USS Pilotfish (SS-386)

History
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	15 May 1943
Launched:	30 August 1943
Commissioned:	16 December 1943
Decommissioned:	29 August 1946
Struck:	25 February 1947
Fate:	Used as a target for the Operation Crossroads atomic bomb test, 25 July 1946, and sunk
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced 2,391 tons (2,429 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 6 in (94.95 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 10-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed Elliott electric motors with reduction gears 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, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 4-inch (102 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Pilotfish (SS-386), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the pilot fish, a carangoid fish, often seen in warm latitudes in company with sharks.

Pilotfish was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in Kittery, Maine, 15 May 1943; launched 30 August 1943; sponsored by Mrs. Martha Szolmeczka Scheutz; and commissioned 16 December 1943, Lieutenant Commander Robert H. Close in command.

After underway trials, training, and shakedown in the Portsmouth area, Pilotfish departed New London 29 March 1944 for the Pacific via the Panama Canal. She reported to Commander in Chief, Pacific Fleet 10 April and joined Submarine Division 202, Submarine Squadron 20.

On 16 May, Pilotfish departed on her first patrol in company with Pintado (SS-387) and Shark (SS-314). This patrol was begun in the area west of the Mariana Islands. After a week the group sailed to an area south of Formosa and patrolled across a probable route of reinforcement or retirement of the Japanese forced engaged in the Battle of the Philippine Sea. This proved fruitless and Pilotfish set course for Majuro Atoll, Marshall Islands, arriving 4 July.

Pilotfish departed on her second war patrol in the Bonin Islands area 27 July. She performed lifeguard duty in addition to offensive patrol. She returned via Midway to Pearl Harbor, 14 September.

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Wikipedia