USS Triton (SS-201)

For other ships with the same name, see USS Triton.
SS-201 Triton, c. 1940
History
United States
BuilderPortsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine[1]
Laid down5 July 1939[1]
Launched25 March 1940[1]
Commissioned15 August 1940[1]
FateSunk by Japanese destroyers off the Admiralty Islands, 15 March 1943[2]
General characteristics
Class and typeTambor class diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement
  • 1,475 long tons (1,499 t) standard, surfaced[3]
  • 2,370 tons (2,408 t) submerged[3]
Length307 ft 2 in (93.62 m)[3]
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[3]
Draft14 ft 7+1⁄2 in (4.458 m)[3]
Propulsion
Speed
  • 20.4 knots (38 km/h) surfaced[3]
  • 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged[3]
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h),[3] fuel capacity 93,993 US gal (355,800 L) to 96,365 US gal (364,780 L) fuel oil[7]
Endurance48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged;[3] patrol endurance, up to 75 days[8]
Test depth250 ft (76 m)[3]
Complement6 officers, 54 enlisted[3]
Armament

USS Triton (SS-201) was the fourth Tambor-class submarine to be commissioned in the United States Navy in the years leading up to the country's December 1941 entry into World War II. Her wartime service was in the Pacific Ocean. She completed five patrols in the following 14 months, and is credited with the sinking of over 20,000 tons of Japanese shipping and warships. She was lost with all hands on or around March 15, 1943. Of the twelve Tambor-class submarines, only five survived the war.

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)[10] in command. She 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.

The new submarine held her shakedown training in the Caribbean Sea from 14 January to 26 March 1941 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 1941.

  1. ^ a b c d Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
  2. ^ a b Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 270. ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp.305-311
  4. ^ a b c d e Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 270–280. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.
  5. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
  6. ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  7. ^ Alden, John D., Commander, USN (rtd). The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy (Annapolis: United States Naval Institute Press, 1979), p.74.
  8. ^ a b Alden, p.74.
  9. ^ Lenton, H. T. American Submarines (Doubleday, 1973), p.58.
  10. ^ Blair, Clay (1975). Silent Victory: The U.S. Submarine War against Japan. Philadelphia: Lippincott. p. 907. ISBN 9780397010899.