Recognition Guide Warships of the Second World War
United States Navy — Submarine SS-406

USS Sea Poacher

Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine

USS Sea Poacher
Unknown author — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons Plate — SS-406

Service

  1. United States Navy as USS Sea Poacher31 July 1944 — 15 November 1969401 days of the war
  2. Peruvian Navy as Initially BAP Pabellón de Pica, changed a few weeks later to La Pedrera1 July 1974 — 1995
Full service history About 505 words
Balao-class submarine diesel-electric submarine Particulars
Name
USS Sea Poacher
Pennant / hull number
SS-406
Builder
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down
23 February 1944
Launched
20 May 1944
Commissioned
31 July 1944
Decommissioned
15 November 1969
Struck
15 August 1973
Fate
Transferred to Peru, 1 July 1974 (1974)
Status
Unknown

Specifications — As built

Displacement, surfaced
1,526 long tons (1,550 t)
Displacement, submerged
2,401 long tons (2,440 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
127 mm (5 in)

Sea Poacher (SS-406) was laid down by the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard on 23 February 1944; launched on 20 May 1944; sponsored by Mrs. J. H. Spiller, wife of Comdr. Spiller, hull superintendent at the Navy Yard; and commissioned on 31 July 1944, Comdr. F. M. Gambacorta in command.

Following underway trials, training, and shakedown in the Portsmouth, N.H., and New London, Conn., areas, Sea Poacher transited the Panama Canal and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 25 October 1944. Although her first two war patrols were unproductive, during the third, conducted in the Kuril Islands area, Sea Poacher torpedoed and sank a Japanese trawler and, four days later, sent two fishing boats to the bottom in a surface attack. During the latter action, three crewmen were injured when the 20 millimeter gun exploded. Due to the seriousness of their injuries, the patrol was terminated ahead of schedule, and the submarine returned to Midway.

After conducting her fourth war patrol off the eastern coast of Honshu and Hokkaido, Sea Poacher was undergoing refitting at Pearl Harbor when the war ended on 15 August 1945.

Continue to the full service history About 505 words

From the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, compiled by the Naval History and Heritage Command (Sea Poacher (SS-406)). A work of the United States Government, in the public domain.

Armament and machinery

This vessel is recorded in 2 configurations. Wartime refits changed armament and complement substantially, so each is kept separately rather than averaged into one set of figures. The figures above are as built.

As built
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
Guppy IA
Displacement, surfaced
1,830 long tons (1,859 t)
Displacement, submerged
2,440 long tons (2,479 t)
Length
93.57 m (307 ft)
Beam
8.23 m (27 ft)
Draught
5.18 m (17 ft)
Speed
17.3 knots (32 km/h, 19.9 mph)
Range
17,000 nmi (31,484 km)
Complement
10
Propulsion
  • Snorkel added
  • Batteries upgraded to Sargo II
Armament
  • 10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
  • (six forward, four aft)
  • all guns removed

Sister ships

86 more in the class

Sources

  • Facts harvested from USS Sea Poacher on Wikipedia. Figures only — no wording is taken from it.
  • Service history reproduced verbatim from Sea Poacher (SS-406) , Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships — public domain, a work of the United States Government.
  • Photograph: Unknown author — Public domain — Wikimedia Commons