USS Spikefish
Service
- 30 June 1944 — 2 April 1963431 days of the war
- Name
- USS Spikefish
- Builder
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
- Laid down
- 29 January 1944
- Launched
- 26 April 1944
- Commissioned
- 30 June 1944
- Decommissioned
- 2 April 1963
- Struck
- 1 May 1963
- Fate
- Sunk as a target off Long Island, 4 August 1964 (1964)
- Status
- Wreck
Specifications
- Displacement, surfaced
- 1,526 long tons (1,550 t)
- Displacement, submerged
- 2,391 long tons (2,429 t)
- Length
- 94.79 m (311 ft)
- Beam
- 8.23 m (27 ft)
- Draught
- 4.88 m (16 ft)
- Speed
- 20.3 knots (37.5 km/h, 23.3 mph)
- Range
- 11,000 nmi (20,372 km)
- Complement
- 10
- Main gun
- 127 mm (5 in)
USS Spikefish was a Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine, operated by the United States Navy. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine laid her keel on 29 January 1944. Launched on 26 April 1944, she entered service on 30 June 1944.
Her class ran to 111 ships. The class followed the Gato-class submarine and was succeeded by the Tench-class submarine.
The boat displaced 1,526 long tons surfaced and 2,391 long tons submerged. She measured 94.8 m (311 ft) long with a beam of 8.2 m (27 ft). Her designed speed was 20.2 knots, and she carried a complement of 10. Her main battery was of 127 mm (5 in) calibre.
She was in commission for 431 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 2 April 1963. She was struck from the register on 1 May 1963.
She was expended as a target on 4 August 1964. The wreck survives.
Written from the harvested record. Every figure above is sourced; the wording is this site's own.
Armament and machinery
Armament and machinery
- Propulsion
- 4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 10-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators
- 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries
- 4 × high-speed Elliott electric motors with reduction gears
- two propellers
- 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced
- 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
- 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
Sister ships
- ARA Santa Fe (S-21)
- USS Apogon
- USS Archerfish (SS-311)
- USS Aspro (SS-309)
- USS Atule
- USS Balao
- USS Bang
- USS Barbel (SS-316)
- USS Barbero
- USS Batfish (SS-310)
- USS Baya
- USS Becuna
- USS Bergall (SS-320)
- USS Besugo
- USS Billfish (SS-286)
- USS Blackfin
- USS Blanquillo (SS-323)
- USS Blenny
- USS Blower
- USS Blueback (SS-326)
- USS Boarfish
- USS Bowfin
- USS Brill
- USS Bugara
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS Spikefish on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: NARA — US Navy photo #80-G-376776 , National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons