USS Cisco

History
United States
Name	Cisco
Builder	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine [1]
Laid down	29 October 1942 [1]
Launched	24 December 1942 [1]
Commissioned	10 May 1943 [1]
Fate	Sunk by Japanese aircraft west of Mindanao, 28 September 1943 [2]
General characteristics
Class and type	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine [2]
Displacement	1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced [2] 2,414 long tons (2,453 t) submerged [2]
Length	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m) [2]
Beam	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) [2]
Draft	16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum [2]
Propulsion	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators [3] [4] 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries [5] 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears [3] two propellers [3] 5,400  shp (4.0  MW) surfaced [3] 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged [3]
Speed	20.25 knots (37.50 km/h; 23.30 mph) surfaced 8.75 knots (16.21 km/h; 10.07 mph) submerged [6]
Range	11,000  nmi (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) [6]
Endurance	48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h; 2.3 mph) submerged [6] 75 days on patrol
Test depth	400 feet (120 m) [6]
Complement	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted [6]
Armament	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 4-inch (102 mm) / 50  caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Cisco (SS-290), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the cisco, a whitefish of the Great Lakes.

Construction and commissioning

Cisco's keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 24 December 1942, sponsored by Mrs. A. C. Bennett, through her proxy, Mrs. N. Robertson, and commissioned on 10 May 1943 with Commander James W. Coe in command. ^[7]

Service history

Cisco reported to the United States Pacific Fleet. She sailed from Panama on 7 August 1943 for Brisbane, Australia, arriving 1 September to assume local patrol duties, until 18 September, when she docked at Darwin, Australia. She put out on her first war patrol 20 September 1943, but never returned. Japanese records tell of sighting a submarine leaking oil on 28 September in an area where Cisco is known to have been the only submarine then operating. Japanese records state this submarine was sunk by bombs and depth charges. Japanese records state that the submarine was attacked by Nakajima B5N (Allied reporting name "Kate") attack bombers of the 954 Naval Air Squadron and the gunboat Karatsu (originally the U.S. Navy gunboat USS Luzon, captured by Japanese forces and put to work against her former owners). ^[8] Cisco is thus presumed to have been lost in action 28 September 1943. The only survivor from the crew was taken sick in Darwin and sent ashore to the Navy hospital prior to Cisco's final voyage.

References

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 270–280. ISBN   978-0-313-26202-9. OCLC   24010356.
4. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
5. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
6. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311.
7. "SS-290, U.S.S. Cisco". Archived from the original on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 1 September 2007.
8. 米潜水艦「シスコ」(USS Cisco SS-290，艦長J・W・コー少佐)、フィリピン沖で海軍第954航空隊(九七艦攻)、河用砲艦「唐津」の攻撃を受け沈没

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

External links

• Photo gallery of Cisco at NavSource Naval History
• On Eternal Patrol: USS Cisco
• Obituary of Howell Barbee Rice (1917–2011), sole survivor of the USS Cisco

9°47′N121°44′E / 9.783°N 121.733°E / 9.783; 121.733