USS Atule (SS-403)

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USS Atule in July 1946
USS Atule in July 1946
Overview
Keel laying November 25, 1943
Launch March 6, 1944
1. Period of service flag
period of service

June 21, 1944-8. Sept. 1947
March 8, 1951-6. April 1970

Whereabouts sold to Peru
2. Period of service flag
Commissioning May 28, 1974
Whereabouts sank after collision on August 26, 1988
Technical specifications
displacement

1526 ts surfaced
2424 ts surfaced
length

95.0 meters

width

8.3 meters

Draft

4.6 meters

Diving depth 120 meters
crew

6 officers, 60 NCOs and men

drive

4 × 1350 PS diesel engines
4 × electric motors
(total 2740 PS)

speed

Surfaced 20.25 knots surfaced
8.75 knots

Range

11,000  nautical miles at 10 knots

Armament

10 × 21-inch torpedo tubes

The USS ATULE (SS-403) was a submarine of the Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy . It was the only boat named after the fish Atule mate , a species of jackfish , and served in the US Navy from 1944 to 1947 and from 1951 to 1970, then from 1974 as BAP Pacocha (SS-48) in the Peruvian Navy .

history

First period of use

The USS Atule was laid down on November 25, 1943 at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery , Maine . After a five-month construction period, it was launched on March 6, 1944, and entered service with the US Navy on June 21.

After a month, the Atule left the Naval Submarine Base New London and crossed the Panama Canal towards the Pacific, where it sailed together with its sister ship Jallao towards Pearl Harbor . On October 9th, she left Hawaii with the Jallao and the Pintado for the western Pacific, where the three boats operated as Wolfpack. The group had its first success on October 25, when the Jallao sank the Japanese light cruiser Tama , which had already been damaged in the battle off Cape Engaño . The Atule had radar and sonar contact with Japanese ships several times in the following days, but this was repeatedly lost. On the night of November 1, however, the boat caught a fast transporter that was escorted by several escort ships. Despite poor visibility, the Atule shot six torpedoes at the transporter, the Asama Maru , of which the first two hit and destroyed the ship in a large explosion. In order to avoid the attacks of the escorts, the submarine dived. In the days that followed, the Atule resumed patrols in the South China Sea. On November 13, a formation of an aircraft carrier, a heavy cruiser and a destroyer came into view, but not within range of the torpedoes, so that the submarine had to break off the chase. On November 20, the Atule sank a light mine- layer off the coast of Formosa, and on November 24, it torpedoed a transporter and sank it. On November 27, another freighter was torpedoed and sunk, but this sinking of the Atule was never officially credited. On November 28, she broke off her first mission and drove to the bunker in Majuro Atoll, where she arrived on December 11.

On January 6, 1945, the Atule ran out on her second patrol voyage, but until January 24, she sighted no targets in her area of ​​operation in the Yellow Sea. On January 24, she was able to sink the freighter Taiman Maru Number 1 with 6888 GRT. The rest of its second mission was spent destroying Japanese drifting mines , and on February 22nd, it left its area of ​​operation for Saipan, from where it left for Midway six days later.

The third mission took place from April 2nd to May 30th, during the entire voyage the Atule mostly operated as a rescue ship for downed pilots, or it destroyed drifting mines. The fourth mission began on July 3, it led the boat to the Japanese main island of Honshū , where a Japanese coastal defense boat was torpedoed and sunk on August 12. After the Japanese surrender on August 15, the submarine returned to Hawaii via Midway, where it arrived on August 25. Five days later, the Atule headed for the US east coast. She attended the Navy Day celebrations on October 27, 1945 , after which she went to dock for a three-month overhaul at the Portsmouth Naval Yard. In July 1946, she took part in Operation Nanook, which set up weather stations north of the Arctic Circle, including the forerunner of Thule Air Base on Greenland. On February 27, 1947, preparations for the decommissioning of the boat began in Philadelphia, and on September 8, 1947, the atule was deactivated and assigned to the reserve fleet.

Second period of use

After three years in the reserve fleet, the submarine was towed to Kittery, where it was equipped with a snorkel and streamlined superstructures to improve underwater speed as part of the Greater Underwater Propulsion Power Program . On March 8, 1951, the Atule was officially put back into service. In the following months, the boat mostly operated in the Caribbean and the Atlantic, in February 1952 it took part in the NATO large-scale exercise "Grand Slam" in the Mediterranean. In September 1952, the submarine got into the foothills of Hurricane Charlie during exercise "LANTSUBEX I" and had to fight its way through heavy seas and strong winds. Between November 1952 and April 1953 the boat was overhauled again in Kittery, in October 1953 the Atule took part in the "LANTSUBEX-II" exercise, during which a fire broke out on board and the submarine became inactive in heavy seas. The damage was repaired during a further stay in the shipyard between November 1953 and January 1954. In the following years the boat mostly operated off the east coast, in 1955 and 1957 further stays in the shipyard followed in Philadelphia. In 1958 the Atule was moved from New London to Key West. In the following years, the boat took part in many exercises in the Caribbean, the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, from October 1963 to April 1964 an extensive docking period in Norfolk followed.

In 1967, the submarine was assigned to the Prospective Commanding Officers School and Fleet Training in Guantanamo and served as a training ship until it was assigned to the reserve fleet on September 15, 1969. On October 1, the Atule was reclassified as an auxiliary submarine (AGSS-403), on April 6, 1970, it was decommissioned. It was deleted from the shipping register on August 15, 1973.

Sale to Peru

On July 31, 1974, the Atule was sold to the Navy of Peru, where the submarine entered service on May 28 under the name BAP Pacocha (SS-48) in commemoration of the Battle of Pacocha of 1877.

The downfall

The submarine was rammed on the evening of August 26, 1988 at 18:50 by the Japanese ship Kiowa Maru near Callao and sank. Of the 49 sailors on board the submarine, four drowned, including the commander, Captain Daniel Nieva Rodríguez. 23 men were able to leave the boat. They were recovered after four hours, but three of them had died of hypothermia.

The submarine sank to the bottom in about 42.5 meters within five minutes. The remaining crew on board managed, with great effort, to close the bulkheads and escape into the forward torpedo compartment. Lithium hydroxide was used over the next 20 hours to bind the carbon dioxide . Divers arrived on August 27 to assist the crew in disembarking. Because of the rapid medical treatment, only one of the 22 seamen recovered died of decompression sickness .

Recovery work on the boat began on August 30, 1988. On July 23, 1989, it was lifted. It was dismantled and parts of it were used for other submarines.

See also

Web links