USS Hawkbill (SS-366)

Hawkbill (SS-366), launches sideways into the Manitowoc River, 9 January 1944.
History
United States
Name:	USS Hawkbill (SS-366)
Builder:	Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Laid down:	7 August 1943
Launched:	9 January 1944
Commissioned:	17 May 1944
Decommissioned:	20 September 1946
Recommissioned:	1953
Decommissioned:	21 April 1953
Fate:	Transferred to the Netherlands, 21 April 1953, sold to the Netherlands, 20 February 1970
Struck:	20 February 1970
Netherlands
Name:	HNLMS Zeeleeuw (S803)
Acquired:	21 April 1953
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 24 November 1970
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 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 10-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed Elliott 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

USS Hawkbill (SS-366), a Balao-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the hawksbill, a large sea turtle (the "-s-" was inadvertently dropped at commissioning.).

Hawkbill (SS-366) was launched by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisc. 9 January 1944; sponsored by Mrs. F. W. Scanland, Jr., and commissioned 17 May 1944, Lt. Comdr. F. Worth Scanland, Jr., in command.

Following a period of training on the Great Lakes, the submarine departed 1 June 1944 from Manitowoc to begin the long journey down the Illinois River and finally by barge down the Mississippi. She arrived New Orleans 10 June and, after combat loading, sailed 16 June for training out of the submarine base, Balboa, Canal Zone. With this vital training completed, she arrived Pearl Harbor 28 July for final preparations before her first war patrol.

Departing 23 August, the submarine steamed via Saipan to her patrol area in the Philippine Islands in company with Baya and Becuna. In October Hawkbill shifted patrol to the South China Sea and, while approaching two carriers 7 October, was forced down by violent depth charging by Japanese destroyers. Two days later she attacked a 12-ship convoy with Becuna, damaging several of the ships. Hawkbill transited heavily patrolled Lombok Strait 14 October, and terminated her first patrol at Fremantle, Australia on 17 October.