USS Swordfish (SS-193)

Swordfish in 1939
History
United States
Builder:	Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, California
Laid down:	27 October 1937
Launched:	1 April 1939
Sponsored by:	Miss Louise Shaw Hepburn
Commissioned:	22 July 1939
Struck:	19 May 1945
Fate:	Probably sunk by Japanese vessels in the Ryukyu Islands, 12 January 1945
General characteristics
Class and type:	Sargo-class 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 7 1⁄2 in (5.067 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engines 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears two shafts 5,500 shp (4.1 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:	21 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 in (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun four machine guns

USS Swordfish (SS-193), a Sargo-class submarine, was the first submarine of the United States Navy named for the swordfish, a large fish with a long, swordlike beak and a high dorsal fin. She was the first United States Navy submarine to sink a Japanese ship during World War II.

Her keel was laid down on 27 October 1937 by the Mare Island Naval Shipyard of Vallejo, California. She was launched on 3 April 1939 sponsored by Miss Louise Shaw Hepburn, and commissioned on 22 July 1939 with Lieutenant (later Rear Admiral) Chester C. Smith in command.

Following shakedown and post-shakedown repairs at Mare Island, Swordfish operated out of San Diego, California, until early 1941, when she set sail for Pearl Harbor. On 3 November, Swordfish, in company with three other U.S. submarines, departed Pearl, and on 22 November, arrived at Manila, Philippine Islands. The submarine remained at Manila until the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The following day, she set sail on her first war patrol, conducted off the coast of Hainan, China. After damaging several enemy vessels on the 9th, 11th, and 14th, Swordfish sank her initial victim of the war on 16 December. Hit amidships by one of three torpedoes, the cargo ship Atsutasan Maru erupted in a cloud of smoke and flames and disappeared beneath the waves. On 27 December, Swordfish embarked the organizational staff of the Submarine Asiatic Command Staff at Manila and headed for Soerabaja, Java, arriving on 7 January 1942.

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