USS Mingo (SS-261)

Mingo off San Francisco, July 1945
History
United States
Name:	USS Mingo
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	21 March 1942
Launched:	30 November 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. Henry L. Pence
Commissioned:	12 February 1943
Decommissioned:	January 1947
Recommissioned:	20 May 1955
Decommissioned:	15 August 1955
Struck:	20 February 1971
Fate:	Transferred to Japan unmodified, 15 August 1955
Japan
Name:	Kuroshio
Acquired:	15 August 1955
Decommissioned:	31 March 1966
Fate:	Returned to U.S. control, 31 March 1966 sold to Japan 20 February 1971, sunk as a target 1973
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 × 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 (24 mph; 39 km/h) 9 kn (10 mph; 17 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) (surfaced)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 kn (2.3 mph; 3.7 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	300 ft (91 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 Mingo (SS-261) — a Gato-class submarine — was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the mingo snapper, a fish of the Caribbean with rough leathery skin. A Civil War ship had also been named Mingo, after an Iroquois term of reproach.

Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 30 November 1942 (sponsored by Mrs. Henry L. Pence), and commissioned on 12 February 1943, Lieutenant Commander Ralph C. "Red" Lynch, Jr., (Class of 1929) in command.

After shakedown off Long Island, Mingo sailed for Newport, RI on 1 April 1943 for three weeks of operations with the Naval Torpedo Station. She cleared New London on 16 May for the Pacific via the Panama Canal Zone.

After further training at Pearl Harbor, Mingo departed on her maiden war patrol on 25 June 1943. She made damaging attacks on three Japanese merchant ships and bombarded Sorol Island off the Palaus before returning to Pearl Harbor for refit.