Submarine!

USS Lionfish, SS-298, Balao-class fleet submarine.

The Lionfish, another New England native out of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard up in Kittery, Maine, is an example of a Balao-class fleet submarine, of which 120 were built. Lionfish is thus a member of the most numerous submarine class ever used by the Navy. The Balaos were an improved version of the earlier Gato-class fleet submarines.

The Lionfish was built by the Cramp Shipbuilding Company out of Philadelphia at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine. She was laid down on 15th December 1942 and launched on 7 November 1943. She was sponsored by May Phillips Train (wife of Rear Admiral Harold C. Train, mother of Admiral Harold D. Train II and grandmother of Rear Admiral Elizabeth C. Train. Wow, lot of admirals in that family!)

Her first captain was Lieutenant Commander Edward D. Spruance, son of Admiral Raymond Spruance. (For whom an entire class of destroyers were named, the lead ship in the class was USS Spruance, DD-963. There is also an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer named for the admiral, DDG-111. The latter is another New Englander, built at Bath Iron Works up in Maine. Bath built is best built, so they say.)

Lionfish was commissioned on 1 November 1944, decommissioned the first time on 16 January 1946 then recommissioned on 31 January 1951. She was decommissioned for the last time on 15 December 1953 then struck from the Naval Register  on 20 December 1971. She joined the fleet at Battleship Cove on 30 August 1972. She was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986.

Here are some of the boat's* vital statistics:

• Displacement: 1,526 long tons surfaced, 2,424 long tons submerged
• Length: 311 ft 6 in
• Beam: 27 ft 3 in
• Draft: 16 ft 10 in maximum
• Propulsion: 4 × Fairbanks-Morse Model 38D8-⅛ 9-cylinder opposed piston diesel engines driving electrical generators, 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries, 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears driving two propellers
• The diesel engines provided 5,400 shaft horsepower (shp) surfaced and the electric motors 2,740 shp submerged
• Speed: 20.25 knots (23.30 mph) surfaced and 8.75 knots (10.07 mph) submerged
• Range: 11,000 nautical miles (13,000 miles) surfaced at 10 knots (12 mph)
• Submerged endurance on battery power alone: 48 hours at 2 knots (2.3 mph) submerged
• She could carry enough fuel and supplies to spend 75 days on patrol.
• Test depth: 400 ft
• Complement: 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
• Armament: 10 × 21-inch torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes could be carried (10 would be loaded in the tubes, which could be reloaded at sea.
• Deck armament: 1 × 5-inch / 25 caliber deck gun, 1 x Bofors 40 mm and 1 x Oerlikon 20 mm cannon W

The only thing Lionfish has attacked lately was me. I think the old girl was mad because Murphy kept playing with switches. He triggered the dive alarm in my ear, then I had a head butting contest with some doo-dad hanging over the plotting table. I can tell you this, Lionfish is a lot tougher than my head! (It's all better now, for those who were wondering...)

Now for some pictures!

Looking towards the bow, standing in the conning tower looking past the Bofors gun mount. The torpedo loading hatch can be seen and it's where the tourists (such as Murph and I) gain access to the interior.

Looking at Lionfish from the flight deck of the Joey P. The person aft of the conning tower provides an idea of how large the Lionfish is. Aft of the conning tower is the 5-inch gun mount.

Looking at the stern of Lionfish, tied up alongside Hiddensee.

After coming aboard at the stern, this is the view looking forward. Those rails are for the tourists. Submarines were not, and still are not, equipped with hand rails.

Port-side lookout's station. The black thing is where the lookout would stand, scanning the sea with binoculars for targets and threats. The black pipe-looking things were for the lookout to hang onto. The stations (there's another to starboard) were very open so that the sailors could get out and down the hatch forward very quickly if the need arose.

View from the conning tower looking aft past the port-side lookout's station. The stern of the Hiddensee and the stern of USS Massachusetts are visible as are the gangways used to get on board.

Aft torpedo room. No, they didn't have HD TVs back. That orange bit to the right is the nose of a torpedo. No, they are not live torpedoes. I think.

View from the control room looking aft. Note the many gauges and valves. There are many controls on a sub, all of them vital.

Radio room.

Crew's mess, I don't know who owns that cover.** Placing one's cover on a table like that is a big no-no according to The Nuke. I almost committed that sin on the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Engine room, looking aft.

I thought I had more pictures, I think I was too busy "ooh-ing and aah-ing" over everything and forgot to take pictures of some of the spaces. That and after smacking my head in the control room I was keeping a weather eye on all the protrusions, levers, controls and various and sundry other items upon which I might injure the cranial unit.

That and I may have still been slightly deaf from Murph's activation of the dive alarm. (I still thought it was hilarious. Especially the look on Murph's face.)

There's more to come, the Hiddensee and Big Mamie. Battleship Cove is an awesome place to visit, especially when the weather is fine, which it was on Sunday, which it isn't now.

Oh well, that's New England. Don't like the current weather, wait a few seconds, it'll change.

* Submarines are always called "boats," never "ships." All surface vessels are known, in the submarine world, as "targets." Thought you'd like to know...

** What we call a "hat," the Naval Service calls a "cover."