USS Pompano (SS-181)

USS Pompano (SS-181) in San Francisco Bay, California, 1938
History
United States
Name:	Pompano
Builder:	Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	14 January 1936
Launched:	11 March 1937
Commissioned:	12 June 1937
Fate:	Possibly struck a mine north of Honshū in September 1943
General characteristics
Class and type:	Porpoise-class submarine
Displacement:	1,350 long tons (1,370 t) standard, surfaced, 1,997 long tons (2,029 t) submerged
Length:	298 ft 0 in (90.83 m) (waterline), 300 ft 6 in (91.59 m) (overall)
Beam:	25 ft ⅞ in (7.6 m)
Draft:	13 ft 9 in (4.19 m)
Propulsion:	As Built: 4 × Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) 8-cylinder double-acting diesel engines, 1,300 hp (970 kW) each, driving electrical generators, 2 × General Motors 6-241 four-cycle 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 Allis-Chalmers electric motors, 10,910 hp (8,140 kW) each, with 4.19:1 reduction gears, two shafts
Speed:	19.25 kn (35.65 km/h) surfaced, 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (20,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h), (bunkerage 92,801 US gal (351,290 l)
Endurance:	10 hours @ 5 kn (9.3 km/h), 36 hours @ minimum speed submerged
Test depth:	250 ft (76 m)
Complement:	As Built: 5 officers, 45 enlisted, 1945: 8 officers, 65 enlisted
Armament:	6 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, two aft; 16 torpedoes), 1 × 4 in (102 mm)/50 cal deck gun, 4 × 0.3 cal (7.62 mm) machineguns (2x2)

USS Pompano (SS-181), a United States Porpoise-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pompano.

Her keel was laid down on 14 January 1936 by the Mare Island Navy Yard in California. She was launched on 11 March 1937, sponsored by Mrs. Isaac I. Yates, wife of Captain Isaac I. Yates, manager of Mare Island Navy Yard. The boat was commissioned on 12 June 1937, Lieutenant Commander Lewis S. Parks in command.

Six boats were built in this group, with three different diesel engine designs from different makers. Pompano was fitted with H.O.R. (Hooven-Owens-Rentschler) 8-cylinder double-acting engines that were a license-built version of the MAN auxiliary engines of the cruiser Leipzig. Owing to the limited space available within the submarines, either opposed-piston or, in this case, double-acting engines were favoured for being more compact. Pompano's engines were a complete failure and were wrecked during trials before even leaving the Mare Island Navy Yard. Pompano was laid up for eight months until 1938 while the engines were replaced. Even then the engines were regarded as unsatisfactory and were replaced by Fairbanks-Morse opposed piston engines in 1942.