USS Porpoise (SS-172)

History of USS Dolphin (SS-172)

USS Porpoise (SS-172) conducted her 10 classes before and during World War II (1939-1945). The ship is a conventional diesel-electric attack submarine equipped with six torpedo tubes and a total of sixteen torpedoes.

The ship was laid on October 27, 1933 at the Portsmouth Naval Dockyard in Kittery, Maine, and launched on August 15, 1935. Soon after, on August 15, 1935, it was put into service after a successful test drive. The USS Dolphin served until the end of the war, when she was discharged from the U.S. Navy on November 15, 1945, and was eventually sold as scrap on May 14, 1957.

The USS Dolphin was awarded five Battle Stars.

At the time of construction, the USS Porpoise had a barrel length of 283 feet, a beam of 25 feet, and a draft of 13 feet 10 inches. She has a surface displacement of 1,330 tonnes under standard load and a submerged weight of 1,965 tonnes. Power is provided by 4 Winton 16-201A 16-cylinder 2-stroke diesel engines, each 1,300 shp (two shafts) driving generators through reduction gears. Underwater power is provided by 2 x 120 Exide VL31B batteries driving 4 x Elliott electric motors. Total underwater power is 1,075 horsepower.

Like other World War II-era submarines, the USS Porpoise had to surface to recharge her batteries and oxygen supply. The engine configuration gave the vessel a straight-line surface speed of 19 knots while being fully submerged at 8 knots.

The range is 6,000 nautical miles and the speed is 10 knots. Dive at 5 knots, the boat can stay submerged for up to 11 hours. Onboard arrangements allow for a crew of 14 officers and 42 soldiers divided into three rotations.

During the 1942 overhaul, the Dolphins acquired 4 General Motors 12-278A series 2-stroke diesel engines, each rated at 1,200 hp.

As an attack submarine, the USS Porpoise deploys 6 torpedo tubes, 4 of which are located in the forward hull and 2 in the stern. This way the submarine doesn't have to turn around completely to attack the target behind it. A total of sixteen torpedoes were stored on board, six of which were in launch tubes. Additional armament (for surface contact) includes a 76mm deck gun and 2 x .30 caliber machine guns (air defense).

In 1942, two external, forward-facing tubes were added to her torpedo armament.

The legacy of the USS Dolphin began in a period of relative calm before World War II, the interwar period. After passing through the Panama Canal in September 1936, she docked in San Diego to train the crew in artillery and torpedo attacks. In April 1937, she was dispatched to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Vallejo, California, for an overhaul.

The following January, she was stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for general naval exercises, before joining the U.S. Asia Fleet in Manila, Philippines.

On December 7, 1941, Imperial Japan used its naval attack aircraft to attack Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in an attempt to stifle the power of American aircraft carriers. Success would allow full access to the Pacific region including Southeast Asia and Australia.

Fortunately for the US, their carrier fleet was elsewhere and casualties were usually limited to battleships, attack surface vehicles and aircraft, unfortunately stationed in port at the time of the attack. She overhauled the USS Dolphin in Olongapo, Philippines and escaped vandalism and damage. The work of returning her to the sea was complete, and the Dolphin set sail. Her first wartime patrol (with no recorded successful attack) took place in December and lasted until January 1942.

Her second wartime patrol from February to March 1942 took her to the Dutch East Indies, where she claimed to have an enemy cargo ship. After a layover in Fremantle, Australia, the Dolphin missed another cargo ship, but on her third patrol, she rescued five downed pilots in a single operation.

Once again overhauled on Mare Island, her fourth patrol took her near Honshu, Japan, where she sank an enemy ship. On her fifth patrol off Jaruit Atoll, she captured another enemy ship before missing another target of opportunity in April. Returning to Pearl Harbor for another overhaul, USS Porpoise began her sixth war patrol in June-July, sinking another enemy ship while damaging two others.

After the operation, she was dispatched to New London, Connecticut, on the east coast of the United States, via Pearl Harbor and the Panama Canal, to repair leaking oil tanks.

Since then, USS Porpoise has relied on the art of training future submarines for underwater warfare. World War II ended in August 1945, followed by Japan's official surrender in September, ending the finless porpoise's wartime career.

She remained in Boston Harbor until November 1945 and was retained until May 1947. From 1947 to 1956, she was used by the U.S. Navy to train its reservists in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Houston, Texas. Although still in service, she was discharged from the U.S.

Navy and was released from the Naval Register on August 13, 1956, but was sold to a New Orleans-based company for scrap on May 14, 1957.

This ended the legendary career of the USS Dolphin. Their class eventually included USS Pike (SS-173), USS Shark (SS-174), USS Tarpon (SS-175), USS Perch (SS-176), USS Pickerel (SS-177), USS Permit (SS-177) -178), USS Plunger (SS-179), USS Pollack (SS-180) and USS Pompano (SS-181).

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