USS Toro (SS-422)

History
United States
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	27 May 1944
Launched:	23 August 1944
Commissioned:	8 December 1944
Decommissioned:	2 February 1946
Recommissioned:	13 May 1947
Decommissioned:	11 March 1963
Struck:	1 April 1963
Fate:	Sold for scrap, April 1965
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tench-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,570 tons (1,595 t) surfaced 2,414 tons (2,453 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 8 in (95.00 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 10-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries 2 × low-speed direct-drive Elliott electric motors two propellers 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged
Speed:	20.25 knots (38 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16 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 ft (120 m)
Complement:	10 officers, 71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft) 28 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Toro (SS-422), a Tench-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the toro, a name applied to various fish including the cowfish, the catalufa, and the cavallo. Her keel was laid down on 27 May 1944 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 23 August 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Alan G. Kirk, and commissioned on 8 December 1944 with Commander James D. Grant in command.

Following her completion on 26 December 1944, Toro participated in training exercises out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Newport, Rhode Island, and New London, Connecticut, before arriving at Key West, Florida, on 11 February 1945. She provided services to the Fleet Sonar School, then, on 28 February, departed Key West in company with submarine Bumper (SS-333), bound for the Panama Canal Zone where she underwent a week of intensive training. The two submarines set a westward course for Hawaii on 15 March and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 1 April. Toro conducted training exercises out of that port with Submarine Division 101 until 24 April when she departed Oahu in company with submarine Billfish (SS-286). She arrived at Saipan on 6 May and, after one false start, got underway for her first war patrol on 10 May.

After arriving in her patrol and lifeguard area south of Shikoku and east of Kyūshū on 16 May, she occasionally encountered Japanese planes as she pursued her duties. On 18 May, following a probable periscope sighting, Toro detected a transmission on Japanese submarine radar frequency and attempted to close the contact but was unsuccessful.

...
Wikipedia