USS Balao (SS-285)

USS Balao (SS-285)
Overview
Keel laying	June 26, 1942
Launch	October 27, 1942
1. Period of service
period of service	Feb. 4, 1943 to Aug. 20, 1946 March 4, 1952 to July 11, 1963
Whereabouts	sunk
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

The USS Balao (SS-285) was a submarine of the United States Navy and lead ship of Balao-class submarine . It served in the US Navy from 1943 to 1946 and again from 1952 to 1963. During her missions in the Pacific, she sank ten Japanese ships in three years. The submarine was best known through the film Company Petticoat , where it was used as the fictional submarine USS Sea Tiger .

technology

The Balao was 95 meters long and 8.3 meters wide, the draft was 4.6 meters. When surfaced it displaced 1526 ts , and when submerged it displaced 2424 ts. It was powered by four 16-cylinder diesel engines from General Motors , each delivering 1350 hp. Under water, the submarine was powered by four electric motors with a total of 2740 hp, which obtained their energy from two 126-cell accumulators . The motors gave their power via a gearbox on two shafts with one screw each. The maximum surfaced speed was 20.25 knots , submerged the Balao still managed 8.75 knots. The possible diving time was 48 hours, the maximum diving depth was 120 meters. 440 cubic meters of fuel could be stored in the fuel tanks, giving the boat a range of 11,000 nautical miles at 11 knots.

The main armament consisted of ten 533 mm torpedo tubes , six in the bow, four aft, for which 24 torpedoes were on board. A 4-inch deck gun was installed in front of the tower when it was commissioned; this was later replaced by a 5-inch gun. Two light 7.62 mm M1919 machine guns and two heavy 12.7 mm M2 anti-aircraft guns were housed in the winter garden . During the war, the machine guns were replaced by a 40-mm anti-aircraft gun and two 20-mm automatic cannons . For locating enemy ships at their disposal Balao a JK / QC - and a QB -Sonar under the bow, on deck were JP - hydrophones installed. An SD radar with a 20 nautical mile reconnaissance range for locating enemy aircraft was attached to the extendable electronic mast, and the submarines also had an SJ surface search radar with a range of around 12 nautical miles. When submerged, enemy ships could also be located via the ST radar with a range of 8 nautical miles attached to the periscope .

history

The Balao was launched in October 1942

Construction and commissioning

The keel was laid on June 26, 1942 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine . After the christening by Mrs. Theodore C. Aylward, the ship was launched on October 27, 1942, the commissioning took place after further equipment work on February 4, 1943 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Richard H. Crane. The ship was named after the Brazilian half-beak , called Balao or Ballyhoo in English . Until mid-March, the boat operated for training purposes from the Naval Submarine Base New London , then it set out for the Pacific, where it was assigned to the 7th US Fleet on July 10, 1943 in Brisbane .

Second World War

1943

The Balao undertook its first patrol from July 25 in the sea area between Truk and the Bismarck Archipelago . Much of the mission was spent with combat and alert diving exercises to check and improve the readiness of the crew. On September 13th, the submarine returned to Brisbane.

The second mission took the boat from October 4th together with the Silversides via Tulagi to the Bismarck Archipelago, where they monitored the shipping routes between Rabaul and Palau. On October 17, the Balao attacked a Japanese convoy with a volley of six torpedoes, which the ships avoided. The convoy's escort ships filled the submarine with depth charges , it escaped, but lost contact with the convoy. In a joint attack with the Silversides on a convoy on October 23, three of seven ships were sunk with a joint volley of ten torpedoes before the escorts fired at the submarine and forced it to submerge. After a refueling stop on Tulagi, the Balao ran to Truk, where it attacked two other freighters on November 4, but did not hit them. On November 7th she ran into Milne Bay , where she took over fuel and ammunition from the submarine supplier Fulton .

On December 6th the boat ran out again, the third patrol began with weapons exercises, which were carried out together with the submarine recovery ship Coucal . After further communication and identification exercises, the actual mission drive began on December 13th. The first two weeks were uneventful, but on 27 December, a task force made up of two crossed cruisers of the Mogami class and two destroyers of Asashio class the course of the submarine. The formation ran at high speed and maneuvered the boat so that only a salvo of three torpedoes could be fired at the second cruiser, but the ship missed.

1944

On January 1, the Balao sonar caught a large steamer accompanied by two escorts. Covered by rain, she crept near the ships and shot six torpedoes at the steamer. Three torpedoes hit while the submarine descended to avoid the depth charges of the escort ships. When it reappeared the next morning, the convoy had disappeared and the Balao commander was certain that he had sunk the steamer. A few days later, however, a severely damaged freighter was sighted, which turned out to be the attacked ship on January 1st. Another attack was repulsed by the escorts, on January 7 the submarine was then ordered back to Brisbane, where it arrived on January 15.

After some repairs, the Balao set sail again on February 6, this time in the direction of New Guinea , where it began patrols on February 13. The first contact with the enemy took place on the night of February 23, when the submarine sighted two freighters with a small escort ship. Six torpedoes were shot down on the larger of the two freighters, three of which hit their target. After the escort had been shaken off, the Balao returned to the sinking site to verify the sinking. A survivor was rescued who confirmed that his ship, the Nikki Maru , sank quickly after the hits. Three days later the boat was not fired because the Gato had already shot her torpedoes at the convoy and the startled escort ships drove the Balao out of the sea area. On February 28, the lookout made out smoke on the horizon, and shortly after midnight the submarine began its attack on the Japanese convoy, which consisted of three freighters and several light escorts. The salvo from the stern torpedo tubes triggered several heavy explosions, because of the thick smoke the crew of the submarine could only follow on the radar how two contacts disappeared. In the following days the submarine attacked Japanese freighters several times, but all torpedoes either undermined their targets or failed. Since all the torpedoes had been fired, the Balao first drove to Langemak Bay, where she took fuel and provisions from the Coucal . She then continued her journey to Pearl Harbor , where she arrived on March 19.

The Balao in the Mare Island Navy Yard, October 1944

After extensive maintenance work and some exercises off the coast, the submarine ran out of Pearl Harbor on April 25 and returned to the operational area off Palau after a refueling stop on the Midway Islands . On May 14, the boat came into contact with a Japanese convoy, but an attack on the freighters was prevented by the accompanying escort ships. In the days that followed, problems with the surface search radar made it impossible to track the convoy, so the Balao began looking for new targets. On June 1, a convoy of four ships was sighted and the boat launched a volley of six torpedoes. Two torpedoes hit, but another attack was prevented by the convoy's escort ships. In the evening the boat positioned itself for another attack, but was forced to submerge by Japanese planes and lost contact with the ships. Due to a lack of fuel, the Balao drove to the Majuro Atoll , where it stashed supplies with the utility Sperry .

On July 5, the sixth patrol journey of the submarine began, the patrol area was again in front of Palau. In the following three weeks there were no worthwhile contacts. On July 26th, the Balao was involved in the bombardment of the Japanese positions on Angaur and took a lighthouse under fire with her 5-inch deck gun. On the same day, the boat's crew rescued a pilot from the carrier Bunker Hill who had been flooded and brought him to safety on the destroyer Dortch . The following day, two more pilots were saved from Peleliu . Two days later, the Balao and the drum attacked two Japanese sampans and sank them with its 5-inch gun. The patrol lasted until August 12 next, then the submarine went along with the destroyer Conyngham to Saipan, from there it was ordered to the US West Coast, where on August 20 for major overhaul in Mare Iceland Navy Yard into Dock went.

After the work, the submarine returned to Hawaii on November 15, from where it left for Saipan on December 4, together with the submarines Spot and Icefish . After refilling the supplies and fuel tanks, the Balao began her seventh patrol voyage in the Yellow Sea .

1945

The mission was uneventful at first, but on January 2nd the lookout sighted the masts of a sailing ship that was sunk with three torpedoes. On January 8, another ship was sighted and the Balao took up attack position. Of the six torpedoes that were shot down, three hit the supposed tanker, who nevertheless continued to swim. Even after three more hits, the heavily damaged ship remained buoyant. Only a third salvo from three other torpedoes at close range brought the Daigo Maru , a freighter with 5244 tons, to sink. The mission then lasted until January 19, when the boat went to Guam to pick up supplies.

Return of the Balao to Guam

Together with the Tench , the Guardfish and the Sea Devil , the Balao left the East China Sea on February 27 . On March 9, they attacked a small convoy, but all four torpedoes missed their target and the submarine had to submerge to escape the depth charges of the escorts. In the following eight days there were no worthwhile targets, on March 18 a small trawler with the deck gun was sunk. The next morning the lookout spotted a convoy of four transporters, which was accompanied by four escort ships. Ten torpedoes were shot down on the three largest ships, four of which hit. The thick smoke and darkness made it impossible to verify the sinking, but the Balao was credited with sinking the Hakozaki Maru , a 10,413 ton freighter. In the afternoon the boat attacked a group of trawlers, one of which was sunk and three set on fire. On the afternoon of March 21, the submarine chased another convoy, on which four torpedoes were shot down, but the escort ships, which had already prevented several approaches, forced the submarine to submerge, so that the results of the attack were not followed could become. On March 26th, the Balao sank the small Japanese freighter Shinto Maru No. 1 with her deck gun, the counterattack of a small escort boat, she dived away and made her way back to Guam. On April 2, an emergency diving maneuver attempted to evade a Japanese reconnaissance aircraft caused electrical defects in the tower due to water infiltration. Despite the damage, the boat returned unscathed to Apra Harbor on Guam on April 8 .

The ninth voyage began on May 9th and led the boat back into the Yellow Sea, where it operated together with the Dragonet , the Shad and the Spikefish in a "wolfpack". Plagued by technical problems, the boats made few worthwhile destinations. On May 19, the Balao fired three torpedoes, which missed the target, but a medium freighter, but instead sank a small junk. On May 23, the aft thrusters failed and the boat was ordered to return to Pearl Harbor. Along the way, two sick crew members from other boats were picked up and brought ashore at Midway on June 3rd. Four days later the submarine entered Pearl Harbor.

Balao war flag with sink markings

After repairs were completed, the boat left for the tenth patrol trip on July 7th, this time the area of ​​operation was west of the Japanese main island of Honshu . Assigned to the escort ship for the aircraft carriers, four pilots were rescued from the water, Japanese ships were hardly sighted. Only one small guard boat was sunk on August 14th and another was damaged. On August 15, the order arrived to stop the fire, the Balao handed over the rescued naval aviators to the Peto and set out for Hawaii, where they arrived on August 25. On August 31, she left Pearl Harbor again and drove to Staten Island , where the boat was again overhauled. Until the decommissioning on August 20, 1946, the boat did not leave the port, then it was towed to New London, where it was assigned to the reserve fleet.

The Balao has sunk six major Japanese ships totaling 32,108 GRT during their deployment in the Pacific, to come smaller vessels and a Japanese patrol boat 1100 GRT were sunk with the gun. She received nine Battle Stars for her work.

Second period of use

Balao during an exercise off Brazil, 1961

The second commissioning of the submarine took place on March 4, 1952 in the New London Submarine Base under the command of Lieutenant Commander SV Hadley. The Balao was after the first training runs the fourth submarine squadron of the US Atlantic Fleet allocated and to Key West , Florida moved. There she was mostly used as a training ship for anti-submarine missions or special missions in the Florida region and the base in Guantánamo Bay . After several port visits to cities on the southeast coast of the United States, the boat took part as part of Destroyer Squadron 24 in a combined ASW exercise that took the association to South America from January 6, 1957 . After joint exercises with the South American navies, the association visited the ports of Caracas , Rio de Janeiro , Montevideo , Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata . On March 22nd, the Balao returned to Key West.

In the first half of 1958, the boat ran four times for one month each to Guantanamo, where it served as a training partner for surface ships that carried out so-called "refresher trainings" with their crews. On July 19, the Balao then left her home port and docked for overhaul at the Charleston Naval Shipyard . The work was completed on November 13th, after which the boat began refresher exercises off New London. On November 30, the submarine returned to Key West, where a joint exercise with the Archerfish followed, which lasted twelve days.

At the beginning of 1959, the Balao was involved in the filming of Blake Edwards war comedy Company Petticoat , it portrayed the fictional submarine USS Sea Tiger . During the filming, the boat was given a complete coat of pink paint . After the end of the shooting, the submarine was classified as a training boat on April 1 and was given the designation AGSS-285 . On March 3, the boat simulated a sunken submarine to test a new rescue device that could enable the crew to rescue from the boat. From a depth of 97 meters, Commander WF Mazzone and Lieutenant HE Steinke, the inventor of the so-called Steinke canopy , rose unscathed to the sea surface in 55 seconds, setting a new record. From June 28th to November 4th, the boat went to dock to overhaul the hull and replace the batteries. After completing the shipyard work, the Balao returned to Key West and resumed training. From April 1962, the boat took part as part of the 6th US fleet in exercises with various NATO fleets in the Mediterranean, which lasted until the outbreak of the Cuba crisis . During the crisis, the submarine was used in the Atlantic, but then returned to normal training.

In 1963 the Board of Inspection and Survey decided that the Balao was no longer operational. On August 1, the boat was decommissioned at its home port in Key West.

The Balao tower was painted pink in 1975

fate

On the day of decommissioning, the submarine was deleted from the US Navy ship register. The tower of the boat was dismantled, the hull was then towed to sink as a target off the coast of Florida, where it was sunk on September 6th after extensive weapon tests. The tower was erected in front of the United States Navy Museum in the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, DC . In 1975 it was painted pink for a few months in memory of the Balao film role . In 2001 the tower was dismantled and thoroughly restored. During the work, the wooden planking of the decks in particular was renewed. After the work was completed, the tower was re-erected in front of the museum in 2002, where it is still fully accessible to the public.

Web links

Commons : USS Balao (SS-285)  - Album containing pictures, videos and audio files

• History of Balao (SS-285) in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (English)
• Pictures of the Balao at navsource.org (English)
• Balao at submarinesailor.com (English)
• Pictures of the Balao Tower before and after the restoration

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Balao Class Submarine - Attack Sub - Fleet Submarine - History of WW2. In: Fleet Submarine - History of WW2 Submarines. November 1, 2015, Retrieved November 17, 2019 (American English). 
2. ^ From Dictionary of American Fighting Ships. Retrieved November 17, 2019 . 
3. ^ Balao (SS-285). Retrieved November 17, 2019 (American English). 

This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on June 21, 2007 .