USS Irex (SS-482)

History
United States
Name:	Irex
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	2 October 1944
Launched:	26 January 1945
Commissioned:	14 May 1945
Decommissioned:	17 November 1969
Struck:	17 November 1969
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 13 September 1971
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tench-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,570 tons (1,595 t) surfaced 2,414 tons (2,453 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 8 in (95.00 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 10-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 2 × low-speed direct-drive Elliott electric motors 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, 71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft) 28 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Irex (SS-482), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the irex, one of the oceanic fishes belonging to the family carangidae. Her keel was laid down on 2 October 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 26 January 1945 sponsored by Mrs. Allen J. Ellender, wife of Senator Ellender of Louisiana, and commissioned on 14 May 1945 with Commander J. D. Crowley in command.

After shakedown in the New London, Connecticut, area, Irex sailed for the Pacific via the Panama Canal. While she was in the Canal Zone, the war ended. Irex was ordered to Key West, Florida, where she joined Submarine Squadron 4. She spent the remainder of the year there and at Guantanamo Bay conducting exercises. By December 1946 the Navy had completed plans for the modern telescopic snorkel (a device to enable diesel-powered submarines to run submerged for long periods of time), and Irex was ordered to Portsmouth for installation and test of this equipment. She spent July 1947 to February 1948 evaluating her new apparatus and joined Submarine Squadron 8 at New London as the U.S. Navy's first operational snorkel submarine.

For the next three years Irex trained out of New London and off the Virginia Capes. In May 1951 she was assigned patrol duty in the North Atlantic and in August commenced operations out of Key West and Cuba. Returning to New London in the fall, Irex continued her important training out of New England and in the Caribbean Sea until 26 October 1953 when she sailed for the Mediterranean Sea to join the Sixth Fleet. Returning to New London 3 February 1954 Irex resumed her operations along the East Coast and in the Caribbean for the next two years.

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