USS Skate (SS-305)

Skate after the atomic bomb test
History
Builder:	Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	1 August 1942
Launched:	4 March 1943
Commissioned:	15 April 1943
Decommissioned:	11 December 1946
Struck:	21 October 1948
Fate:	Sunk as a target off Southern California coast, 5 October 1948
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 10 in (95.05 m) (95.0 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)
Draft:	16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8- 1⁄8 9-cylinder opposed-piston diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed Elliott electric motors with reduction gears 2 × propellers 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.04 MW) submerged
Speed:	20.25 knots (37.50 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16.21 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 feet (120 m)
Complement:	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Skate (SS-305) was a United States Navy Balao-class submarine named for the skate, a type of ray.

Skate was laid down at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard of Vallejo, California, 1 August 1942. She was launched on 4 March 1943, sponsored by Mrs. Ethel L. Shamer, wife of Captain George P. Shamer, Supply Officer of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard and commissioned on 15 April with Commander Eugene B. McKinney in command.

Following shakedown off the California coast, Skate sailed to Pearl Harbor and on 25 September 1943, headed toward Wake Island and her first war patrol during which she performed lifeguard duty for the carriers during airstrikes against that Japanese-held island. At dawn on 6 October, the submarine was strafed by enemy aircraft, mortally wounding one of her officers, LtJg Willis Edward Maxson, III, as he attempted to assist wounded airmen from a liferaft. The next day, Skate closed to within 5,000 yards (4,600 m) of the beach, in the face of heavy enemy bombardment, to rescue two downed aviators. While searching for a third, she was attacked by a Japanese dive-bomber, and was forced to dive to escape. After a short return to Midway Island, Skate returned to Wake Island and rescued four additional airmen before terminating her first patrol at Midway on 29 October.

On 15 November, Skate departed Midway for her second war patrol, conducted off Truk in the Caroline Islands. On 25 November, she sighted the masts of five warships; but, after firing a spread of torpedoes at overlapping aircraft carriers, she was forced down by depth charging from the escort ships.