USS Carbonero (SS-337)

USS Carbonero (SS-337) about to tie up inboard of Gudgeon (SS-567) at Pearl Harbor, c. 1963.
History
Ordered:	10 April 1942
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	16 December 1943
Launched:	15 October 1944
Commissioned:	7 February 1945
Decommissioned:	1 December 1970
Struck:	1 December 1970
Fate:	Sunk as a target off Pearl Harbor, 27 April 1975
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 tons (1550 t) surfaced 2,424 tons (2460 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 knots (37 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nm (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	400 ft (120 m)
Complement:	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 4-inch (102 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Carbonero (SS/AGSS-337) was a Balao-class submarine, the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the carbonero, a salt-water fish found in the West Indies. Her keel was laid down on 16 December 1943 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 19 October 1944 sponsored by Mrs. S.S. Murray, and commissioned on 7 February 1945 with Commander Charlton L. Murphy, Jr. in command.

Sailing from New London, Connecticut, on 21 March 1945, Carbonero served with the Fleet Sonar School at Key West, Florida, and conducted torpedo exercises at Balboa, Canal Zone, before arriving at Pearl Harbor on 9 May. Her first war patrol, conducted off Formosa from 26 May to 8 July, was devoted to lifeguard duty, standing by for possible rescue of aviators downed in aircraft carrier strikes. After refitting at Subic Bay, Carbonero cleared for the Gulf of Siam on 4 August, and cruising off the east coast of the Malay Peninsula, sank four schooners, two sampans, and two junks, some of the small remnants of the Japanese merchant fleet. This second war patrol ended with the cease fire order on 15 August, and Carbonero put back to Subic Bay.

Carbonero reported at Seattle, Washington, on 22 September 1945 for operations on the west coast. After a simulated war patrol to the Far East early in 1947, she was assigned to the Submarine Guided Missile Program, joining her sister ship Cusk (SS-348) as a control vessel operating out of San Diego, California, and Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme, California. Assigned to the Regulus Missile Program, Carbonero was redesignated an Auxiliary Submarine (AGSS-337) in 1949.