USS Wahoo (SS-238)
USS Wahoo off Mare Island Naval Shipyard (July 1943) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United States | |
| Name | Wahoo |
| Builder | Mare Island Naval Shipyard |
| Laid down | 28 June 1941 |
| Launched | 14 February 1942 |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. William C. Barker, Jr. |
| Commissioned | 15 May 1942 |
| Stricken | 6 December 1943 |
| Fate | Sunk by Japanese ships and aircraft in La Pérouse Strait, 11 October 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Gato-class diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m) |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) |
| Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum |
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | |
| Range | 11,000 nmi (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) |
| Endurance |
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| Test depth | 300 ft (90 m) |
| Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted |
| Armament |
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USS Wahoo (SS-238) was a Gato-class submarine, the first United States Navy ship to be named for the wahoo. Construction started before the U.S. entered World War II, and she was commissioned after entry. Wahoo was assigned to the Pacific theatre. She gained fame as an aggressive and highly successful submarine after Lieutenant Commander Dudley Walker "Mush" Morton became her skipper. She was sunk by Japanese aircraft in October 1943 while returning home from a patrol in the Sea of Japan.