USS Dragonet

History
United States
Name	Dragonet
Builder	Cramp Shipbuilding Co., Philadelphia
Yard number	548
Laid down	28 April 1942
Launched	18 April 1943
Commissioned	6 March 1944
Decommissioned	16 April 1946
Stricken	1 June 1961
Fate	Scuttled in Chesapeake Bay after tests, 17 September 1961
General characteristics
Class and type	Balao class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement	1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced; 2,424 tons (2,463 t) submerged;
Length	311 ft 8 in (95.00 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 knots (38 km/h) surfaced; 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged;
Range	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance	48 hours at 2 knots (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; 6 forward, 4 aft; 24 torpedoes; 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun ; Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon;

Last updated May 02, 2023

USS Dragonet (SS-293), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the dragonet.

History

Dragonet (SS-293) was launched 18 April 1943 by Cramp Shipbuilding Co., Philadelphia; sponsored by Mrs. J. E. Gingrich; and commissioned 6 March 1944.

Dragonet was depth charged during a series of controlled tests in April, May and June 1944 off Portsmouth, New Hampshire.^[7]

Dragonet reached Pearl Harbor from New London 9 October 1944, and put out on her first war patrol 1 November, bound for the Kurile Islands and the Sea of Okhotsk. On the morning of 15 December 1944, while submerged south of Matsuwa, Dragonet struck an uncharted submerged pinnacle, which holed her pressure hull in the forward torpedo room. The space was completely flooded, and in order to surface the submarine, it was necessary to blow water out of the compartment with compressed air. At 0845 she surfaced, just 4 miles (6.4 km) from the airfield on Matsuwa, and set course to clear the danger area as quickly as possible. Her bow planes were rigged out, and in order to rerig them, it would be necessary to enter the flooded compartment. Next day this was accomplished by putting pressure in the forward battery compartment, and opening the water-tight door into the forward torpedo room. The determination and skill of her crew were further tried when she had to run through two days of storm to reach Midway 20 December for emergency repairs.

After overhaul at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA., Dragonet returned to Pearl Harbor 2 April 1945, and sailed on her next patrol 19 April. She called at Guam to refuel from 1 to 3 May, then proceeded to lifeguard duty south of the Japanese home islands. She rescued four downed Army aviators during this patrol, and returned to refit at Guam between 10 June and 8 July.

Dragonet's third war patrol, between 8 July 1945 and 17 August, was a combination of lifeguard duty and offensive against Japanese shipping in Bungo Suido. At this late stage in the war, the remnants of the Japanese merchant marine provided few targets, and none was contacted by Dragonet. She rescued a downed naval aviator near Okino Shima. Putting into Saipan at the close of the war, she sailed on to Pearl Harbor and San Francisco.

Post World War II

Dragonet was decommissioned and placed in reserve at Mare Island 16 April 1946, and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Pearl Harbor. Early in 1961, she was towed from Pearl Harbor to Norfolk, Virginia by the fleet tug USS Takelma (ATF-113) prior to her disposal. She was struck from the Naval Register 1 June 1961, and sunk by explosive test in Chesapeake Bay.

Awards

Dragonet's second and third war patrols were designated as "successful". She received two battle stars for World War II service.

Related Research Articles

USS Gato (SS-212) was the lead ship of her class of submarine in the United States Navy. She was the first Navy ship named for the common name used for a number of species of catshark. She was commissioned only days after the declaration of war and made thirteen combat patrols during World War II. She survived the war and spent the post-war period as a training ship before being sold for scrapping in 1960.

USS <i>Stickleback</i> Submarine of the United States

USS Stickleback (SS-415), a Balao-class submarine, was named for the stickleback, a small scaleless fish.

USS Tilefish (SS-307), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tilefish, a large, yellow-spotted deepwater food fish.

USS <i>Gar</i> (SS-206) Submarine of the United States

USS Gar (SS-206) was the first of the Gar subclass of the Tambor-class submarines to be commissioned for the United States Navy just prior to the country's 7 December 1941 entry into World War II. These submarines were a slightly improved version of preceding submarines of the Tambor class. While Gar survived the war, all of her sister ships — USS Grampus (SS-207), 'USS Grayback (SS-208), USS Grayling (SS-209), USS Grenadier (SS-210), and USS Gudgeon (SS-211) — were lost. She is the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the gar, a fish of the family Lepisosteidae.

USS Sand Lance (SS-381), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the sand lance, a member of the family Ammodytidae.

USS Pipefish (SS-388/AGSS-388), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pipefish.

USS Scabbardfish (SS-397), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the scabbarddfish, a long, compressed, silver-colored fish found on European coasts and around New Zealand. In 1965 she was transferred to the Hellenic Navy and renamed Triaina.

USS Toro (SS-422), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the toro, a name applied to various fish including the cowfish, the catalufa, and the cavallo.

USS Kingfish (SS-234), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the kingfish.

USS Shad (SS-235), a Gato-class submarine, was the first submarine and second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the shad, a fish of the herring family, common along coasts of the United States.

USS Muskallunge (SS-262), a Gato-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the muskallunge.

USS Pogy (SS-266), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pogy, or menhaden. She was credited with sinking 16 ships totaling 62,633 gross register tons during World War II.

USS Steelhead (SS-280), a Gato-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the steelhead, a North American trout found from California to Alaska.

USS Devilfish (SS/AGSS-292), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the devil fish.

USS Hackleback (SS-295), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named after the hackleback, a freshwater fish of the sturgeon family.

USS Seahorse (SS-304), a Balao-class submarine, was the first submarine and second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seahorse, a small fish whose head and the fore part of its body suggest the head and neck of a horse.

USS Pilotfish (SS-386), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named after the pilot fish, a carangoid fish, often seen in warm latitudes in company with sharks.

USS Segundo (SS-398) was a Balao-class submarine, of the United States Navy named for the segundo, a cavalla fish of Caribbean waters.

USS Spikefish (SS/AGSS-404), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy, named for the spikefish. She was the first United States submarine to record 10,000 dives.

USS Springer (SS-414) was a Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy, named after the springer, a Grampus.

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 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.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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.
1 2 3 4 5 Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 271–280. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.
↑ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
1 2 3 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
1 2 3 4 5 6 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
↑ "HyperWar: War Damage Report 58: Submarine Report [Section 18]".

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships .The entries can be found here and here.

External links

Photo gallery of Dragonet at NavSource Naval History

Coordinates: 47°57′N153°08′E / 47.950°N 153.133°E / 47.950; 153.133

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[FriedmanSubs1-dates-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 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.

[Register-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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.

[Register_271–280-3] 1 2 3 4 5 Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 271–280. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.

[FriedmanSubs1-engines_261–263-4] U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263

[FriedmanSubs1-specs_305–311-5] 1 2 3 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311

[FriedmanSubs1-specs-6] 1 2 3 4 5 6 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311

[7] "HyperWar: War Damage Report 58: Submarine Report [Section 18]".

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]