USS Lionfish (SS-298)
USS Lionfish
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History | |
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Name: | Lionfish |
Namesake: | Lionfish |
Builder: | Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia / Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine[1] |
Laid down: | 15 December 1942[1] |
Launched: | 7 November 1943[1] |
Sponsored by: | Mrs. Harold C. Train |
Commissioned: | 1 November 1944[1] |
Decommissioned: | 16 January 1946[1] |
Recommissioned: | 31 January 1951[1] |
Decommissioned: | 15 December 1953[1] |
Struck: | 20 December 1971[1] |
Status: | Museum ship at Battleship Cove, Fall River, Massachusetts since 30 August 1972[2] |
General characteristics | |
Class & type: | Balao-class submarine[2] |
Displacement: | |
Length: | 311 ft 6 in (94.95 m) [2] |
Beam: | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) [2] |
Draft: | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[2] |
Propulsion: |
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Speed: | |
Range: | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km; 13,000 mi) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)[6] |
Endurance: |
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Test depth: | 400 ft (120 m)[6] |
Complement: | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[6] |
Armament: |
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USS Lionfish (SS-298)
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Location | Fall River, Massachusetts |
Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
Built | 1943 |
Architectural style | Other |
NRHP Reference # | 76002270[7] |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | 30 September 1976 |
Designated NHL | 14 January 1986 |
USS Lionfish (SS-298), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy named for the lionfish, a scorpaenid fish native to the Pacific and an invasive species found around the Caribbean. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986, and is now on display at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts.
Contents
History
Lionfish was laid down on 15 December 1942; launched on 7 November 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Harold C. Train; and commissioned on 1 November 1944. Her first captain was Lieutenant Commander Edward D. Spruance, son of World War II admiral Raymond Spruance.
World War II
After completing her shakedown cruise off New England, she began her first war patrol in Japanese waters on 1 April 1945. Ten days later, she avoided two torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine. On 1 May Lionfish destroyed a Japanese schooner with her deck guns. After a rendezvous with the submarine USS Ray, she transported B-29 survivors to Saipan and then made her way to Midway Island for replenishment.
On 2 June she started her second war patrol, and on 10 July fired torpedoes at a surfaced Japanese submarine, after which Lionfish's crew heard explosions and observed smoke through their periscope (the Submarine I-162 was undamaged). She subsequently fired on two more Japanese submarines. Lionfish ended her second and last war patrol performing lifeguard duty (the rescue of downed fliers) off the coast of Japan. When World War II ended on 15 August she headed for San Francisco and was decommissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on 16 January 1946.
Post World War II
Lionfish was recommissioned on 31 January 1951, and headed for the East Coast for training cruises. After participating in NATO exercises and a Mediterranean cruise, she returned to the East Coast and was decommissioned at the Boston Navy Yard on 15 December 1953.
In 1960, the submarine was placed in service, but not recommissioned, as a reserve training submarine at Providence, Rhode Island.
Museum ship
In 1971, she was stricken from the Navy Register. In 1973, she began permanent display as a memorial at Battleship Cove in Fall River, Massachusetts, where she is one of the museum's most popular exhibits.
As Lionfish was never converted to a GUPPY configuration, she is one of the preserved American World War II-era submarines with "as built" configuration. Because of this remarkable state of preservation, she was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.[8]
In popular culture
The submarine is featured on the DVD case of the 2007 Ubisoft game Silent Hunter 4: Wolves of the Pacific.
Lionfish served as a filming location for the film Subconscious,[9] in which the submarine portrays a fictional version of itself in a supernatural/science-fiction plotline taking place in both the years 1943 and 2014.
Awards
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one battle star
- World War II Victory Medal
- Navy Occupation Medal with "EUROPE" clasp
- National Defense Service Medal
See also
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Fall River, Massachusetts
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to USS Lionfish (SS-298). |
- Battleship Cove
- USS Lionfish Photos on board the Submarine USS Lionfish SS-298 in Fall River, MA
- [1] - featuring the actual USS Lionfish as the on location filming set.
- USS Lionfish (SS-298) at Historic Naval Ships Association
- Use dmy dates from June 2011
- Commons category link is defined as the pagename
- Balao-class submarines
- World War II submarines of the United States
- Cold War submarines of the United States
- Visitor attractions in Fall River, Massachusetts
- Museum ships in Massachusetts
- National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts
- Ships built in Pennsylvania
- 1943 ships
- Museums in Bristol County, Massachusetts
- Military and war museums in Massachusetts
- Ships on the National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts
- Buildings and structures in Fall River, Massachusetts
- National Register of Historic Places in Bristol County, Massachusetts