USS Cachalot (SS-170)
| Career (United States) | |
|---|---|
| Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine |
| Laid down: | 21 October 1931 |
| Launched: | 19 October 1933 |
| Commissioned: | 1 December 1933 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 October 1945 |
| Struck: | 1 November 1945, reinstated 28 November 1945, stricken again 8 July 1946 |
| Fate: | Sold for breaking up, 26 January 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | V-8 (Cachalot)-class direct-drive diesel and electric submarine |
| Displacement: | 1,110 tons (1,130 t) surfaced, standard, 1,650 tons (1,680 t) submerged |
| Length: | 271 ft 11 in (82.88 m) |
| Beam: | 24 ft 11 in (7.59 m) |
| Draft: | 16 ft 3 in (4.95 m) maximum |
| Propulsion: |
|
| Speed: | 17 kn (31 km/h) surfaced, 8 kn (15 km/h) submerged, 7 knots (13 km/h) submerged, service, 1939 |
| Range: | 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h), 14,000 nmi (26,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h) with fuel in main ballast tanks, 83,290 US gallons (315,300 L) oil fuel |
| Endurance: | 10 hours at 5 kn (9.3 km/h) |
| Test depth: | 250 ft (80 m) |
| Complement: | 6 officers, 39 men (peacetime); 7 officers, 48 men (war) |
| Armament: | 6 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, two aft, 16 torpedoes), 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal deck gun |
USS Cachalot (SC-4/SS-170), the lead ship of her class and one of the "V-boats", was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sperm whale. Her keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 19 October 1933 as V-8 (SC-4) sponsored by Miss K. D. Kempff, and commissioned on 1 December 1933 with Lieutenant Commander Merril Comstock in command. Cachalot was the first submarine to have the Torpedo Data Computer, Arma Corporation's Mark 1, installed that determined the gyroscope settings for torpedoes.