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

USS Capelin

Balao-class diesel-electric submarine

USS Capelin
Lieutenant Commander Charles Jacobs, USNR. — Official U.S. Navy photo 80-G-468712 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate The U.S. Navy submarine USS Capelin (SS-289) underway off New London, Connecticut (USA), August 1943.

Service

  1. United States Navy as Capelin4 June 1943 — 2 December 1943181 days of the war
Balao-class diesel-electric submarine Particulars
Name
USS Capelin
Builder
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down
14 September 1942
Launched
20 January 1943
Commissioned
4 June 1943
Fate
Missing north of Sulawesi after 2 December 1943 (1943)
Status
Unknown

Specifications

Displacement, surfaced
1,526 long tons (1,550 t)
Displacement, submerged
2,414 long tons (2,453 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
10,799 nmi (20,000 km)
Complement
10
Main gun
102 mm (4 in)

USS Capelin was a Balao-class diesel-electric submarine, operated by the United States Navy. Her keel was laid at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine on 14 September 1942. Launched on 20 January 1943, she entered service on 4 June 1943.

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 2,414 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 102 mm (4.0 in) calibre.

She was in commission for 181 days of the Second World War.

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 16-248 V16 Diesel engines driving electric generators
  • 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries
  • 4 × high-speed General Electric 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 × 4-inch (102 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun
  • Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

Sister ships

86 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from USS Capelin on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Photograph: Lieutenant Commander Charles Jacobs, USNR. — Official U.S. Navy photo 80-G-468712 from the U.S. Navy Naval History and Heritage Command — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons