USS Porpoise (SS-172)

History

United States
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	27 October 1933
Launched:	20 June 1935
Commissioned:	15 August 1935
Decommissioned:	15 November 1945
Struck:	13 August 1956
Fate:	Sold for scrap on 14 May 1957
General characteristics
Class and type:	Porpoise-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,310 long tons (1,330 t) standard, surfaced, 1,934 long tons (1,965 t) submerged
Length:	283 ft 0 in (86.26 m) (waterline), 301 ft 0 in (91.74 m) (overall)
Beam:	24 ft 11 ³⁄₄ in (7.614 m)
Draft:	13 ft 10 in (4.22 m)
Propulsion:	As Built: 4 × Winton Model 16-201A 16-cylinder two-cycle diesel engines, 1,300 hp (970 kW) each, driving electrical generators through reduction gears, 2 × 120-cell Exide VL31B batteries, 4 × high-speed Elliott electric motors, total 2,085 hp (1,555 kW) three General Motors six-cylinder four-cycle 6-228 auxiliary diesels Re-engined (1942): 4 × GM two-cycle Model 12-278A diesels, 1,200 hp (0.89 MW) each, two shafts
Speed:	19 kn (35 km/h) surfaced, 8 kn (15 km/h) submerged
Range:	6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h), 22,000 nmi (41,000 km) @ 8 kn (15 km/h) with fuel in the main ballast tanks, (bunkerage 93,129 US gallons (352,530 L) maximum, 89,945 US gallons (340,480 L) typical, 1944)
Endurance:	10 hours @ 5 kn (9.3 km/h), 36 hours at minimum speed submerged
Test depth:	250 ft (76 m)
Complement:	5 officers, 9 chief petty officers, 42 enlisted (1944)
Armament:	6 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (four forward, two aft; 16 torpedoes), (two external bow tubes added 1942), 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/50 cal deck gun, 2 × 0.3 cal (7.62 mm) machineguns

USS Porpoise (SS–172), the fifth United States Navy ship to bear her name, was the lead ship of her class of submarines. She was laid down at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine on 27 October 1933; launched on 20 June 1935, sponsored by Miss Eva Croft; and commissioned on 15 August 1935, Lieutenant Commander Stuart S. Murray in command.

After shakedown, Porpoise transited the Panama Canal and joined the Pacific Fleet at San Diego on 1 September 1936. After gunnery and torpedo practice off the west coast of the United States, she participated in Fleet Problem XVIII in the Hawaiian area, April–May 1937, and toward the end of the year underwent extensive overhaul at Mare Island Navy Yard. In January 1938, she returned to Pearl Harbor for fleet exercises, and on 19 November 1939 got underway for Manila to join the Asiatic Fleet. From December 1939-December 1941, she was engaged in various exercises with Submarines, Asiatic Fleet.

At the outbreak of the war with Japan on December 7, 1941, Porpoise - commanded by Joseph A. Callaghan - was at Olongapo, P.I., undergoing a refit. With all four main engines being overhauled and her entire after battery out, the required work was accomplished in record time. She moved to Manila on 20 December, and two days later was underway on her first war patrol - from 22 December 1941 – 31 January 1942 - in Lingayen Gulf and the South China Sea off French Indochina. Retiring by way of Balikpapan, Borneo, where the Dutch were demolishing their oil wells, Porpoise attacked two ships without result before ending her patrol at Surabaya, Java.

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