USS Shark (SS-314)

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USS Shark launched
Launching of the USS Shark
Overview
Keel laying January 28, 1943
Launch October 17, 1943
1. Period of service flag
period of service

February 14, 1944-24. October 1944

Whereabouts Sunk by Japanese destroyer
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 Shark (SS-314) was a submarine of the United States Navy of Balao-class submarine . It was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton (Connecticut) on January 28, 1943, the christening and subsequent launching took place on October 17, 1943. The 95 meter long submarine was on February 14, 1944 under command Commissioned by Commander Edward Noe Blakely. It took part in several combat operations during World War II .

After commissioning, it passed the Panama Canal and drove to Pearl Harbor for training purposes , where it arrived on April 24th. The first use was a patrol: On 16 May 1944, ran Shark with target Mariana Islands of the Pacific, on the other with a group of American submarines, namely Pintado and pilot fish on the Pacific War participate. On the morning of June 2, 1944, the Shark submerged in front of an enemy unit and shot torpedoes at a Japanese tanker; However, these missed their target and hit and sank the Japanese cargo ship Chiyo Maru ( 千代 丸 ; 4,700 t). On June 4, 1944, the Shark tracked down another enemy unit and sank the heavily loaded Japanese cargo ship Katsukawa Maru ( 勝 川 丸 ). The Shark was then able to evade enemy fire through the Japanese escort system. In the afternoon of the following day, the submarine approached the convoy again. At sunset it shot six torpedoes on the freighter Tamahime Maru ( た ま ひ め 丸 ; 3,080 t) and the passenger and cargo ship Takaoka Maru ( 高 岡 丸 ; 7,006 t), both of which sank. The Shark returned to the Midway Islands for bunkering on June 17, 1944 .

On July 10, 1944, their second patrol began in the area around the volcanic island chain and Bonin Islands . On July 19, 1944, they attacked an enemy formation with four torpedoes, but they missed their targets.

On the afternoon of August 4, 1944, the Shark crew rescued two crew members from the water whose torpedo bomber belonging to the USS Lexington (CV-16) had crashed. The rescue operation ended on August 19, 1944 and the boat returned to Pearl Harbor via the Midway Islands.

The Shark's tracks were lost in the Luzon Strait in the Philippine Sea , where the boat jointly patrolled near Taiwan with USS Seadragon (SS-194) and USS Blackfish (SS-221) . On October 24, 1944, the Seadragon intercepted a radio message from the Shark that they intended to attack a ship. This was the last "sign of life". The Japanese hell ship Arisan Maru ( 阿里山 丸 ; 6,886 t) with 1,782 American prisoners of war and about 100 civilians was sunk on October 24, 1944 by the Shark or the USS Snook (SS-279); only seven people survived. This was the largest number of American casualties in American history in a single shipwreck. The review of Japanese war diaries after the end of the war revealed that the destroyer Harukaze had tracked down a submerged submarine in the Luzon Strait on October 24, 1944 and fought it with depth charges. Contact was lost, but could then be re-established. After the destroyer had thrown another 17 depth charges, “air bubbles, heavy oil, clothing and cork” came to the surface. There is some evidence that the attack sunk the USS Shark with no survivors.

Eventually the submarine was declared lost on November 27, 1944. The exact location of the wreck is unknown.

Web links

See also