USS Irex
Service
- as Irex14 May 1945 — 17 November 1969111 days of the war
- Name
- USS Irex
- Builder
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
- Laid down
- 2 October 1944
- Launched
- 26 January 1945
- Commissioned
- 14 May 1945
- Decommissioned
- 17 November 1969
- Struck
- 17 November 1969
- Fate
- Sold for scrap, 13 September 1971 (1971)
- Status
- Scrapped
Specifications
- Displacement, surfaced
- 1,570 long tons (1,595 t)
- Displacement, submerged
- 2,414 long tons (2,453 t)
- Length
- 94.79 m (311 ft)
- Beam
- 8.23 m (27 ft)
- Draught
- 5.18 m (17 ft)
- Speed
- 20.3 knots (37.5 km/h, 23.3 mph)
- Range
- 11,000 nmi (20,372 km)
- Complement
- 81
- Main gun
- 127 mm (5 in)
USS Irex was a Tench-class submarine diesel-electric submarine built for the United States Navy. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine laid her keel on 2 October 1944. Launched on 26 January 1945, she entered service on 14 May 1945.
She was one of 24 ships of her class. The class followed the Balao-class submarine and was succeeded by the Barracuda class.
The boat displaced 1,570 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 81. Her main battery was of 127 mm (5 in) calibre.
She was in commission for 111 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 17 November 1969. She was struck from the register on 17 November 1969.
She was broken up for scrap on 13 September 1971.
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
- 2 × low-speed direct-drive Elliott electric motors
- 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)
- 28 torpedoes
- 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun
- Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
Sister ships
- PNS Ghazi
- USS Amberjack (SS-522)
- USS Argonaut (SS-475)
- USS Conger
- USS Cutlass
- USS Diablo
- USS Grampus (SS-523)
- USS Medregal
- USS Odax
- USS Pickerel (SS-524)
- USS Quillback
- USS Remora
- USS Requin
- USS Runner (SS-476)
- USS Sea Leopard
- USS Tench
- USS Thornback
- USS Tigrone
- USS Tirante
- USS Toro
- USS Torsk
- USS Trutta
- USS Volador (SS-490)
Sources
- Facts harvested from USS Irex on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
- Photograph: USN — https://www.navsource.net/archives/08/08482.htm — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons