USS Cabrilla (SS-288)

Cabrilla (SS-288) arrives at Freemantle harbor after a war patrol during the Second War.
Overview
Keel laying	August 18, 1942
Launch	December 24, 1942
1. Period of service
Whereabouts	Retired June 30, 1968; Museum ship in Galveston until 1972; Wrecked in 1972
Technical specifications
displacement	1526  ts surfaced 2424 ts surfaced
length	95.0 meters
width	8.3 meters
Draft	5.1 meters (maximum)
Diving depth	120 meters
crew	10 officers , 70 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 × 53.3 cm torpedo tubes (6 in the bow; 4 in the stern) 1 × 10.2 cm (4 inch) gun 1945 replaced by: 1 × 12.7 cm (5 inch) 1 × 4.0 cm Bofors FlaK 2 × 12.7 mm  Browning M2 MGs later 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon MK

The USS Cabrilla (SS / AGSS-288) was a submarine of the Balao class and served in the US Navy , mostly as part of the Pacific Fleet and was during the Second World War in the Pacific theater used. The boat was as common at the time, named in the US Navy for a fish, here the comber ( Serranus cabrilla ).

Technology and armament

The Cabrilla was a Balao-class diesel-electric patrol submarine. The Balao class was only slightly improved compared to the Gato class and, like those, was designed for long offensive patrols in the Pacific . In particular, the diving depth has been increased and the interior has been improved based on experiences during the war against Japan . Outwardly and in their dimensions, the boats of both classes were largely the same.

technology

The Cabrilla was 95 meters long and 8.3 meters wide, the maximum draft was 5.1 meters. When surfaced it displaced 1526 ts , and when submerged it displaced  2424 ts. The drive was carried out by four 16-cylinder diesel engines from General Motors Model 16-278A, each 1,350 horsepower delivered. 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 Cabrilla still managed 8.75 knots. The maximum possible diving time was 48 hours at crawl speed, the highest diving depth was 120 meters. 440 cubic meters of diesel oil could be stored in the fuel tanks , giving the boat a range of 11,000 nautical miles at 10 knots.

Armament

The main armament consisted of ten 533 mm torpedo tubes , six in the bow, four aft, for which 24 torpedoes were on board. A four-inch deck gun was installed in front of the turret . At the conservatory were a 40-mm-FlaK and two 12.7 mm machine guns , later, two 20-mm machine guns for anti-aircraft housed. For locating enemy ships ordered the Cabrilla a JK / QC - and a QB - sonar under the bow, on deck were JP - hydrophones installed. On extendable electronics mast was a SD - radar with 20 mile range reconnaissance to locate enemy aircraft attached, in addition, the submarine had a SJ -Oberflächensuchradar with about twelve nautical miles range. When submerged, enemy ships could also be located using the ST radar attached to the periscope with a range of eight nautical miles.

history

The Cabrilla was laid down on August 18, 1942 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Maine . The launch took place on December 24, 1942. Godmother was Mrs. LB Combs. On May 24, 1943, the boat was put into service.

Operations in World War II

The first in command of the boat was Commander Douglas Thompson Hammond. After equipment and training, he went by boat through the Panama Canal into the Pacific , where the boat was to be used in the war against Japan . Cabrilla arrived in Pearl Harbor on August 30, 1943 . From here she set out on her first patrol on September 12th . Their first patrol was largely unsuccessful. The most important event was the evacuation of four Filipino guerrilla fighters from a Filipino island. These were taken on board and taken to Fremantle , Australia , from where the boat operated for the next five sorties. She did not score sinkings on her first mission, but she was able to torpedo and damage the aircraft carrier Taiyo .

On their second voyage into Japanese-controlled waters, the Cabrilla laid mines in the Gulf of Siam . A short time later she sank the Tamon Maru # 8 (2704 ts) . The journey ended again in Fremantle.

The subsequent third patrol was unsuccessful.

Before the start of the next mission, the command on the Cabrilla changed . The new commandant was Lieutenant Commander WC Thompson, Jr. The fourth patrol in the Celebes Sea and the Strait of Makassar was more successful. On May 26, the Cabrilla sank the large Japanese transporter Sanyo Maru (8360 ts) in the Celebes Sea. On June 4, a smaller Japanese ship was also destroyed by artillery fire.

On her fifth mission in the same region, she sank the Japanese troop carrier Maya Maru (3145 ts) on June 17, 1944 and torpedoed and damaged another troop carrier, the Natsukawa Maru (4739 ts) on the west coast of the island of Mindanao .

The sixth mission was so far the last that the Cabrilla undertook from Fremantle. This led them into the South China Sea and off the coast of Luzon . On October 1, 1944, when attacking a Japanese convoy, she sank the tanker Kyokuho Maru (10059 ts) and the tanker Zuiyo Maru (7385 ts) by torpedo hits. In another attack on a convoy on October 6, the troop transporter Hokurei Maru (2407 ts) and the tanker Yamamizu Maru # 2 (5154 ts) were sunk. The next day the troop transport Shinyo Maru No. 8 (1959 ts) sunk from the same convoy. In total, the Cabrilla sank 24,557 ts of ship space on this patrol. She then ran back to the east coast of the United States via Pearl Harbor to undergo an overhaul in Philadelphia . After the stay at the shipyard, she returned to Japanese waters under the new commandant Henry Conrad Lauerman. During the seventh war mission it operated unsuccessfully in the Kuril Islands , during the eighth and last war mission in the waters off the Japanese main islands, it served as a rescue ship for crashed US aircraft crews.

The Cabrilla was awarded a total of six Battle Stars for its war missions .

Cold war and whereabouts

After an overhaul, the Cabrilla drove to Panama for training from February 19 to March 17, 1946 . She was then transferred to the reserve fleet.

From 1962 to 1968 she was used again, rededicated as an auxiliary submarine (AGSS), mainly as a training ship in the US Navy. On June 30, 1968 she was deleted from the fleet register. Originally intended as a museum ship in Galveston , Texas , she was sold for scrapping in April 1972 due to a lack of funds and her poor condition.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Lenton, HT, American Submarines. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1973.
2. ↑ The Balao Class on fleetsubmarine.com
3. ↑ ^{a b} USS Cabrilla on uboat.net  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; The USS Cabrilla in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS).  
4. ↑ ^{a b} USS Cabrilla in DANFS
5. ↑ ^{a b} USS Cabrilla on uboat.net.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ DANFS ; Successes of the Cabrilla .

literature

• Keith, Don Final Patrol - True Stories of World War II Submarines . New York: NAL Caliber, 2006.

Web links

Commons : USS Cabrilla (SS-288)  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files

• The USS Cabrilla in the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships (DANFS)
• List of sinkings: USS Cabrilla
• Events of the first six fine trips on uboat.net