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

USS Sea Dog

Balao-class diesel-electric submarine

USS Sea Dog
US Navy photo from NARA, # 80-G-634366, courtesy of Daniel Dunham. — https://www.navsource.net/archives/08/08401.htm — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate Sea Dog (SS-401) underway in the 1950's, still displaying the unmistakable profile of the Balao-class "Fleet Boats." Deck guns have been removed to improve her submerged performance, and a post-war air-search radar is mounted on its tall mast. A surface/search radar and two antennas are on the periscope shears, while two sonar antennas can be seen on the deck forward. A whip antennae extends horiz

Service

  1. United States Navy3 June 1944 — 27 June 1956456 days of the war
Balao-class diesel-electric submarine Particulars
Name
USS Sea Dog
Builder
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down
1 November 1943
Launched
28 March 1944
Commissioned
3 June 1944
Decommissioned
27 June 1956
Struck
2 December 1968
Fate
Sold for scrap, 18 May 1973 (1973)
Status
Scrapped

Specifications

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
127 mm (5 in)

USS Sea Dog was a Balao-class diesel-electric submarine of the United States Navy. Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine laid her keel on 1 November 1943. She entered service on 3 June 1944, having been launched on 28 March 1944.

111 ships of the class were built. 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). Her designed speed was 20.2 knots, and she carried a complement of 10. Her main battery was of 127 mm (5 in) calibre.

She was in commission for 456 days of the Second World War. She was decommissioned on 27 June 1956. She was struck from the register on 2 December 1968.

She was broken up for scrap on 18 May 1973.

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 × 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 Sea Dog on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Photograph: US Navy photo from NARA, # 80-G-634366, courtesy of Daniel Dunham. — https://www.navsource.net/archives/08/08401.htm — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons