USS Perch (SS-313)

History
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	5 January 1943
Launched:	12 September 1943
Commissioned:	7 January 1944
Decommissioned:	January 1947
Recommissioned:	20 May 1948
Decommissioned:	31 March 1960
Recommissioned:	11 November 1961
Decommissioned:	27 May 1967
Struck:	1 December 1971
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 15 January 1973
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement:	1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced 2,424 tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length:	311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam:	27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft:	16 ft 10 in (5.13 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
Speed:	20.25 knots (38 km/h) surfaced 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged
Range:	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 km/h) submerged 75 days on patrol
Test depth:	400 ft (120 m)
Complement:	10 officers, 70–71 enlisted
Armament:	10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes 6 forward, 4 aft 24 torpedoes 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

USS Perch (SS/SSP/ASSP/APSS/LPSS/IXSS-313), a Balao-class submarine, was the second submarine of the United States Navy to be named for the perch, a rather small European fresh-water spiny-finned fish.

The second Perch (SS–313) was laid down 5 January 1943 by the Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; launched 12 September 1943; sponsored by Mrs. David A. Hart; and commissioned 7 January 1944, Lt. Comdr. Blish C. Hills in command.

After shakedown she departed 19 February 1944 for Key West, Fla., where she gave services to the Fleet Sound School. She then sailed for Pearl Harbor, arriving 3 April.

On 29 April she departed Pearl Harbor with Peto (SS-265) for Midway where Picuda (SS-382) joined them. The South China Sea was the hunting ground for the wolf pack. Early in the morning of 24 May, a medium tanker was contacted and damaged by four torpedo hits. The counterattack by a lone escort prevented further observation of the damage inflicted and knocked out both high pressure air compressors by flooding of the pump room. Perch headed for the Marshall Islands, arriving at Majuro on 4 June.

On 27 June Perch began her second war patrol, this time off Surigao Strait in the Philippines. She sank a 100-ton Japanese trawler with gunfire before returning to Pearl Harbor 26 August.

Perch departed Pearl Harbor on her third war patrol 19 September. At Midway she joined submarines Croaker (SS-246) and Escolar (SS-294) and the three set out for the confined waters of the East China and Yellow Seas. Perch unsuccessfully attacked one heavily escorted transport, and performed lifeguard duty supporting B-29 raids on Honshū. Perch then headed for Saipan to refuel en route to Brisbane, Australia, for duty with Submarines, Southwest Pacific Fleet.

...
Wikipedia