USS Seadragon (SS-194)

History
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	18 April 1938
Launched:	21 April 1939
Commissioned:	23 October 1939
Decommissioned:	15 November 1945
Recommissioned:	8 February 1946
Decommissioned:	29 October 1946
Struck:	30 April 1948
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 2 July 1948
General characteristics
Class and type:	Sargo-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,450 long tons (1,470 t) standard, surfaced 2,350 long tons (2,390 t) submerged
Length:	310 ft 6 in (94.64 m)
Beam:	26 ft 10 in (8.18 m)
Draft:	16 ft 8 in (5.08 m)
Propulsion:	4 × Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) 9-cylinder diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears two shafts 5,200 shp (3.9 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:	20.8 knots (39 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged
Test depth:	250 ft (76 m)
Complement:	5 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament:	8 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes  (four forward, four aft)  24 torpedoes 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun four machine guns

USS Seadragon (SS-194), a Sargo-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seadragon.

Her keel was laid on 18 April 1938 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was christened and launched on 21 April 1939, sponsored by Mrs. May F. Richardson, wife of Admiral James O. Richardson, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation, and commissioned on 23 October 1939 with Lieutenant John G. Johns in command.

Following a shakedown cruise off the east coast and in the Caribbean Sea, Seadragon returned to New England and, on 23 May 1940, departed New London, Connecticut, for the Philippine Islands. With Commander, Submarine Division 17 (ComSubDiv 17) embarked, she arrived at Cavite on 30 November and commenced training operations as a unit of the Asiatic Fleet. A year later, she prepared for overhaul; and, by 8 December 1941 (7 December east of the International Date Line), she had started her yard period at the Cavite Navy Yard.

Two days later, on 10 December, she and sister ship Sealion, moored together, were caught in an enemy air raid against Cavite. Sealion took a direct hit which demolished her and damaged Seadragon. The force of the explosion ripped off part of the latter's bridge. Fragments and splinters punctured her ballast tanks and conning tower, killing one and wounding five. The heat of the explosion scorched her hull and blistered her black paint.

...
Wikipedia