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

USS Pilotfish

Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine

USS Pilotfish
Unknown author — Unknown source — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate USS_Pilotfish; https://www.navsource.net/archives/08/08386.htm Starboard view of the Pilotfish (SS-386) undergoing training and shakedown in the Portsmouth area, circa late 1943, early 1944. NARA (National ARchives and Records Administration) photo # 80-G-269706, courtesy of http://ussubvetsofwwii.org .

Service

  1. United States Navy16 December 1943 — 29 August 1946626 days of the war
Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine Particulars
Name
USS Pilotfish
Builder
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down
15 May 1943
Launched
30 August 1943
Commissioned
16 December 1943
Decommissioned
29 August 1946
Struck
25 February 1947
Fate
Used as a target for the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb test, 25 July 1946, and sunk (1946)
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
102 mm (4 in)

USS Pilotfish was a Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine built for the United States Navy. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine laid her keel on 15 May 1943. She entered service on 16 December 1943, having been launched on 30 August 1943.

111 ships of the class were built. 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 102 mm (4.0 in) calibre.

She was in commission for 626 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 29 August 1946. 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 38D8-⅛ 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 × 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 Pilotfish on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Photograph: Unknown author — Unknown source — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons