USS Mackerel (SS-204)

History
Builder:	Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut
Laid down:	6 October 1939
Launched:	28 September 1940
Commissioned:	31 March 1941
Decommissioned:	9 November 1945
Struck:	28 November 1945
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 24 April 1947
General characteristics
Class and type:	Mackerel-class submarine
Displacement:	825 tons (838 t) surfaced 1,190 tons (1,209 t) submerged
Length:	243 ft 1 in (74.09 m)
Beam:	22 ft 1 in (6.73 m)
Draft:	13 ft ¼ in (4.0 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Electric Boat direct drive diesel engines 2 × 60-cell Sargo batteries 2 × Electro Dynamic electric motors 2 shafts 1,680 bhp (1,250 kW) surfaced 1,500 bhp (1,100 kW) submerged
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h) surfaced 11 knots (20 km/h) submerged
Range:	6,500 nautical miles (12,000 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) (service)
Test depth:	250 ft (76 m)
Complement:	4 officers, 33 enlisted
Armament:	6 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes  (four forward, two aft)  12 torpedoes 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber deck gun

USS Mackerel (SS-204), the lead ship of her class of submarine, was the first ship of the United States Navy named for the mackerel, a common food and sport fish. Mackerel and her near-sister Marlin (designed and built by Portsmouth Navy Yard) were prototype small submarines, which the Navy was exploring to replace the aging S-class submarines.

Her keel was laid down on 6 October 1939, at the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 28 September 1940, sponsored by Mrs. William. R. Furlong, and commissioned on 31 March 1941, with Lieutenant John F. Davidson, a future Superintendent of the United States Naval Academy, in command.

Throughout World War II, Mackerel, assigned in Submarine Squadron 1 at New London, Connecticut, participated in the training and improvement of the Navy's submarine force. Designed as an experimental submarine, she provided support services to the Underwater Sound Laboratory and training services to the Submarine and the Prospective Commanding Officers Schools at New London, in addition to training Allied surface vessels and aircraft in antisubmarine warfare.

Although most of her time was spent in the New London area, she steamed as far north as Casco Bay and as far south as Chesapeake Bay to conduct antisubmarine training exercises. While in the New London-Narragansett Bay area she often worked with TG 28.4, the antisubmarine development detachment, as well as with the Underwater Sound Laboratory; thus aiding, both tactically and technically, in the development of submarine knowledge.

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Wikipedia