USS Bluefish (SS-222)

Bluefish slides down the ways at Groton, 21 February 1943.
History
United States
BuilderElectric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down5 June 1942
Launched21 February 1943
Sponsored byMrs. Robert Y. Menzie
Commissioned24 May 1943
Decommissioned12 February 1947
Recommissioned7 January 1952
Decommissioned20 November 1953
Stricken1 September 1958
FateSold for scrap, 8 June 1960
General characteristics
Class & typeGato-class diesel-electric submarine
Displacement
  • 1,525 long tons (1,549 t) surfaced
  • 2,424 long tons (2,463 t) submerged
Length311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)
Beam27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)
Draft17 ft (5.2 m) maximum
Propulsion
Speed
  • 21 kn (24 mph; 39 km/h) surfaced
  • 9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) submerged
Range11,000 nautical miles (13,000 mi; 20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Endurance
  • 48 hours at 2 kn (4 km/h) submerged
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth300 ft (90 m)
Complement6 officers, 54 enlisted (peacetime)
Armament

USS Bluefish (SS-222), a Gato-class submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the bluefish. Between 9 September 1943 and 29 July 1945 she completed nine war patrols. Her operating area extended from the Netherlands East Indies to the waters south of Honshū. According to the notoriously unreliable JANAC accounting, Bluefish sank 12 Japanese ships totaling 50,839 tons.