USS Plaice (SS-390)

History
United States
Name:	USS Plaice (SS-390)
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	28 June 1943
Launched:	15 November 1943
Commissioned:	12 February 1944
Decommissioned:	November 1947
Recommissioned:	18 May 1963
Decommissioned:	7 September 1963
Struck:	1 April 1973
Fate:	Transferred to Brazil, 7 September 1963
History
Brazil
Name:	Bahia (S-12)
Acquired:	7 September 1963
Out of service:	1972
Fate:	Dismantled, 1973
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced 2,391 long 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 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Plaice (SS-390), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the plaice, one of the various American flatfish; summer flounder. She participated in the Pacific War campaign of World War II, receiving six battle stars for her service. The United States later transferred her to Brazil in a joint cooperation program.

Plaice was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine on 14 July 1943; launched on 15 November 1943, sponsored by Miss Eleanor Fazzi; and commissioned on 12 February 1944, Lieutenant Commander Clyde B. Stevens in command.

Following shakedown and training, Plaice got underway for the Panama Canal Zone on 15 April, and arrived Pearl Harbor on 13 May. She departed on her first war patrol in the Bonin Islands area on 3 June. Plaice torpedoed and sank Hyakufuku Maru on 30 June; Kogi Maru on 5 July; and Submarine Chaser No. 50 on 18 July, before returning to Midway Island.

The submarine was off on her second war patrol on 17 August, this time in the Nansei Shoto area. In the early afternoon on 7 September, Plaice scored one torpedo hit on a Kongō Maru-class liner converted to an auxiliary cruiser. On 24 September, Plaice launched four torpedoes at a Fusō-class battleship, briefly stopping its screws.

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