USS Dogfish (SS-350)

Career (United States)
Name: USS Dogfish (SS-350)
Builder: Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down: 22 June 1944[1]
Launched: 27 October 1945[1]
Commissioned: 29 April 1946[1]
Struck: 28 July 1972[1]
Fate: Sold to Brazil, 28 July 1972[1]
Career (Brazil)
Name: Guanabara (S-10)
Acquired: 28 July 1972
Fate: Scrapped, 1983
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 9 in (95.02 m) [2]
Beam:27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) [2]
Draft:16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[2]
Propulsion:4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators[2][3]

2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries [4]
4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears [2]
two propellers [2]
5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced[2]

2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged[2]
Speed:20.25 knots (37 km/h) surfaced[4]
8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged[4]
Range:11,000 nm (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[4]
Endurance:48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged[4]
75 days on patrol
Test depth:400 ft (120 m)[4]
Complement:10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[4]
Armament:10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
 (six forward, four aft)
 24 torpedoes[4]
1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun[4]
Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
General characteristics (Guppy II)
Class and type:Balao-class submarine Imported from Wikidata (?)
Displacement:1,870 tons (1,900 t) surfaced[5]
2,440 tons (2,480 t) submerged[5]
Length:307 ft (94 m) [6]
Beam:27 ft 4 in (8.33 m) [6]
Draft:17 ft (5.2 m) [6]
Propulsion:Snorkel added[5]

Batteries upgraded to GUPPY type, capacity expanded to 504 cells (1 × 184 cell, 1 × 68 cell, and 2 × 126 cell batteries)[5]

4 × high-speed electric motors replaced with 2 × low-speed direct drive electric motors[5]
Speed:Surfaced:
  • 18.0 knots (33.3 km/h) maximum
  • 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h) cruising

Submerged:

  • 16.0 knots (29.6 km/h) for ½ hour
  • 9.0 knots (16.7 km/h) snorkeling
  • 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h) cruising[5]
Range:15,000 nm (28,000 km) surfaced at 11 knots (20 km/h)[6]
Endurance:48 hours at 4 knots (7.4 km/h) submerged[6]
Complement:9–10 officers
5 petty officers
70 enlisted men[6]
Sensors and
processing systems:
WFA active sonar
JT passive sonar
Mk 106 torpedo fire control system[6]
Armament:10 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes

 (six forward, four aft)[6]

all guns removed[5]

USS Dogfish (SS-350), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the dogfish.

Her keel was laid down on 22 June 1944 by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 27 October 1945 sponsored by Mrs. A. M. Morgan, and commissioned on 29 April 1946 with Commander T. S. Baskett in command.

Dogfish sailed out of New London, Connecticut, on local duties and cruised to the Caribbean Sea and Bermuda to conduct training. She was overhauled and extensively modernized at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard from August 1947 to April 1948, and then served in experimental projects as well as normal operations at New London. From 31 October to 19 November 1948 she took part in large-scale fleet exercises ranging from the waters off Florida to Davis Strait between Labrador and Greenland.

She cruised to Scotland, England, and France between 4 February and 3 April 1949 and joined in a convoy exercise off Cape Hatteras in February and March 1952, and operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean Sea during the next three years.

Dogfish sailed from New London on 1 March 1955 for her first tour with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, returning to her home port 6 June. She called at Halifax, Nova Scotia, from 4 June to 14 June 1956 during NATO Operation New Broom. On 8 November, she stood by and fought the fires on the trawler Agda during local operations out of New London. She cruised to Faslane Bay in Scotland between 31 January and 12 April 1958 to evaluate new equipment, and from 23 May to 8 August 1959 served in the Mediterranean Sea. In October and November, she took part in NATO antisubmarine warfare exercises. After extensive overhaul, she resumed local operations from New London through 1960.

Transfer to Brazil

Dogfish was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register and sold to Brazil on 28 July 1972. She served the Brazilian Navy as Guanabara (S-10) until being deleted in 1983.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 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. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9 2.10 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
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 Friedman, Norman (1994). U.S. Submarines Since 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 11–43. ISBN 1-55750-260-9.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 U.S. Submarines Since 1945 pp. 242