USS Sea Leopard (SS-483)

History
United States
Name:	USS Sea Leopard (SS-483)
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	7 November 1944
Launched:	2 March 1945
Commissioned:	11 June 1945
Decommissioned:	27 March 1973
Struck:	27 March 1973
Fate:	Transferred to Brazil, 27 March 1973
History
Brazil
Name:	Bahia (S-12)
Acquired:	27 March 1973
Out of service:	1993
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tench-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,570 tons (1,595 t) surfaced 2,414 tons (2,453 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 8 in (95.00 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 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, 71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft) 28 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Sea Leopard (SS-483), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the leopard seal. Her keel was laid down by the Portsmouth Navy Yard on 7 November 1944. She was launched on 2 March 1945 sponsored by Hon. Margaret Chase Smith, United States Congresswoman from Maine, and commissioned on 11 June 1945 with Commander Robert E. M. Ward in command.

Following shakedown off the New England coast, Sea Leopard was ordered to the Pacific War Zone. However, hostilities with Japan ceased before the submarine's departure date; and she remained in the Atlantic. The submarine then proceeded to Key West, Florida, and she remained in Florida waters through 1946 providing services to the Antisubmarine Development Force.

In January 1947, she returned to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, for her first shipyard overhaul. Next came training exercises in the Key West area until late 1948, when she entered the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard for a Greater Underwater Propulsive Power Program (GUPPY) modernization. Upon completion, she was assigned to Submarine Squadron (SubRon) 6 and home ported at Norfolk, Virginia. In November 1949, she joined other units in cold water exercises in the Atlantic. During February and March 1950, the submarine participated in maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea.

From August through November, she joined the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea, visiting ports of Italy, France, and Sicily, before returning home. From December 1950 to April 1951 Sea Leopard was undergoing overhaul at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.

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