USS Corporal

Last updated
USS Corporal;0834606.jpg
USS Corporal underway in 1969 (the three distinctive shark-fin domes are the PUFFS sonar).
History
Flag of the United States.svgUnited States
NameUSS Corporal
Builder Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut [1]
Laid down27 April 1944 [1]
Launched10 June 1945 [1]
Commissioned9 November 1945 [1]
Decommissioned28 November 1973 [1]
Stricken28 November 1973 [2]
IdentificationSS-346
FateTransferred to Turkey, 21 November 1973 [1]
Flag of Turkey.svgTurkey
NameTCG 2. İnönü
Acquired21 November 1973
Commissioned12 February 1974
Stricken2 September 1996
IdentificationS 333
FateScrapped
General characteristics
Class and type Balao-class diesel-electric submarine [2]
Displacement
  • 1,526  tons (1,550  t) surfaced [2]
  • 2,424 tons (2,463 t) submerged [2]
Length311 ft 9 in (95.02 m) [2]
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) [2]
Draft16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum [2]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 20.25 knots (38 km/h) surfaced [3]
  • 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged [3]
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h) [3]
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged [3]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth400 ft (120 m) [3]
Complement10 officers, 70–71 enlisted [3]
Armament
General characteristics (Guppy II)
Class and typenone
Displacement
  • 1,870 tons (1,900 t) surfaced [5]
  • 2,440 tons (2,480 t) submerged [5]
Length307 ft (93.6 m) [6]
Beam27 ft 4 in (7.4 m) [6]
Draft17 ft (5.2 m) [6]
Propulsion
  • Snorkel added [5]
  • Batteries upgraded to GUPPY type, capacity expanded to 504 cells (1 × 184 cell, 1 × 68 cell, and 2 × 126 cell batteries) [5]
  • 4 × high-speed electric motors replaced with 2 × low-speed direct drive electric motors [5]
Speed
  • Surfaced:
  • 18.0 knots (20.7 mph; 33.3 km/h) maximum
  • 13.5 knots (15.5 mph; 25.0 km/h) cruising
  • Submerged:
  • 16.0 knots (18.4 mph; 29.6 km/h) for ½ hour
  • 9.0 knots (10.4 mph; 16.7 km/h) snorkeling
  • 3.5 knots (4.0 mph; 6.5 km/h) cruising [5]
Range15,000 nm (28,000 km) surfaced at 11 knots (13 mph; 20 km/h) [6]
Endurance48 hours at 4 knots (5 mph; 7 km/h) submerged [6]
Complement
  • 9–10 officers
  • 5 petty officers
  • 70 enlisted men [6]
Sensors and
processing systems
  • WFA active sonar
  • JT passive sonar
  • Mk 106 torpedo fire control system [6]
Armament
General characteristics (Guppy III)
Class and typenone
Displacement
  • 1,975 tons (2,007 t) surfaced [5]
  • 2,450 tons (2,489 t) submerged [5]
Length321 ft (97.8 m) [6]
Beam27 ft 4 in (7.4 m) [6]
Draft17 ft (5.2 m) [6]
Speed
  • Surfaced:
  • 17.2 knots (19.8 mph; 31.9 km/h) maximum
  • 12.2 knots (14.0 mph; 22.6 km/h) cruising
  • Submerged:
  • 14.5 knots (16.7 mph; 26.9 km/h) for ½ hour
  • 6.2 knots (7.1 mph; 11.5 km/h) snorkeling
  • 3.7 knots (4.3 mph; 6.9 km/h) cruising [5]
Range15,900 nm (29,400 km) surfaced at 8.5 knots (10 mph; 16 km/h) [6]
Endurance36 hours at 3 knots (3 mph; 6 km/h) submerged [6]
Complement
  • 8–10 officers
  • 5 petty officers
  • 70-80 enlisted men [6]
Sensors and
processing systems
  • BQS-4 active search sonar
  • BQR-2B passive search sonar
  • BQG-4 passive attack sonar [6]

USS Corporal (SS-346), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the corporal, an alternate name for the fallfish, found in streams of the eastern United States.

Contents

Construction and commissioning

Corporal was launched 10 June 1945 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut, sponsored by Mrs. H. C. Wick; commissioned 9 November 1945, Commander Edward E. Shelby in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.

Service history

Corporal cleared New London 8 January 1946 for her base at Key West, arriving 25 February. She took part in antisubmarine warfare projects and fleet exercises off Florida and Bermuda and in the Caribbean until returning to Groton 26 February 1947. After extensive modernization, she returned to Key West 2 March 1948.

She continued to conduct training and join in exercises off Florida and in the Caribbean until her first tour of duty in the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet from 16 July 1952 to 15 October. Returning to local operations off Key West, she also participated in large-scale fleet exercises in the Atlantic and Caribbean. She cruised to the British Isles from 11 March to 16 May 1957, and upon her return to Key West, continued training and services to the Fleet Sonar School. Through 1958 and 1959, she operated frequently in ordnance tests, and from August 1959, when Charleston, South Carolina, became her home port, cruised widely along the east coast. In December 1960 Corporal sailed to visit Germany and then join the 6th Fleet in the Mediterranean.

USS Corporal was converted to a Guppy III configuration and continued to operate throughout the 1960s and early 1970s in various capacities during the Cold War. She made regular "Northern" runs across the Arctic Circle above the North Sea, regular "Mediterranean Cruises", frequently operated in the Caribbean and trained submarine sailors in conjunction with the Submarine School in New London, Connecticut.

In 1967 USS Corporal collided in Rhode Island's Block Island Sound with the 30-foot sloop Medea IV, [7] whose owner afterward claimed "they never offered us assistance or asked us if we were damaged." [8]

Helicopter landing

Corporal (SS-346), 1956 Corporal (SS-346), 1956.jpg
Corporal (SS-346), 1956

During naval exercises off Key West in April 1956, a US Navy Sikorsky H-34 helicopter, serial number 51, made an emergency landing on the Corporal's deck because it experienced serious mechanical problems during an anti-submarine warfare exercise in which the Corporal had been serving as the opposing force. After close cooperation by radio and hasty preparations by the submariners, the distressed helicopter managed to touch down safely aft of the submarine's sail. The incident marked "the first time a helicopter made an emergency landing on a submarine." At the time of that emergency landing, the submarine was under the command of Lieutenant Commander E. O. Proctor, and those aboard the helicopter were Commander W. F. Culley and Lieutenant J. K. Johnson. [9] [10] [11]

Helicopter on USS Corporal after mechanical trouble Helicopter on USS Corporal.jpg
Helicopter on USS Corporal after mechanical trouble

TCG Ikinci İnönü (S333)

She was decommissioned, struck from the US Naval Register, and transferred (sold) to Turkey, under terms of the Security Assistance Program, 28 November 1973. On 12 February 1974 she was commissioned TCG Ikinci İnönü (S333) ("Second İnönü"), the second of three submarines named in honor of the Second Battle of İnönü in the Turkish Independence War. [12]

She was dropped from the Turkish Naval rolls on 2 September 1996, and scrapped. Today, a section of hull containing the stern torpedo tubes is preserved at the Naval Museum at Istanbul.

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References

  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.
  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.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
  4. 1 2 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Friedman, Norman (1994). U.S. Submarines Since 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 11–43. ISBN   1-55750-260-9.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 U.S. Submarines Since 1945 pp. 242
  7. ↑ "Special Incident Report: CINCLANTFLT INST 3100.8" (PDF). U.S. Navy. September 4, 1967. Retrieved 2017-04-09.
  8. ↑ UPI (September 5, 1967). "Yachtsman Reports U.S. Sub in Hit-Run Crash with Sloop". Bridgeport Post.
  9. ↑ "USS CORPORAL". Archived from the original on 2004-08-12.
  10. ↑ "HelicoptorLanding". Archived from the original on 2005-04-27.
  11. ↑ Baird, J., Staff Sergeant, USMC. (1956, October). 'Copter on a Cold Sub Deck. Naval Aviation News, 26.
  12. ↑ Gardiner, Robert, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1982, Pt I: The Western Powers (1982) Naval Institute Press, Annapolis ISBN   978-0851772257 p121
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