USS Trepang (SS-412)

History
United States
Builder:	Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	25 June 1943
Launched:	23 March 1944
Commissioned:	22 May 1944
Decommissioned:	27 June 1946
Struck:	30 June 1967
Fate:	Sunk as a target off southern California, 16 September 1969
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 10 in (95.05 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)
Draft:	16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 10-cylinder opposed piston 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:	20.25 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, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The first USS Trepang (SS/AGSS-412) was a Balao-class submarine in the United States Navy. She was named for the trepang, a marine animal sometimes called a 'sea slug' or a 'sea cucumber', having a long, tough, muscular body and found in the coral reefs of the East Indies.

When the contract to build her was awarded to Mare Island Navy Yard in Vallejo, California, SS-412 was to be named Senorita, which would have made her the only USN ship to be named for the senorita, a brilliantly colored kelpfish found along the California coast. She was renamed Trepang on 24 September 1942, and her keel was laid down on 25 June 1943. She was launched on 23 March 1944 sponsored by Mrs. R. M. Davenport, the wife of the submarine's prospective commanding officer, and commissioned on 22 May 1944 with Commander Roy Milton Davenport—already a three-time Navy Cross winner—in command.

Following shakedown out of San Diego, California, Trepang departed the West Coast on 15 August 1944 and proceeded to Hawaii where her crew trained and prepared the ship for combat.

Setting out from Pearl Harbor on 13 September for her first war patrol, the submarine prowled the waters south of Honshū, the largest and most important of Japan's home islands. She remained below during daylight hours and came up after dark to get a better view as she recharged her batteries and filled up with fresh air. On the night of 30 September, Trepang spotted a fast convoy departing Tokyo Bay. The submarine gave chase and closed in on a group of ships which included two large tankers, a small freighter, and an escort. The submarine fired an overlapping spread of torpedoes which struck the freighter, 750-ton Takunan Maru, and sent her to the bottom.

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Wikipedia