USS Torsk (SS-423)

USS Torsk (SS-423) preserved in Baltimore
History
United States
Builder:	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down:	7 June 1944
Launched:	6 September 1944
Commissioned:	16 December 1944
Decommissioned:	4 March 1968
Struck:	15 December 1971
Fate:	Museum ship at Baltimore, Maryland, 26 September 1972
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 0 in (5.18 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 General Electric 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 Torsk
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
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Location	Pier IV, Pratt St., Baltimore, Maryland
Coordinates	39°17′06″N 76°36′31″W / 39.28500°N 76.60861°W / 39.28500; -76.60861Coordinates: 39°17′06″N 76°36′31″W / 39.28500°N 76.60861°W / 39.28500; -76.60861
Built	1944
Architect	Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Architectural style	Tench class submarine
NRHP Reference #	86000090
Added to NRHP	14 January 1986

USS Torsk (SS-423) is part of the historic fleet of Historic Ships in Baltimore and is one of two Tench-class submarines still located inside the United States. In 1945, Torsk made two war patrols off Japan, sinking one cargo vessel and two coastal defense frigates. The latter of these, torpedoed on 14 August 1945, was the last enemy ship sunk by the United States Navy in World War II.

Her keel was laid down on 7 June 1944 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 6 September 1944 sponsored by Mrs. Allen B. Reed, and commissioned on 16 December 1944 with Commander Bafford E. Lewellen in command.

Completed on the last day of 1944, Torsk trained out of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, Newport, Rhode Island, and New London, Connecticut, until 11 February 1945, when she headed for Florida. On 16 February, the submarine arrived at Port Everglades, Florida, where she provided services for antisubmarine research. She departed that Florida port on 20 February, transited the Panama Canal, and reached Hawaii on 23 March.

After a repair and training period, she got underway from Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol. Torsk paused briefly at Guam en route to an area off Kii Suido which she reached on 11 May and began lifeguard duty. Air contacts were few in this period, and the submarine found no opportunity to conduct rescue operations. Toward midnight on 11 May, she set course for her patrol area off the northeastern coast of Honshū. She arrived there on 13 May and, for two days, attempted to contact other members of the wolf pack, "Lewellen's Looters." On 16 May, she made rendezvous with submarines Sand Lance and Cero. For more than a fortnight, their careful coverage of the east coast of Honshū turned up nothing more interesting than naval mines.