USS Lapon (SS-260)

History
United States
Name:	USS Lapon
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	21 February 1942
Launched:	27 October 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Jesse B. Oldendorf
Commissioned:	23 January 1943
Decommissioned:	25 July 1946
Recommissioned:	13 April 1957
Decommissioned:	10 August 1957
Struck:	31 December 1975
Identification:	SS-260
Fate:	Transferred to Greece, 10 August 1957
Greece
Name:	Poseidon
Acquired:	10 August 1957
Struck:	April 1976
Identification:	S78
Fate:	Purchased outright in April 1976 and cannibalized for spare parts
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 0 in (5.18 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed Allis-Chalmers 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 at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (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 Lapon (SS-260), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the lapon, a scorpionfish of the Pacific coast of the United States.

Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut 21 February 1942. She was launched on 27 October 1942, sponsored by Mrs. J. B. Oldendorf, wife of Rear Admiral Jesse B. Oldendorf. Lapon was commissioned on 23 January 1943, Commander (CDR) Oliver G. Kirk (Class of 1929) in command.

Completing trials and training in Long Island Sound, Lapon departed New London for the Pacific 4 May 1943, arriving at Pearl Harbor 1 June. She departed 24 June for her first war patrol which was spent in the Sea of Okhotsk and Sea of Japan. On 3 July, Lapon, along with Permit (SS-178) and Plunger became the first U.S. submarines to slip through a mined strait into the Sea of Japan.

The entire time Lapon operated in the Sea of Japan, she was surrounded by thick fog and had problems with her radar. After she exited the Sea of Japan through La Perouse Strait, she patrolled off the east coast of Hokkaidō and Honshū. There she saw an aircraft carrier and a pair of destroyers. The escorts kept Lapon pinned down with the assistance of aircraft, and the carrier escaped.

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