USS Golet (SS-361)

USS Golet (SS-361)
History
Builder:	Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin
Laid down:	27 January 1943
Launched:	1 August 1943
Commissioned:	30 November 1943
Fate:	Sunk by Japanese vessels northwest of Honshū, 14 June 1944. All 82 crew lost
General characteristics
Class and type:	Gato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,525 tons (1,549 t) surfaced 2,424 tons (2,460 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum
Propulsion:	4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 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 252-cell battery
Speed:	20.25 knots (23.30 mph; 37.50 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (10.07 mph; 16.21 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nautical miles (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (2.3 mph; 3.7 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	300 ft (90 m)
Complement:	6 officers, 54 enlisted (peace) 80-85 (war)
Armament:	10 × 21 inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes (six forward, four aft; 24 torpedoes) one 3 in (76 mm)/50 caliber deck gun two .30 cal (7.62 mm) machineguns

USS Golet (SS-361), a Gato-class submarine, was the only ship of the United States Navy to be named for the golet, a California trout. Her keel was laid down by the Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company of Manitowoc, Wisconsin. She was launched on 1 August 1943 sponsored by Mrs. Wiley, wife of United States Senator Alexander Wiley of Wisconsin, and commissioned on 30 November 1943 with Lieutenant Commander James M. Clement in command.

Golet departed Manitowoc 19 December 1943 via the Mississippi River for New Orleans, Louisiana, arriving 28 December. After shakedown training at Panama and final battle practice in Hawaiian waters, she departed Pearl Harbor on 18 March 1944 for her maiden war patrol off the Kurile Islands chain, Southern Hokkaidō and Eastern Honshū, Japan. Severe combinations of fog, rain, and ice were encountered and only one ship worth a torpedo came into view. This enemy proved too fast for Golet to close to torpedo range; she returned to Midway Island on 3 May 1944.

Lieutenant James S. Clark took command of Golet, departed Midway Island on 28 May 1944 to patrol off northern Honshū, Japan, and was never heard from again.