USS Tautog (SS-199)

History


Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	1 March 1939
Launched:	27 January 1940
Commissioned:	3 July 1940
Decommissioned:	8 December 1945
Struck:	1 September 1959
Honors and awards:	14 battle stars, 7 Navy Unit Commendations
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1 July 1960
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tambor class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,475 long tons (1,499 t) standard, surfaced 2,370 tons (2,408 t) submerged
Length:	307 ft 2 in (93.62 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	14 ft 7 ¹⁄₂ in (4.458 m)
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16-248 V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears two propellers 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:	20.4 knots (38 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:	6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 3-inch (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Tautog (SS-199), a Tambor-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tautog, a small edible sport fish, which is also called a blackfish.

One of the most successful submarines of World War II, Tautog was credited with sinking 26 Japanese ships, for a total of 72,606 tons, scoring second by number of ships and eleventh by tonnage earning her the nickname "The Terrible T."

Her keel was laid down on 1 March 1939 at Groton, Connecticut, by the Electric Boat Company. She was launched on 27 January 1940 and was sponsored by Mrs. Hallie N Edwards, wife of Captain Richard S. Edwards, Commander Submarine Squadron Two. The boat was commissioned on 3 July 1940 with Lieutenant Joseph H. Willingham (Class of 1926) in command.

Following a short training period in Long Island Sound, Tautog departed for the Caribbean Sea on her shakedown cruise which lasted from 6 September 1940 to 11 November 1940. She returned to New London, Connecticut and operated from that base until early February 1941 when she was ordered to the Virgin Islands.

Late in April, she returned to New London, Connecticut, loaded supplies, and sailed with two other submarines for Hawaii on 1 May. After calls at Coco Solo, Canal Zone, and San Diego, California, they arrived at Pearl Harbor on 6 June 1941. Tautog operated in the Hawaiian area until mid-October. On 21 October, she and Thresher (SS-200) stood out to sea, under sealed orders, to begin a 45-day, full-time, simulated war patrol in the area around Midway Island. For 38 consecutive days, the two submarines operated submerged for 16 to 18 hours each day. Tautog returned to Pearl Harbor on 5 December 1941.

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Wikipedia