USS Dace (SS-247)

USS Dace (SS-247), on the left
History
United States
Name:	USS Dace (SS-247)
Builder:	General Dynamics Electric Boat, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	22 July 1942
Launched:	25 April 1943
Sponsored by:	Mrs O. P. Robertson
Commissioned:	23 July 1943
Decommissioned:	12 February 1947
Badge:	Uss dace insignia.svg
Recommissioned:	8 August 1951
Decommissioned:	15 January 1954
Recommissioned:	22 October 1954
Decommissioned:	31 January 1955
Struck:	15 October 1972
Fate:	Converted to GUPPY IB and transferred to Italy, 31 January 1955
History
Italy
Name:	Leonardo da Vinci (S-510)
Acquired:	31 January 1955
Out of service:	1973
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 kn (39 km/h) surfaced, 9 kn (17 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced @ 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged, 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	300 ft (91 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 Dace (SS-247), a Gato-class submarine, was the first submarine of the United States Navy to be named for any of several small of the carp family.

Her keel was laid down by Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut 22 July 1942. She was launched on 25 April 1943 (sponsored by Mrs O. P. Robertson), and commissioned on 23 July 1943, Lieutenant Commander Joseph F. Enright in command.

Departing New London, Connecticut on 7 September 1943, Dace arrived at Pearl Harbor on 3 October, and 17 days later sailed on her first war patrol, bound for the southeast coast of Honshū and the approaches to Nagoya. On 7 November, she made her first contact with the enemy, severely damaging a freighter with Mark 14 torpedoes. Alert action by patrol craft prevented Dace from continuing her attack. She returned to Midway Island to refit from 11 December-7 January 1944.

On her second war patrol, Dace cruised the shipping lanes south of Truk. On the night of 26 January, she contacted a large tanker, closely guarded by two escorts. She fired a spread of torpedoes, heard five explosions, and broke off the contact to avoid the pursuit of the escort. The cause of the explosion remains unknown since Japanese records show no ship damaged in that area on that date. After refueling at Tulagi on 2–3 February, Dace continued her patrol close to Truk during carrier air raids there on 16–17 February. On 25 February, she arrived at Milne Bay, New Guinea, for refit.