USS Skipjack (SS-184)

USS Skipjack (SS-184) off Provincetown, Massachusetts during sea trials, 14 May 1938
History
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	22 July 1936
Launched:	23 October 1937
Commissioned:	30 June 1938
Decommissioned:	28 August 1946
Struck:	13 September 1948
Fate:	Sunk in Operation Crossroads atomic bomb test, 25 July 1946; raised 2 September 1946; sunk as a target off southern California, 11 August 1948
General characteristics
Class and type:	Salmon-class composite diesel-hydraulic and diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,435 long tons (1,458 t) standard, surfaced 2,198 long tons (2,233 t) submerged
Length:	308 ft 0 in (93.88 m)
Beam:	26 ft 1 1⁄4 in (7.957 m)
Draft:	15 ft 8 in (4.78 m)
Propulsion:	4 × Hooven-Owens-Rentschler (H.O.R.) 9-cylinder diesel engines (two hydraulic-drive, two driving electrical generators) 2 × 120-cell batteries 4 × high-speed Elliott electric motors with reduction gears two shafts 5,500 shp (4.1 MW) surfaced 2,660 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:	21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced 9 knots (17 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 in (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun four machine guns

USS Skipjack (SS-184), a Salmon-class submarine, was the second ship of the United States Navy to be named after the fish. Her keel was laid down by the Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, on 22 July 1936. She was launched on 23 October 1937 sponsored by Miss Frances Cuthbert Van Keuren, daughter of Captain Alexander H. Van Keuren, Superintending Constructor, New York Navy Yard. The boat was commissioned on 30 June 1938 with Lieutenant Herman Sall in command.

Following shakedown in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea and post-shakedown repairs at New London, Connecticut, Skipjack was assigned to Submarine Squadron 6 (SubRon 6) and departed for fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean and South Atlantic. Following her return to New London on 10 April 1939, she sailed with sister ships Snapper (SS-185) and Salmon (SS-182) for the Pacific, transited the Panama Canal on 25 May, and arrived at San Diego, California, on 2 June. During July, she cruised to Pearl Harbor as part of SubRon 2; returned to San Diego on 16 August; and remained on the West Coast engaged in fleet tactics and training operations until 1 April 1940, when she again got underway for the Hawaiian area for training exercises there. Following her return to San Diego, Skipjack underwent overhaul at the Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, and then proceeded back to Pearl Harbor, where she was attached to Rear Admiral Wilhelm L. Friedell's COMSUBPAC, Pacific Fleet, as a member of SubDiv 15 (commanded by Captain Ralph Christie). She operated out of Pearl Harbor until again undergoing overhaul at Mare Island in July and August 1941. Skipjack returned on 16 August and commenced patrols off Midway Island, Wake Island, and the Gilbert Islands and Marshall Islands. In October 1941, SubDiv 15 (then commanded by "Sunshine" Murray) was transferred to ComSubAsiatic Fleet, along with the tender Holland, and Joe Connolly's SubDiv 16, as SubRon 2. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December, Skipjack was in the Philippines undergoing repairs at the Cavite Navy Yard.