USS Plunger (SS-179)

History


Name:	USS Plunger
Namesake:	Plunger, a diver or daring gambler
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	17 July 1935
Launched:	8 July 1936
Sponsored by:	Miss Edith E. Greenlee
Commissioned:	19 November 1936
Decommissioned:	15 November 1945
Struck:	6 July 1956
Fate:	Sold for breaking up, 22 April 1957
General characteristics
Class and type:	Porpoise-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,350 long tons (1,370 t) standard, surfaced 1,997 long tons (2,029 t) submerged
Length:	298 ft (91 m) (waterline), 300 ft 6 in (91.59 m) (overall)
Beam:	25 ft 0.875 in (7.64223 m)
Draft:	13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
Propulsion:	(as built) 4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38A8 8-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines, 1,300 hp (970 kW) each, driving electrical generators 3 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 6-38A5 opposed piston auxiliary diesels (re-engined) 4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8⅛ opposed piston diesels, 1,365 hp (1,018 kW) each; one Fairbanks-Morse Model 7-38A5¼ opposed piston auxiliary diesel 2 × 120-cell Gould AMTX33HB batteries 4 × high-speed Elliott electric motors with 4.84:1reduction gears, 1,090 hp (810 kW) each two shafts
Speed:	19.25 knots (36 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) (bunkerage 92,801 US gallons (351,290 l)
Endurance:	10 hours at 5 knots (9.3 km/h), 36 hours at minimum speed submerged
Test depth:	250 ft (76 m)
Complement:	(as built) 5 officers, 45 enlisted (1945) 8 officers, 65 enlisted
Armament:	6 × 21 inch (533 mm) (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, two aft, 16 torpedoes) 1 × 4 in (100 mm)/50;caliber deck gun 4 × .30 cal (7.62 mm) machineguns (2 twin mounts)

USS Plunger (SS-179), a Porpoise-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named plunger after a diver or a daring gambler. Unlike most American submarines of the day, she was not named for a fish or other sea-dwelling creature.

The second Plunger was laid down 17 July 1935 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine; launched 8 July 1936 and sponsored by Miss Edith E. Greenlee, eldest daughter of Captain Halford R. Greenlee, Acting Commandant of the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was commissioned 19 November 1936, Lt. George L. Russell (later commander of Submarine Squadron 10) in command.

Plunger departed Gravesend Bay, N.Y. 15 April 1937 for a shakedown cruise to Guantanamo Bay, the Canal Zone, and Guayaquil, Ecuador. In November, following post-shakedown alterations at Portsmouth, she steamed to San Diego to join SubDiv 14, SubRon 6 (Submarine Division 14, Submarine Squadron 6). Continuing operations in the San Diego area for the next several years, Plunger joined Holland (AS–3) and five Porpoise-class boats 15 March 1938 for a cruise to Dutch Harbor, Alaska. Training cruises to waters off Panama and Hawaii occupied the next several years. On 30 November 1941 she reported to Pearl Harbor and was off Diamond Head when Japanese planes attacked 7 December.

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