 USSBecuna (SS-319) after commissioning in May 1944. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Namesake | Becuna |
| Ordered | 10 April 1942 |
| Builder | Electric Boat Company,Groton, Connecticut[1] |
| Laid down | 29 April 1943[1] |
| Launched | 30 January 1944[1] |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. George C. Crawford, wife of Commander Crawford |
| Commissioned | 27 May 1944[1] |
| Decommissioned | 7 November 1969[1] |
| Stricken | 15 August 1973[1] |
| Motto | Tiger of the Sea |
| Honors & awards | 4Battle Stars |
| Status | Museum ship atPhiladelphia, 21 June 1976[2] |
| Badge |  |
| General characteristics As built | |
| Class & type | Balao-classdiesel-electricsubmarine[2] |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2] |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2] |
| Draft | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[2] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[3] |
| Endurance |
|
| Test depth | 400 ft (120 m)[3] |
| Complement | 10 officers, 72 enlisted[3] |
| Armament |
|
| General characteristics Guppy IA | |
| Class & type | none |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 307 ft 7 in (93.75 m)[6] |
| Beam | 27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)[6] |
| Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m)[6] |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed |
|
| Range | 17,000 nmi (31,000 km; 20,000 mi) surfaced at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)[6] |
| Endurance | 36 hours at 3 knots (5.6 km/h; 3.5 mph) submerged[6] |
| Complement |
|
| Armament |
|
USSBecuna (SS-319) | |
  | |
| Location | Penn's Landing,Columbus Blvd. & Spruce St.,Philadelphia,Pennsylvania,United States |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Built | 1944 |
| Built by | Electric Boat Co. |
| Architectural style | Balao-class submarine |
| NRHP reference No. | 78002458[7] |
| Added to NRHP | 29 August 1978 |
USSBecuna (SS/AGSS-319), aBalao-classsubmarine in commission from 1944 to 1969, was a submarine of theUnited States Navy named for thebecuna, a pike-like fish ofEurope. DuringWorld War II, she conducted five war patrols between 23 August 1944 and 27 July 1945, operating in thePhilippine Islands,South China Sea, andJava Sea. She is credited with sinking twoJapanesetankers totaling 3,888 gross register tons.[8]
After World War II,Becuna operated as part of theUnited States Pacific Fleet from 1945 to 1949. She served in theUnited States Atlantic Fleet from 1949 to 1969, primarily as atraining ship, although she also made two deployments with theUnited States Sixth Fleet in theMediterranean Sea.[citation needed]
After her decommissioning,Becuna was designated aNational Historic Landmark for her service in World War II. She became amuseum ship at theIndependence Seaport Museum inPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania.[citation needed]
Becuna waslaid down on 29 April 1943 by theElectric Boat Company atGroton,Connecticut. She waslaunched on 30 January 1944,sponsored by Mrs. George C. Crawford, andcommissioned on 27 May 1944.
Aftershakedown training fromNaval Submarine Base New London,Becuna departed Groton on 1 July 1944 and arrived atPearl Harbor,Hawaii, on 29 July 1944. She then conducted additional training in theHawaiian Islands.
Becuna departed Pearl Harbor on 23 August 1944 for her first war patrol. After patrolling for a month without spotting anything but aircraft, she surfaced on the afternoon of 25 September 1944 and her lookouts spied aconvoy of three Japanesemerchant ships escorted by a destroyer.Becuna submerged and fired a spread of sixtorpedoes. While she evaded a retaliatorydepth-charge attack, her crew heard an explosion but could not verify any sinkings; although she claimed to have destroyed twotankers in the convoy, postwar examination of Japanese records failed to verify the kills. She had a similar experience on 8 October 1944 when she launched torpedoes at a heavily escorted tanker north ofPalawan Passage in thePhilippine Islands. Again her crew heard two distinct explosions but were too busy dodging depth charges to observe the results of the attack. On 9 October 1944, however, she recorded her first verifiable success when she joined the submarineUSS Hawkbill (SS-366) in sinking the 1,943-gross register ton Japanesecargo shipTokuwa Maru. Later in October 1944, she concluded her patrol, putting intoFremantle,Australia, for a refit.
On 16 November 1944,Becuna stood out of Fremantle and embarked on her second war patrol. She cruised the waters of theSouth China Sea off the southern coast of Japanese-occupiedFrench Indochina searching for Japanese fleet units. On 23 December 1944 she encountered the Japaneseheavy cruiserAshigara andlight cruiserOyodo, which she mistakenly identified as aYamato-classbattleship and a "Nachi-class"(i.e.,Myōkō-class) heavy cruiser, respectively. Lack of time prevented her from achieving a favorable setup before they enteredCam Ranh Bay on the coast of French Indochina. The remainder ofBecuna′s patrol proved almost equally unsuccessful. She destroyed floatingnaval mines and, on her way back to Fremantle, sank two "sea trucks" — the American term for a type of small Japanese cargo ship — with herdeck gun just north ofLombok Strait. During January 1945 she underwent a refit at Fremantle.
Becuna embarked on her third war patrol in February 1945. She returned to the South China Sea off the coast of French Indochina, where she encountered a Japanese convoy offCap Padaran on the morning of 22 February 1945. She fired a spread of torpedoes at the tankerNichiryu Maru and sent her to the bottom. She endured a barrage of 70 depth charges from two escort vessels before escaping. She sighted no other Japanese shipping, and her patrol ended with her arrival atSubic Bay onLuzon in the Philippine Islands, where she underwent a refit.
Becuna departed Subic Bay to begin her fourth war patrol in May 1945. She sighted no Japanese ships, and proceeded to Fremantle, where she arrived in early June 1945 and underwent a refit.
On 21 June 1945, Becuna got underway from Fremantle for her fifth war patrol. On two occasions,Imperial Japanese Navyfloatplanes onantisubmarine patrol subjected her tobombing attacks. Then, on the night of 15 July 1945, she maderadar contact on a single fast-moving target in theJava Sea. After tracking it for several hours, she fired a spread of torpedoes in a night surface attack. They all missed, but the submarineUSS Baya (SS-318) took up the chase and sank the vessel, theAmbon Island-bound Japanesetorpedo boatKari.Becuna concluded her patrol at Subic Bay late in July 1945. While she was still undergoing a refit there,World War II ended on 15 August 1945 with thecessation of hostilities with Japan.
Becuna returned to theUnited States atSan Diego,California, on 22 September 1945. She then served in theUnited States Pacific Fleet until 1949, conducting submarine crew training missions and participating in various multiship exercises. She visitedJapan from 15 November – 9 December 1947 and from 31 October – 6 November 1948 andChina from 7 to 29 November 1948.[9]
In April 1949,Becuna was transferred to theUnited States Atlantic Fleet as a unit ofSubmarine Squadron 8. She operated from Groton, Connecticut, conducting refresher training exercises and frequently serving as a school ship for students at the Submarine School. That duty continued until November 1950, when she entered theshipyard of the Electric Boat Company at Groton for nine-month conversion under theGreater Underwater Propulsive Power (GUPPY) Program to aGUPPY IA submarine. She received additionalbatteries, asubmarine snorkel, and a streamlinedsail as well as a number of other modifications to various items of equipment.
Becuna completed the conversion in August 1951 and then conducted shakedown and refresher training in theWest Indies. She returned to Naval Submarine Base New London Groton in September 1951. Over the ensuing 18 years, she operated from Groton, performing a variety of peacetime missions, most of them involving training. She served as atraining ship for students at the Submarine School, and prospective submarinecommanding officers made their familiarization cruises aboard her. She also provided test services to the Test and Evaluation Force and trainedUnited States Naval Reserve personnel.
Becuna made two deployments to serve with theUnited States Sixth Fleet in theMediterranean Sea, where she made numerous port visits. She also participated in many exercises with U.S. and foreign naval units. She made one cruise toScotland, occasionally visitednorthern European ports, and was a frequent caller at ports inCanada, along theUnited States East Coast, and in the West Indies. In 1969, she was reclassified as anauxiliary submarine and given thehull classification symbolAGSS-319.
Becuna wasdecommissioned on 7 November 1969 and laid up in theAtlantic Reserve Fleet atPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania. Her hull classification symbol reverted toSS-319 in 1971.
Becuna remained in reserve at Philadelphia until 15 August 1973, when her name was stricken from theNaval Vessel Register. In 1974, a prospective transfer ofBecuna toVenezuela fell through. On 21 June 1976, she was donated to theCruiser Olympia Association for use as a memorial.
World War II Victory Medal
Navy Occupation Service Medal with "ASIA" clasp
China Service Medal
Becuna was placed on permanent display adjacent to the cruiserUSS Olympia (C-6) atPenn's Landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 21 June 1976.Becuna was designated aNational Historic Landmark in 1986.[10] Since 1996, both vessels have been operated by theIndependence Seaport Museum.Becuna received the Historical Welded Structure Award of theAmerican Welding Society in 2001.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be foundhere andhere.
39°56′37″N75°08′28″W / 39.943550°N 75.141179°W /39.943550; -75.141179
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