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History | |
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Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine |
Laid down: | 21 August 1944 |
Launched: | 15 December 1944 |
Commissioned: | 14 April 1945 |
Decommissioned: | 1 August 1970 |
Struck: | 1 August 1970 |
Fate: | Sold for scrap, 13 June 1972 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Tench-class diesel-electric submarine |
Displacement: | |
Length: | 311 ft 8 in (95.00 m) |
Beam: | 27 ft 4 in (8.33 m) |
Draft: | 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum |
Propulsion: |
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Speed: |
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Range: | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
Endurance: |
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Test depth: | 400 ft (120 m) |
Complement: | 10 officers, 71 enlisted |
Armament: |
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USS Medregal (SS-480/AGSS-480), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the medregal, a streamlined, fast-swimming, bluish-colored fish of the jack family which abounds in waters of the West Indies and in the Atlantic as far north as the Carolinas.
Medregal's keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on 21 August 1944. She was launched on 15 December 1944, sponsored by Mrs. A. H. Taylor, and was commissioned on 14 April 1945, Commander William M. Wright in command with E. C. Linden as Exec (executive officer). Medregal departed Portsmouth in April 1945. A collision with a U.S. destroyer escort off the north coast of Panama while submerged caused major damage to the periscope shears and radar, requiring a return to Portsmouth just at the time that Germany surrendered. After repairs and Air/Sea Rescue modifications, Medregal departed New London, Connecticut, on 16 June, and steamed to participate in final operations in the Pacific against the Japanese. The surrender of Japan halted her long Pacific voyage and she returned to the Canal Zone, thence to Key West, Florida, for operations with Submarine Squadron 4.
From late 1945 to mid-1957 Medregal operated out of Key West, training Reserves, supporting activities of the Fleet Sonar School, and taking part in antisubmarine warfare exercises. Her cruises sent her along the east coast from Florida to Virginia, into the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, and to operating areas in the western Atlantic. Periodically she deployed to Guantanamo Bay and Havana, Cuba, as well us to Puerto Rico and islands of the West Indies. From March to November 1952 she underwent conversion to a Fleet Snorkel submarine at Charleston, South Carolina.