USS Wahoo (SS-238)

History
United States
Name:	Wahoo
Builder:	Mare Island Naval Shipyard
Laid down:	28 June 1941
Launched:	14 February 1942
Sponsored by:	Mrs. William C. Barker, Jr.
Commissioned:	15 May 1942
Struck:	6 December 1943
Fate:	Sunk by Japanese ships and aircraft in La Pérouse Strait, 11 October 1943
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,525 long tons (1,549 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:	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 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:	21 kn (24 mph; 39 km/h) surfaced 9 kn (10 mph; 17 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nmi (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 kn (2 mph; 4 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	300 ft (90 m)
Complement:	6 officers, 54 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes   (six forward, four aft)  24 torpedoes 1 × 3 in (76 mm) / 50 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Wahoo (SS-238) was a Gato-class submarine, the first United States Navy ship to be named for the wahoo, a dark blue, predatory species found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. Construction started before the U.S. entered World War II, and she was commissioned after entry. Wahoo was assigned to the Pacific theatre. She gained fame as an aggressive and highly successful submarine after Lieutenant Commander Dudley Walker "Mush" Morton became her skipper. She was sunk by Japanese aircraft in October 1943 while returning home from a patrol in the Sea of Japan.

Wahoo's keel was laid down 28 June 1941 at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, California. She was launched on 14 February 1942 (sponsored by Mrs. William C. Barker, Jr.), and commissioned on 15 May 1942 with Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Marvin G. "Pinky" Kennedy (Class of 1929) in command. Lieutenant Richard O'Kane joined the precommissioning crew and served as her Executive Officer (XO) on five war patrols under Kennedy and Morton (O'Kane later received a Medal of Honor for his service on USS Tang).

Following fitting out and initial training along the California coast (which took her as far south as San Diego), Wahoo departed Mare Island on 12 August for Hawaii. She arrived at Pearl Harbor on 18 August and underwent exercise training until 21 August.

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