Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
United States Navy — Submarine

USS Apogon

Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine

USS Apogon
Unknown author — Unknown source — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate USS_Apogon; https://www.navsource.net/archives/08/08308.htm Apogon's (SS-308) officers and crew alongside the conning tower as she heads towards dock at Submarine Base 5. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of http://ussubvetsofworldwarii.org web site.

Service

  1. United States Navy16 July 1943 — 1 October 1945779 days of the war
Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine Particulars
Name
USS Apogon
Builder
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down
9 December 1942
Launched
10 March 1943
Commissioned
16 July 1943
Decommissioned
1 October 1945
Struck
25 February 1947
Fate
Used as a target for the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb test on 25 July 1946, and sunk (1946)
Status
Wreck

Specifications

Displacement, submerged
1,526 long tons (1,550 t)
Length
94.79 m (311 ft)
Beam
8.23 m (27 ft)
Draught
4.88 m (16 ft)
Range
11,000 nmi (20,372 km)
Complement
10
Main gun
127 mm (5 in)

USS Apogon was a Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine of the United States Navy. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine laid her keel on 9 December 1942. Launched on 10 March 1943, she entered service on 16 July 1943.

She was one of 111 ships of her class. The class followed the Gato-class submarine and was succeeded by the Tench-class submarine.

The boat displaced 1,526 long tons submerged. She measured 94.8 m (311 ft) long with a beam of 8.2 m (27 ft). She carried a complement of 10. Her main battery was of 127 mm (5 in) calibre.

She was in commission for 779 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 1 October 1945. She was struck from the register on 25 February 1947.

She was expended as a target on 25 July 1946. 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-<templatestyles src="Fraction/styles.css" />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
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

86 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from USS Apogon on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Photograph: Unknown author — Unknown source — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons