USS Balao
Service
- as Balao4 February 1943 — 11 July 1963941 days of the war
- Name
- USS Balao
- Namesake
- Balao halfbeak
- Builder
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
- Laid down
- 26 June 1942
- Launched
- 27 October 1942
- Commissioned
- 4 February 1943
- Decommissioned
- 20 August 1946
- Recommissioned
- 4 March 1952
- Struck
- 1 August 1963
- Fate
- Sunk as a target off Florida on 6 September 1963
conning tower is a memorial at the Navy Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C. (1963) - Status
- Preserved
Specifications
- 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
- 102 mm (4 in)
USS Balao was a Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine in service with the United States Navy. She was named for Balao halfbeak. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine laid her keel on 26 June 1942. She entered service on 4 February 1943, having been launched on 27 October 1942.
Her class ran to 111 ships. The class followed the Gato-class submarine and was succeeded by the Tench-class submarine.
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 102 mm (4.0 in) calibre.
She was in commission for 941 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 20 August 1946. She recommissioned on 4 March 1952. She was struck from the register on 1 August 1963.
She has been preserved on 6 September 1963.
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 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators
- 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries
- 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears
- 2 × propellers
- 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced
- 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
- Armament
- 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft; 24 torpedoes)
- one 4 in/50 caliber deck gun
- one 40 mm Bofors antiaircraft cannon
- two .50 cal (12.7 mm) machineguns
Sister ships
- ARA Santa Fe (S-21)
- USS Apogon
- USS Archerfish (SS-311)
- USS Aspro (SS-309)
- USS Atule
- 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
- USS Bullhead
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS Balao on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: Unknown author — http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-b/ss285.htm — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons