USS Bluegill (SS-242)

History
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	7 December 1942
Launched:	8 August 1943
Sponsored by:	Mrs. W. Sterling Cole
Commissioned:	11 November 1943
Decommissioned:	1 March 1946
Recommissioned:	3 May 1951
Decommissioned:	7 July 1952
Recommissioned:	2 May 1953
Decommissioned:	28 June 1969
Struck:	28 June 1969
Fate:	Scuttled as a trainer off Hawaii, 3 December 1970
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 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:	21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	300 ft (90 m)
Complement:	6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Bluegill (SS-242), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bluegill, a freshwater sunfish of the Mississippi River basin and Great Lakes.

Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, on 17 December 1942. She was launched on 8 August 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. Cole, wife of Congressman W. Sterling Cole of New York) and commissioned on 11 November 1943, with Lieutenant Commander Eric L. Barr, Jr. (Class of 1934) in command, and reported to the Pacific Fleet.

Bluegill’s war operations cover the period between 1 April 1944 and 21 June 1945, during which time she completed six war patrols in an area extending from New Guinea to Formosa and through the South China Sea and Java Sea. Bluegill sank ten Japanese vessels, totaling 46,212 tons, including the light cruiser Yubari (on 27 April 1944) and a submarine chaser.

During January 1945, Bluegill made reconnaissances in support of American liberation of the Philippines. On 28 May, she conducted a reconnaissance and bombardment of Pratas Island. Twelve men were landed and discovered that the island had recently been evacuated by the Japanese naval garrison. In a fitting ceremony on 29 May, Bluegill raised the American flag on Pratas Island and proclaimed it to be "Bluegill Island."

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Wikipedia