USS Guardfish (SS-217)

History
United States
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	1 April 1941
Launched:	20 January 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Edward J. Marquart
Commissioned:	8 May 1942
Decommissioned:	25 May 1946
Struck:	1 June 1960
Fate:	Sunk as a target off Block Island, 10 October 1961
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 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 kn (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 Guardfish (SS-217), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the guardfish, a voracious green and silvery fish with elongated pike-like body and long narrow jaws.

Guardfish was laid down by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut. She was launched there on 20 January 1942 (sponsored by Mrs. Edward J. Marquart), and commissioned at New London, Conn., 8 May 1942, Lt. Comdr. Thomas B. Klakring in command.

After conducting shakedown out of New London, Guardfish departed that base 28 June 1942 for Pearl Harbor via the Panama Canal, and arrived there 25 July to prepare for her first cruise. Her first war patrol was in the hitherto unpatrolled waters off northeast Honshū. Guardfish departed Pearl Harbor 6 August 1942, sank a trawler 22 August, and two days later sank 3,114 ton cargo ship Seikai Maru off Kinkasan Harbor. Evading escort vessels, she proceeded up the coast and found a convoy 2 September. Guardfish attacked the next day, sinking 5,253 ton Kaimei Maru and 1,118 ton cargo ship Tenyu Maru. Chita Maru, a 2,376 ton freighter, retreated into the harbor and anchored, but a remarkable long-range shot from Guardfish left her resting in the mud. Guardfish returned from her spectacularly successful first patrol to Midway for refit 15 September 1942.

Guardfish departed Midway on her second war patrol 30 September and headed for the East China Sea. Surviving a violent attack by patrolling aircraft 19 October, Guardfish closed a seven-ship convoy 21 October, sinking a 4,000-ton freighter and 6,362 ton Nichiho Maru north of Formosa as the convoy scattered. After evading pursuing aircraft and surface ships, Guardfish returned to Pearl Harbor 28 November 1942. For her outstanding success on these first two war patrols, Guardfish received a Presidential Unit Citation.

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Wikipedia