USS Perch (SS-176)
Perch off Groton Connecticut in the fall of 1936 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Builder | General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut |
| Laid down | 25 February 1935 |
| Launched | 9 May 1936 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. Thomas Withers |
| Commissioned | 19 November 1936 |
| Stricken | 24 June 1942 |
| Fate | Scuttled in the Java Sea on 3 March 1942 after being damaged by Japanese destroyers; wreck illegally scrapped. |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Porpoise-class diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement | 1,350 long tons (1,372 t) standard, surfaced, 1,997 long tons (2,029 t) submerged |
| Length | 298 ft (91 m) (waterline), 300 ft 6 in (91.59 m) (overall) |
| Beam | 26 ft (7.9 m) |
| Draft | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
| Propulsion | 4 × Winton Model 16-201A 16-cylinder two-cycle diesel engines, 1,300 hp (0.97 MW) each, driving electrical generators through reduction gears, 2 × 120-cell Gould AMTX33HB batteries, 8 × General Electric electric motors, 538 hp (401 kW) each, 2 × General Motors six-cylinder four-cycle 6-241 auxiliary diesels |
| Speed | 19.25 kn (35.65 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged |
| Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h), (bunkerage 92,801 US gal (351,290 L)) |
| Endurance | 10 hours @ 5 kn (9.3 km/h), 36 hours @ minimum speed submerged |
| Test depth | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Complement |
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| Armament | 6 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, two aft; 16 torpedoes), 1 × 4 in (100 mm)/50 caliber deck gun, 4 × 0.3 cal (7.62 mm) machineguns (2x2) |
USS Perch (SS-176), a Porpoise-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the perch. Perch spent the first months of WW2 protecting the Philippines and Dutch East Indies from Japanese invasion, successfully sinking the transport ship Nojima Maru, and seeing several more instances of action. However, fate caught up to the submarine as after the fall of the Dutch East Indies, Perch attempted to intercept the Java Sea invasion convoy, only to be crippled by the destroyers Amatsukaze and Hatsukaze, then finished off by the destroyers Ushio and Sazanami. All 59 of her crew survived the sinking; 54 of which survived to the end of the war.