USS Piper (SS-409)

History
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	15 March 1944
Launched:	26 June 1944
Commissioned:	23 August 1944
Decommissioned:	16 June 1967
Struck:	1 July 1970
Fate:	Sold for scrap, June 1971
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced 2,401 tons (2,440 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 8 in (95.00 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 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, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Piper (SS/AGSS-409), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named after the piper.

Piper (originally named Awa) was laid down 15 March 1944 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, in Kittery, Maine; launched 26 June 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Charles W. Wilkins; commissioned 23 August 1944, Commander Bernard F. McMahon in command.

Although built late in World War II, Piper completed three successful war patrols before the cessation of hostilities, operating as a life guard for plane strikes and as an advance picket for fast carrier task forces.

Piper began her war career on 25 January 1945, when she slipped out of Pearl Harbor as the leader of a five-ship wolfpack. Piper was joined in the wolfpack by Pomfret (SS-391), Bowfin (SS-287), Trepang (SS-412), and Sterlet (SS-392), known as "MAC's MOPS." The mission was an anti-picket boat sweep in preparation for carrier strikes on Honshū. After a short stop at Saipan, the pack arrived in the assigned area south of Iwo Jima 10 February. Three sweeps from 10 February to 13 February revealed no picket boats.

Piper spent the period from 15 February to 24 March off the south and southeast coasts of Honshū serving alternately on independent patrol and lifeguard duty for the then intensive B-29 and carrier strikes against Japan. On the night of 25 February, Piper found her first target. In a night surface attack, she sank an unidentified 2,000-ton vessel. The last four days before departure were spent guarding the approaches to Bungo Suido against a possible Japanese sortie on the badly-damaged carrier Franklin (CV-13).

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