USS Aspro (SS-309)

USS Aspro (SS-309)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Aspro.

Career
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	27 December 1942
Launched:	7 April 1943
Commissioned:	31 July 1943
Decommissioned:	30 January 1946
Recommissioned:	23 September 1951
Decommissioned:	30 April 1954
Struck:	1 September 1962
Fate:	Sunk as a target off San Diego, California on 16 November 1962
General characteristics
Class & type:	Balao class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced, 2,391 long tons (2,429 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 6 in (94.95 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-1⁄8 9-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed Elliott electric motors with reduction gears 2 × propellers 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.04 MW) submerged
Speed:	20.25 kn (37.50 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged, 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	400 ft (120 m)
Complement:	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft) 24 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Aspro (SS/AGSS-309), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the aspro, a fish found abundantly in the upper Rhône River. According to legend, the aspro comes to the surface only in bad weather, when other fishes take refuge near the bottom. This trait gave rise to its nickname, "Sorcerer."

Aspro was laid down on 27 December 1942 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine; launched on 7 April 1943; sponsored by Mrs. William L. Freseman; and commissioned on 31 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander Harry Clinton Stevenson in command.