USS Cubera (SS-347)

History
United States
Name:	USS Cubera
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	11 May 1944
Launched:	17 June 1945
Commissioned:	19 December 1945
Decommissioned:	5 January 1972
Struck:	5 January 1972
Identification:	SS-347
Fate:	Transferred to Venezuela, 5 January 1972
Venezuela
Name:	ARV Tiburon
Acquired:	1972
Identification:	S-12
Fate:	Scrapped, 1989
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced 2,424 tons (2,463 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 (38 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 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 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon
General characteristics (Guppy II)
Class and type:	none
Displacement:	1,870 tons (1,900 t) surfaced 2,440 tons (2,480 t) submerged
Length:	307 ft (93.6 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (7.4 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m)
Propulsion:	Snorkel added Batteries upgraded to GUPPY type, capacity expanded to 504 cells (1 × 184 cell, 1 × 68 cell, and 2 × 126 cell batteries) 4 × high-speed electric motors replaced with 2 × low-speed direct drive electric motors
Speed:	Surfaced: 18.0 knots (20.7 mph; 33.3 km/h) maximum 13.5 knots (15.5 mph; 25.0 km/h) cruising Submerged: 16.0 knots (18.4 mph; 29.6 km/h) for ½ hour 9.0 knots (10.4 mph; 16.7 km/h) snorkeling 3.5 knots (4.0 mph; 6.5 km/h) cruising
Range:	15,000 nm (28,000 km) surfaced at 11 knots (13 mph; 20 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 4 knots (5 mph; 7 km/h) submerged
Complement:	9–10 officers 5 petty officers 70 enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems:	WFA active sonar JT passive sonar Mk 106 torpedo fire control system
Armament:	10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes  (six forward, four aft) all guns removed

USS Cubera (SS-347), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the cubera, a large fish of the snapper family found in the West Indies.

Cubera (SS-347) was launched 17 June 1945 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by Mrs. J. Taber; commissioned 19 December 1945, Lieutenant Commander R. W. Paine, Jr., in command; and reported to the Atlantic Fleet.

After shakedown training off New London, Cubera arrived at Key West, Fla., 19 March 1946. She tested sonar equipment, provided services to experimental antisubmarine warfare development projects in the Florida Straits, and joined in fleet exercises until 4 July 1947 when she sailed to Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for an extensive GUPPY II modernization.

Returning to Key West 9 March 1948 Cubera continued to operate locally out of this port, as well as taking part in fleet exercises in the Caribbean and Atlantic until 3 July 1952 when she arrived at Norfolk, her new home port.

Cubera appeared in Ray Harryhausen's It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), playing an "atomic sub" used to dispatch the film's giant octopus.

Through 1957 Cubera conducted local operations, and participated in fleet exercises in the Caribbean, as well as cruising to Sydney, Nova Scotia, in June 1955. During 1959 and 1960, she was assigned to Task Force Alfa, a force conducting constant experiments to improve antisubmarine warfare techniques. With this group she cruised the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia to Bermuda.

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