USS Balao (SS-285)

USS Balao (SS-285)



Balao off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA, 25 October 1944.
Career
Builder: Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down: 26 June 1942
Launched: 27 October 1942
Commissioned: 4 February 1943
Decommissioned: 20 August 1946
Recommissioned: 4 March 1952
Decommissioned: 11 July 1963
Struck: 1 August 1963
Fate: Sunk as a target off Florida on 6 September 1963;
conning tower is a memorial at the Navy Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
General characteristics
Class & type: Balao class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement: 1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced,
2,414 long tons (2,453 t) submerged
Length: 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam: 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft: 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum
Propulsion:

4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical 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
Speed: 20.25 kn (23.3 mph; 37.5 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 kn (10.1 mph; 16.2 km/h) submerged
Range: 11,000 nmi (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Endurance: 48 hours @ 2 kn (2.3 mph; 3.7 km/h) submerged; 75 days on patrol
Test depth: 400 ft (120 m)
Complement: 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament: 10x21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft; 24 torpedoes)
one 4 in (102 mm)/50 caliber deck gun
one 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors antiaircraft cannon
two .5 in (12.7 mm) machineguns

USS Balao (SS/AGSS-285), was the lead ship of the United States Navy's Balao-class submarines during World War II and named for the balao.

Balao's keel was laid down on 26 June 1942 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 27 October 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Theodore C. Aylward, wife of Lieutenant Commander Aylward, commissioned on 4 February 1943, Lieutenant Commander Richard H. Crane in command; and reported to the United States Pacific Fleet.

Read more about USS Balao (SS-285):  World War II, 1952–1963, Awards