USS Triton (SS-201)
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| History | |
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| Builder: | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine |
| Laid down: | 5 July 1939 |
| Launched: | 25 March 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 15 August 1940 |
| Fate: | Sunk by Japanese destroyers off the Admiralty Islands, 15 March 1943 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Tambor class diesel-electric submarine |
| Displacement: | |
| 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: |
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| Speed: |
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| Range: | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h), fuel capacity 93,993 US gal (355,800 l) to 96,365 US gal (364,780 l) fuel oil |
| Endurance: | 48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged; patrol endurance, up to 75 days |
| Test depth: | 250 ft (76 m) |
| Complement: | 6 officers, 54 enlisted |
| Armament: |
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USS Triton (SS-201), a Tambor-class submarine, was the first submarine and third ship of the United States Navy to be named for Triton,a mythological Greek god, the messenger of the sea. Her keel was down on 5 July 1939 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard. She was launched on 25 March 1940 sponsored by Mrs. Martha E. King, wife of Rear Admiral Ernest J. King, and commissioned on 15 August 1940 with Lieutenant Commander Willis A. "Pilly" Lent (Class of 1925) in command.
The new submarine held her shakedown training in the Caribbean Sea from 14 January 1941 to 26 March and then conducted training and minelaying exercises in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire - New London, Connecticut area. Triton departed Portsmouth on 1 July, transited the Panama Canal on 12 July, and arrived at San Diego, California, on 20 July. Nine days later, she and sister ship USS Trout (SS-202) headed for Hawaii and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 4 August.
Assigned to Submarine Division 62,Triton made a training cruise to Midway from 30 August to 15 September, then participated in local and fleet operations in the Hawaiian area. On 19 November, the submarine headed west to conduct a practice war patrol and arrived off Wake Island on 26 November. On 8 December, she saw columns of smoke rising over the island but assumed it was caused by construction work being done ashore. That night, when she surfaced to charge her batteries, she was informed by radio Wake that Pearl Harbor had been bombed and was ordered to stay out of range of Wake's guns. The next morning, Triton observed the Japanese bombing the island. On the night of 10 December, she was surfaced, charging her batteries, when flashes of light from Wake revealed a destroyer or light cruiser on a parallel course. The submarine was silhouetted against the moon, and the enemy ship turned towards her. Triton went deep and began evasive action. When the Japanese ship slowed astern, the submarine came to 120 feet (37 m) and fired four stern torpedoes—the first American torpedoes shot during World War II—on sonar bearings. She heard a dull explosion 58 seconds later and believed one had hit the target, then went to 175 feet (53 m) and cleared the area. (No sinking was recorded, and she was not credited with one.) After their initial repulse on 11 December, the Japanese returned with two aircraft carriers, Hiryū and Sōryū; Triton was not informed, and made no attacks on them. Neither did she make any effort to evacuate the 350 Marines. On 21 December, the submarine was ordered to return to Hawaii, and she arrived back at Pearl Harbor on 31 December.
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