USS Balao (SS-285)

Balao off the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA, 25 October 1944.
History
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	26 June 1942
Launched:	27 October 1942
Commissioned:	4 February 1943
Decommissioned:	20 August 1946
Recommissioned:	4 March 1952
Decommissioned:	11 July 1963
Struck:	1 August 1963
Fate:	Sunk as a target off Florida on 6 September 1963; conning tower is a memorial at the Navy Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced, 2,414 long tons (2,453 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears two propellers 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:	20.25 kn (23.3 mph; 37.5 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 kn (10.1 mph; 16.2 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours @ 2 kn (2.3 mph; 3.7 km/h) submerged; 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	400 ft (120 m)
Complement:	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21 in (53 cm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft; 24 torpedoes) one 4 in (100 mm)/50 caliber deck gun one 40 mm (1.57 in) Bofors antiaircraft cannon two .50 cal (12.7 mm) machineguns

USS Balao (SS/AGSS-285) was the lead ship of the United States Navy's Balao-class submarines during World War II and named for the balao.

Balao's keel was laid down on 26 June 1942 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 27 October 1942, sponsored by Mrs. Jane Aylward, wife of Lieutenant Commander Theodore C. Aylward, commissioned on 4 February 1943, Lieutenant Commander Richard H. Crane (USNA Class of 1931) in command; and reported to the United States Pacific Fleet.

After a six-week training period in New London, Conn., the submarine sailed for the Pacific Theater of Operations and joined the 7th Fleet at Brisbane, Australia, on 10 July 1943.

At the end of a brief refit alongside submarine tender Fulton, Balao got underway on 25 July to begin her first war patrol. She topped off her fuel tanks from submarine rescue vessel Coucal on 29 July, and on 7 August took station in the scouting line in the sealanes between Truk and the Bismarck Archipelago. However, she made only five enemy contacts and was unable to launch a single attack. The scouting line was discontinued on 26 August, and Balao shifted to patrol the Palau–Rabaul shipping route where she fared no better. The submarine trained in emergency dives, and her crew frequently went to battle stations upon the sighting of enemy aircraft; but the patrol was not enlivened by action with surface ships before the boat moored alongside Fulton in Brisbane on 13 September for refit.