USS Balao (SS-285)
Balao off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA, 25 October 1944. |
|
| Career | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine |
| Laid down: | 26 June 1942 |
| Launched: | 27 October 1942 |
| Commissioned: | 4 February 1943 |
| Decommissioned: | 20 August 1946 |
| Recommissioned: | 4 March 1952 |
| Decommissioned: | 11 July 1963 |
| Struck: | 1 August 1963 |
| Fate: | Sunk as a target off Florida on 6 September 1963; conning tower is a memorial at the Navy Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Balao class diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced, 2,414 long tons (2,453 t) submerged |
| Length: | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m) |
| Beam: | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum |
| Propulsion: |
4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators |
| Speed: | 20.25 kn (23.3 mph; 37.5 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 kn (10.1 mph; 16.2 km/h) submerged |
| Range: | 11,000 nmi (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) |
| Endurance: | 48 hours @ 2 kn (2.3 mph; 3.7 km/h) submerged; 75 days on patrol |
| Test depth: | 400 ft (120 m) |
| Complement: | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted |
| Armament: | 10x21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft; 24 torpedoes) one 4 in (102 mm)/50 caliber deck gun one 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors antiaircraft cannon two .5 in (12.7 mm) machineguns |
USS Balao (SS/AGSS-285), was the lead ship of the United States Navy's Balao-class submarines during World War II and named for the balao.
Balao's keel was laid down on 26 June 1942 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 27 October 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Theodore C. Aylward, wife of Lieutenant Commander Aylward, commissioned on 4 February 1943, Lieutenant Commander Richard H. Crane in command; and reported to the United States Pacific Fleet.
Read more about USS Balao (SS-285): World War II, 1952–1963, Awards