History | |
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Name: | Cavalla |
Namesake: | |
Builder: | Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut |
Laid down: | 4 March 1943 |
Launched: | 14 November 1943 |
Sponsored by: | Mrs. M. Comstock |
Commissioned: | 29 February 1944 |
Decommissioned: | 16 March 1946 |
Recommissioned: | 10 April 1951 |
Decommissioned: | 3 September 1952 |
Recommissioned: | 15 July 1953 |
Decommissioned: | 3 June 1968 |
Reclassified: |
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Struck: | 30 December 1969 |
Status: | Museum ship at Galveston, Texas as of 21 January 1971 |
Notes: | Sank the IJN Carrier Shōkaku |
Badge: | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | Gato-class diesel-electric submarine |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m) |
Beam: | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m) |
Draft: | 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum |
Propulsion: |
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Speed: |
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Range: | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h) |
Endurance: |
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Test depth: | 300 ft (90 m) |
Complement: | 6 officers, 54 enlisted |
Armament: |
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Location | Galveston, TX |
Built | 1943 |
NRHP Reference # | 08000477 |
Added to NRHP | 27 May 2008 |
USS Cavalla (SS/SSK/AGSS-244), a Gato-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for a salt water fish, best known for sinking the Japanese aircraft carrier Shōkaku, a veteran of the Pearl Harbor attack.
Her keel was laid down on 4 March 1943 by Electric Boat Co., Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 14 November 1943 (sponsored by Mrs. M. Comstock), and commissioned on 29 February 1944, Lieutenant Commander (LCDR) Herman J. Kossler, USN, (Class of 1934) in command.
Departing New London 11 April 1944, Cavalla arrived at Pearl Harbor 9 May, for voyage repairs and training. On 31 May 1944 she put to sea, bound for distant, enemy-held, waters.
On her maiden patrol Cavalla, en route to her station in the eastern Philippines, made contact with a large Japanese task force on 17 June. Cavalla tracked the force for several hours, relaying information which contributed to the United States victory in the Battle of the Philippine Sea (commonly known as the "Marianas Turkey Shoot") on 19–20 June 1944. On 19 June she caught the carrier Shōkaku recovering planes, and quickly fired a spread of six torpedoes, with three hits. Shōkaku sank at 11°50′N 137°57′E / 11.833°N 137.950°E. After a severe depth charging by three destroyers, Cavalla escaped to continue her patrol, with relatively minor damage by depth charges from the Japanese destroyer Urakaze. The feat earned her a Presidential Unit Citation.