USS Odax (SS-484)

History
United States
Name:	USS Odax (SS-484)
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	4 December 1944
Launched:	10 April 1945
Commissioned:	11 July 1945
Decommissioned:	8 July 1972
Struck:	8 July 1972
Fate:	Transferred to Brazil, 8 July 1972
History
Brazil
Name:	Rio de Janeiro (S-13)
Acquired:	8 July 1972
Decommissioned:	1978
Fate:	Broken up, 1981
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
General characteristics (Guppy II)
Displacement:	1,870 tons (1,900 t) surfaced 2,440 tons (2,480 t) submerged
Length:	307 ft (93.6 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (7.4 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m)
Propulsion:	Snorkel added Batteries upgraded to GUPPY type, capacity expanded to 504 cells (1 × 184 cell, 1 × 68 cell, and 2 × 126 cell batteries)
Speed:	Surfaced: 18.0 knots (33.3 km/h) maximum 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h) cruising Submerged: 16.0 knots (29.6 km/h) for ½ hour 9.0 knots (16.7 km/h) snorkeling 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h) cruising
Range:	15,000 nm (28,000 km) surfaced at 11 knots (20 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 4 knots (7 km/h) submerged
Complement:	9–10 officers 5 petty officers 70 enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems:	WFA active sonar JT passive sonar Mk 106 torpedo fire control system
Armament:	10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes  (six forward, four aft) all guns removed

USS Odax (SS-484), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for odax, a brilliantly colored, red and green fish belonging to the family Scaridae, the parrot fishes. Her keel was laid down by Portsmouth Navy Yard on 4 December 1944. She was launched on 10 April 1945 sponsored by Mrs. Luise Fogarty, wife of Rhode Island Congressman John E. Fogarty, and commissioned on 11 July 1945 with Commander F. D. Walker, Jr. in command.

After shakedown off Portsmouth, Odax got underway 19 September 1945 for Guantanamo Bay to provide services to the Fleet Training Group. On 30 October, she sailed to Key West, Florida, for duty with the Fleet Sonar School and conducted operational training until September 1946.

In September 1946, as part of the Bureau of Ships post-war investigation of the high speed submarine, Odax was selected for conversion to a Greater Underwater Propulsive Power Program (GUPPY) and returned to Portsmouth. Completing conversion in August 1947, first of the GUPPY submarines, she sailed to Key West for extensive research development work.

In August 1951, Odax again sailed to Portsmouth for conversion. The major aspect was the addition of a snorkel and redesignation as a GUPPY II. She first put her snorkel to tactical use in a large scale convoy exercise in the spring of 1952.

From 1952 through 1955, Odax provided services to the Operational Development Force and Fleet Sonar School in Key West and to the Fleet Training Group in Guantanamo Bay. During 1956 she received new equipment of improved design at the Charleston Naval Shipyard and departed in December, bound for the North Atlantic, to operate with the British Fleet. Subsequent operations in 1957 included services to the Operational Development Force, training submariners in the latest tactics of undersea warfare.

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