USS Tusk (SS-426)

Tusk, after the GUPPY II conversion
History
United States
Name:	USS Tusk
Builder:	Cramp Shipbuilding Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Laid down:	23 August 1943
Launched:	8 July 1945
Commissioned:	11 April 1946
Decommissioned:	18 October 1973
Struck:	18 October 1973
Identification:	SS-426
Fate:	Transferred to the Republic of China, 18 October 1973
Taiwan
Name:	ROCS Hai Pao
Acquired:	18 October 1973
Identification:	SS-792
Status:	Afloat at Kaohsiung Naval Base as of November 2015
General characteristics (As completed)
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 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 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 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 (37.50 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16.21 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 feet (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
General characteristics (Guppy II)
Class and type:	GUPPY II
Displacement:	1,870 long tons (1,900 t) surfaced 2,440 long tons (2,480 t) submerged
Length:	307 ft (94 m)
Beam:	27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)
Draft:	17 ft (5.2 m)
Propulsion:	Snorkel added Batteries upgraded to GUPPY type, capacity expanded to 504 cells (1 × 184 cell, 1 × 68 cell, and 2 × 126 cell batteries)
Speed:	Surfaced: 18.0 knots (33.3 km/h) maximum 13.5 knots (25.0 km/h) cruising Submerged: 16.0 knots (29.6 km/h) for ½ hour 9.0 knots (16.7 km/h) snorkeling 3.5 knots (6.5 km/h) cruising
Range:	15,000 nm (28,000 km) surfaced at 11 knots (20 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 4 knots (7.4 km/h) submerged
Complement:	9–10 officers 5 petty officers 70 enlisted men
Sensors and processing systems:	WFA active sonar JT passive sonar Mk 106 torpedo fire control system
Armament:	10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes  (six forward, four aft) all guns removed

USS Tusk (SS-426), a Balao-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the tusk, an alternate name for the cusk, a large edible saltwater fish related to the cod. Her keel was laid down on 23 August 1943 at Philadelphia by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company. She was launched on 8 July 1945 sponsored by Mrs. Carolyn Park Mills, and commissioned on 11 April 1946 with Commander Raymond A. Moore in command.

Tusk completed her shakedown cruise in the southern Atlantic with a round of goodwill visits to Latin American ports. She called at Rio de Janeiro and Bahia in Brazil, Curaçao in the Netherlands West Indies, and at Colón in the Panama Canal Zone before returning to New London, Connecticut, in June. For the next year, she conducted operations along the East Coast between New London and Wilmington, North Carolina. During the first month of 1947, Tusk participated in a fleet tactical exercise in the Central Atlantic. A three-month overhaul at Philadelphia, followed by oceanographic work along the Atlantic shelf in conjunction with Columbia University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution occupied her until October 1947 when she entered the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard for a Greater Underwater Propulsive Power Program (GUPPY) conversion.