USS Bluegill
Submarine of the United States / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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USS Bluegill (SS-242/SSK-242) was a Gato-class submarine in commission in the United States Navy from 1943 to 1946, from 1951 to 1952, and from 1953 to 1969. She was named for the bluegill, a sunfish of the Mississippi Valley.
USS Bluegill (SSK-242) underway during the 1950s. | |
History | |
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United States | |
Name | USS Bluegill (SS-242) |
Ordered | Bluegill |
Builder | Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut[1] |
Laid down | 7 December 1942[1] |
Launched | 8 August 1943[1] |
Sponsored by | Mrs. W. Sterling Cole |
Commissioned | 11 November 1943[1] |
Decommissioned | 1 March 1946[1] |
Recommissioned | 3 May 1951[1] |
Decommissioned | 7 July 1952[1] |
Reclassified | Hunter-killer submarine (SSK-242) 7 July 1952 |
Recommissioned | 2 May 1953[1] |
Reclassified | Attack submarine (SS-242) 10 August 1959 |
Reclassified | Auxiliary submarine (AGSS-242) 1 April 1966 |
Decommissioned | 28 June 1969[1] |
Stricken | 28 June 1969[1] |
Fate |
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General characteristics | |
Class and type | Gato-class diesel-electric submarine[2] |
Displacement | |
Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2] |
Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2] |
Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m) maximum[2] |
Propulsion |
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Speed | |
Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 kn (19 km/h)[6] |
Endurance |
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Test depth | 300 ft (90 m)[6] |
Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted[6] |
Armament |
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During World War II, Bluegill completed six war patrols between 1 April 1944 and 21 June 1945, operating in an area extending from New Guinea to Formosa and in the South China Sea and Java Sea. She sank ten Japanese vessels, totaling 46,212 tons, including the light cruiser Yubari and a submarine chaser. She was placed in reserve in 1946.
Recommissioned in 1951, Bluegill operated as a training submarine until 1952. She then underwent conversion into a "hunter-killer submarine" specialized for antisubmarine warfare, and was recommissioned as such in 1953. After service in the Vietnam War, she was decommissioned in 1969 and sunk in 1971 for use as a salvage trainer. She was refloated and scuttled in 1983.