11,000 nmi (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)4
Endurance: 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged4
75 days on patrol
Test depth: 400 ft (120 m)4
Complement: 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted4
Armament: 10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
 (six forward, four aft)
 24 torpedoes4
1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun4
Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
USS Lionfish (SS-298)
USS Lionfish (SS-298) is located in Massachusetts
Location: Fall River, Massachusetts
Coordinates: 41°42′22″N 71°09′47″W / 41.70611°N 71.16306°W / 41.70611; -71.16306Coordinates: 41°42′22″N 71°09′47″W / 41.70611°N 71.16306°W / 41.70611; -71.16306
Built: 1943
Architectural style: Other
Governing body: Local
NRHP Reference#: 760022705
Added to NRHP: 30 September 1976

USS Lionfish (SS-298), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the lionfish, a scorpaenid fish native to the Pacific and an invasive species found around the Caribbean.

Contents

History

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 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 avoided two torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine. On 1 May Lionfish destroyed a Japanese schooner with her deck guns. After a rendezvous with the submarine USS 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 (the Submarine I-162 was undamaged). She subsequently fired on two more Japanese submarines. Lionfish ended her second and last war patrol performing lifeguard duty (the rescue of downed fliers) off the coast of Japan. When World War II 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 submarine was recommissioned a second time, this time serving as a reserve training submarine at Providence, Rhode Island.

Museum ship

In 1971, she was stricken from the Navy Register. In 1973, she began permanent display as a memorial at Battleship Cove, where she is one of the museum's most popular exhibits.

In popular culture

The submarine is featured on the DVD case of the 2007 Ubisoft game Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific.

See also

Media related to USS Lionfish (SS-298) at Wikimedia Commons

References

  1. ^ 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. 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. 
  3. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  5. ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. 2008-04-15. 

External links