The Gato class of submarines was built for the United States Navy and launched in 1941–1943; they were the first mass-production U.S. submarine class of World War II. Together with their near-sisters the Balao and Tench classes, their design formed the majority of the United States Navy's World War II submarine fleet. Named after the lead ship of the class, USS Gato, the Gatos and their successors formed the core of the submarine service that was largely responsible for the destruction of the Japanese merchant marine and a large portion of the Imperial Japanese Navy in World War II. Gato's name comes from a species of small catshark. Like most other U.S. Navy submarines of the period, boats of the Gato class were given the names of marine creatures. In some references, the Gatos are combined with their successors, especially the Balao class.
An attack submarine or hunter-killer submarine is a submarine specifically designed for the purpose of attacking and sinking other submarines, surface combatants and merchant vessels. In the Soviet and Russian navies they were and are called "multi-purpose submarines". They are also used to protect friendly surface combatants and missile submarines. Some attack subs are also armed with cruise missiles mounted in vertical launch tubes, increasing the scope of their potential missions to include land targets.
USS Barracuda (SSK-1/SST-3/SS-550), the lead ship of her class, was a submarine that was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the barracuda, a voracious, pike-like fish. Her keel was laid down on 1 July 1949 by the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics Corporation in Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 2 March 1951 as K-1, sponsored by Mrs. Willis Manning Thomas, and commissioned on 10 November 1951 with Lieutenant Commander F. A. Andrews in command. Notably, future President of the United States Jimmy Carter served as an officer on K-1 as part of its pre-commissioning crew and during its first year of active service until he was reassigned on 16 October 1952.
USS Carbonero (SS/AGSS-337) was a Balao-class submarine, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the carbonero, a salt-water fish found in the West Indies. Her keel was laid down on 16 December 1943 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 19 October 1944 sponsored by Mrs. S.S. Murray, and commissioned on 7 February 1945 with Commander Charlton L. Murphy, Jr. in command.
USS Tang (SS/AGSS-563), the lead ship of her class was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tang.
USS Stickleback (SS-415), a Balao-class submarine, was named for the stickleback, a small scaleless fish.
The Balao-class was a successful design of United States Navy submarine used during World War II, and with 120 units completed, the largest class of submarines in the United States Navy. An improvement on the earlier Gato class, the boats had slight internal differences. The most significant improvement was the use of thicker, higher yield strength steel in the pressure hull skins and frames, which increased their test depth to 400 feet (120 m). Tang actually achieved a depth of 612 ft (187 m) during a test dive, and exceeded that test depth when taking on water in the forward torpedo room while evading a destroyer.
USS Bonita (SSK-3/SS-552), a Barracuda-class submarine, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bonito, a name applied to several types of fish, including the skipjack tuna,, the Atlantic bonito, the lesser amberjack, or the cobia. She was originally named USS K-3 (SSK-3).
Tench-class submarines were a type of submarine built for the United States Navy (USN) between 1944 and 1951. They were an improvement over the Gato and Balao classes, only about 35 to 40 tons larger, but more strongly built and with a slightly improved internal layout. One of the ballast tanks was converted to carry fuel, increasing range from 11,000 nautical miles to 16,000 nautical miles. This improvement was also made on some boats of the previous two classes. Further improvements were made beginning with SS-435, which are sometimes referred to as the Corsair class. Initial plans called for 80 to be built, but 51 were cancelled in 1944 and 1945 when it became apparent that they would not be needed to defeat Japan. The remaining 29 were commissioned between October 1944 (Tench) and February 1951 (Grenadier). The last submarine of the Tench class, as well as the last submarine which served during World War II, in service with the U.S. Navy was USS Tigrone (AGSS-419) which was decommissioned on 27 June 1975.
USS Cavalla (SS/SSK/AGSS-244), a Gato-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for a salt water fish, best known for sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōkaku.
The Barracuda-class submarines were the product of Project Kayo, a research and development effort begun immediately after World War II by the United States Navy to "solve the problem of using submarines to attack and destroy enemy submarines." They originally had the hull classification symbol SSK, for "hunter-killer submarine". It was known that the Soviet Navy had acquired the German Type XXI U-boat and other advanced submarines, and was expected to rapidly put derivatives of them into production. In 1948 the US Navy prepared estimates of the number of anti-submarine warfare (ASW)-capable submarines (SSKs) that would be needed to counter the hundreds of advanced Soviet submarines that were expected to be in service by 1960. Two scenarios were considered: a reasonable scenario assuming the Soviets would build to their existing force level of about 360 submarines, and a "nightmare" scenario projecting that the Soviets could build submarines as fast as the Germans had built U-boats, with a force level of 2,000 submarines. The projected US SSK force levels for these scenarios were 250 for the former and 970 for the latter. By comparison, the total US submarine force at the end of World War II, excluding obsolescent training submarines, was just over 200 boats.
USS Medregal (SS-480/AGSS-480), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the medregal, a streamlined, fast-swimming, bluish-colored fish of the jack family which abounds in waters of the West Indies and in the Atlantic as far north as the Carolinas.
USS Grouper (SS/SSK/AGSS-214), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the grouper.
USS Bream (SS/SSK/AGSS-243), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bream.
USS Croaker (SS/SSK/AGSS/IXSS-246), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the croaker, any of various fishes which make throbbing or drumming noises.
USS Baya (SS/AGSS-318), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the baya.
USS Brill (SS-330), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the brill, a European flat-fish.
USS Lizardfish (SS-373), a Balao-class submarine, was a boat of the United States Navy named for the lizardfish, a slender marine fish having a scaly, lizard-like head and large mouth.
USS Sennet (SS-408) was a Balao-class submarine, a ship of the United States Navy named for the sennet, a barracuda.
USS Piper (SS/AGSS-409), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named after the piper.
