USS Blackfish
The launch of USS Blackfish (SS-221) on 18 April 1942. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut |
| Laid down | 1 July 1941 |
| Launched | 18 April 1942 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. Henry de F. Mel |
| Commissioned | 22 July 1942 |
| Decommissioned | 11 May 1946 |
| In service | 5 May 1949 (non-commissioned) |
| Out of service | 19 May 1955 (non-commissioned) |
| Stricken | 1 September 1958 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap 4 May 1959 |
| 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 kn (39 km/h) surfaced, 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged |
| Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h) |
| Endurance | 48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged, 75 days on patrol |
| Test depth | 300 ft (91 m) |
| Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted |
| Armament |
|
USS Blackfish (SS-221), a Gato-class submarine in commission from 1942 to 1946, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the blackfish. During World War II, she completed five war patrols in the Atlantic Ocean between October 1942 and July 1943 in waters extending from Dakar, Senegal, to the north of Iceland. She supported the Allied invasion of French North Africa in Operation Torch in November 1942, and is credited with sinking the German vorpostenboot V 408 Haltenbank off the north coast of Spain in February 1943.
Later in 1943, Blackfish proceeded to the Southwest Pacific. Between 19 October 1943 and 14 August 1945, she completed seven war patrols in an area including the Solomon Islands, New Guinea, the South China Sea, the East China Sea, and the Yellow Sea. She sank one Japanese cargo ship of 2,087 gross register tons during her Pacific patrols. She completed her twelfth and final war patrol on 14 August 1945.
Decommissioned in 1946, Blackfish later served as a non-commissioned training ship for United States Naval Reserve personnel from 1949 to 1955. She was sold for scrapping in 1959.