USS Albacore (SS-218)
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | USS Albacore |
| Namesake | Albacore |
| Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut |
| Laid down | 21 April 1941 |
| Launched | 17 February 1942 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. Elwin F. Cutts |
| Commissioned | 1 June 1942 |
| Fate | Presumably mined off of southern Hokkaidō, 7 November 1944 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Gato-class diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement | 1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced, 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged |
| Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m) |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) |
| Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced; 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged |
| Range | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h) |
| Endurance | 48 hours at 2 kn (4 km/h) submerged, 75 days on patrol |
| Test depth | 300 ft (90 m) |
| Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted |
| Armament |
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USS Albacore (SS-218) was a Gato-class submarine which served in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II, winning the Presidential Unit Citation and nine battle stars for her service. During the war, she was credited with sinking 13 Japanese ships (including two destroyers, the light cruiser Tenryū and the aircraft carrier Taihō) and damaging another five; not all of these credits were confirmed by postwar Joint Army–Navy Assessment Committee (JANAC) accounting. She also holds the distinction of sinking the highest warship tonnage of any U.S. submarine. She was lost in 1944, probably sunk by a mine on November 7th, near the Tsugaru Strait between the Japanese main islands of Honshū and Hokkaidō.
Albacore was the second vessel of the United States Navy to be named for the albacore.