_during_her_refit.jpg) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSBrill (SS-330) |
| Namesake | Brill, aEuropeanflatfish |
| Builder | Electric Boat Company,Groton, Connecticut[1] |
| Laid down | 23 September 1943[1] |
| Launched | 25 June 1944[1] |
| Commissioned | 26 October 1944[1] |
| Decommissioned | 23 May 1948[1] |
| Stricken | 28 May 1948[2] |
| Fate | Transferred toTurkey 23 May 1948 |
 Turkey | |
| Name | TCGBirinci İnönü (S 330), also written1. İnönü |
| Namesake | First Battle of İnönü, Andİsmet İnönü |
| Acquired | 23 May 1948 |
| Commissioned | 23 May 1948 |
| Decommissioned | 29 November 1972 |
| Fate | Sold for scrapping November 1980 |
| General characteristics | |
| 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, 70–71 enlisted[3] |
| Armament |
|
USSBrill (SS-330), aBalao-classsubmarine, was a ship of theUnited States Navy in commission from 1944 to 1947. She was named for thebrill, aEuropeanflatfish.
Brill wascommissioned late inWorld War II, and her war operations extended from 28 January to 9 August 1945. She completed three war patrols in theSouth China Sea and theGulf of Siam.Brill made few contacts worthy oftorpedo fire and consequently had to settle for damaging an unidentified ship of approximately 1,000 gross register tons as her only score.
Decommissioned soon after World War II,Brill was transferred toTurkey. She served in theTurkish Navy asTCGBirinci İnönü (S330) from 1948 to 1972.
Brill waslaid down on 23 September 1943 atGroton,Connecticut, by theElectric Boat Company. She waslaunched on 25 June 1944, sponsored by Mrs. Francis S. Low, wife ofRear Admiral Francis S. Low, andcommissioned on 26 October 1944, withCommander Harry B. Dodge in command.
Followingshakedown training offNew England,Brill got underway fromNew London, Connecticut, on 7 December 1944 bound for thePanama Canal. After transiting thecanal, Brill took part in intensive training near thePearl Islands in theGulf of Panama between 17 and 21 December 1944. Then, on 23 December 1944, she departed the Submarine Base atBalboa in thePanama Canal Zone forPearl Harbor,Hawaii, where she arrived on 8 January 1945.
Brill spent a week at Pearl Harbor undergoing voyage repairs andtorpedo training before getting underway for theMariana Islands on 28 January 1945. She conducted drills and battle problems en route and arrived atSaipan on 9 February 1945.
After refueling at Saipan,Brill began her first war patrol. Transiting theLuzon Strait on 15 February 1945 and arrived in her patrol area offHainan Island in theSouth China Sea on 19 February. At first, she encountered no Japanese ships, but on 20 February 1945, just afterBrill sank a floatingnaval mine with gunfire, her watchstanders saw a torpedowake approaching on herstarboard quarter.Brill took evasive action and the torpedo missed, then increased speed to avoid a second torpedo her lookouts sighted. Both torpedoes passed by her on her starboard side before she moved out of range, submerged, and headed hack to search in vain for what she assumed was a Japanese submarine that had attacked her.
The following days were uneventful, bringingBrill sightings ofsailingjunks,Allied aircraft, and some Japanese planes. On 1 March 1945, she made contact on three small Japanesepatrol boats in shallow water, probably trying to trap an unsuspecting Allied submarine. Commander Dodge avoided the trap and continued to search for a worthwhile target. On 5 March 1945, he found one. WhileBrill patrolled submerged, Dodge sighted a large Japanesetanker escorted by twodestroyers and a plane.Brill immediately attempted to move into position to attack the tanker, but gave up the effort an hour later when she could not close the range with it.
On 6 March 1945,Brill joined the submarineUSS Chub (SS-329) in acoordinated patrol in theTonkin Gulf. On 8 March 1945, Japanese planes forced them both to submerge and attacked them withdepth charges, but neither submarine sustained damage. On 15 March 1945, while providing lifeguard services for Americanbombers attacking Hainan Island,Brill maneuvered to avoid another torpedo fired at her, presumably by a Japanese submarine. She again was unable to make contact with the attacking Japanese submarine.
On 21 March 1945,Brill rendezvoused with the submarineUSS Gurnard (SS-254) to bring aboard anAustralian Armyofficer and a nativeMalayan guide for a special mission onSakala Island.Brill patrolled down the coast of Japanese-occupiedFrench Indochina and arrived off Sakala Island on 25 March 1945. That night, the Australiancommando and his partner went ashore. They returned toBrill an hour later with fiveIndonesians. When this entire party had embarked,Brill set course forFremantle,Western Australia, where she completed her patrol with her arrival on 30 March 1945.
Following a normal two-week refit and a short training period,Brill departed Fremantle on 27 April 1945 to begin her second war patrol, bound for a patrol area in waters off the eastern coast of Japanese-occupiedBritish Malaya. She made no ship contacts worthy of torpedoes and, on 4 June 1945, left her patrol area. She terminated her patrol atSubic Bay onLuzon in thePhilippines, where she underwent a refit alongside thesubmarine tenderUSS Howard W. Gilmore (AS-16).
On 3 July 1945,Brill stood out to sea for her third war patrol. She arrived in her patrol area in theGulf of Siam on 8 July 1945 and joined other American submarines in patrolling those waters. She encountered two small Japanesepatrol vessels on 11 July 1945 and commenced a surface approach for an attack. Although she fired 11 torpedoes, only one scored a hit, the others presumably passing under thehulls of the shallow-draft ships. By this time,Brill was inside the 10-fathom (60 ft; 18 m) curve and the onset of darkness ruled out using herdeck guns to sink the patrol vessels, so she broke off the attack.
Another opportunity presented itself on 19 July 1945, whenBrill encountered a small Japaneseconvoy of twomerchant ships, a destroyer, and two patrol boats. she fired four torpedoes, but scored no hits. She broke off the attack at dawn and departed the area. She made no worthwhile contacts during the remainder of the patrol. On 1 August 1945, she rendezvoused withChub to transfer her remaining 5-inch (127 mm) gun ammunition toChub, then set course for Fremantle, where she arrived on 9 August 1945 and began a refit alongside the submarine tenderUSS Clytie (AS-26).Hostilities with Japan ended on 15 August 1945 while she still undergoing refit.
On 31 August 1945Brill departed Fremantle withChub and the submarinesUSS Bumper (SS-333) andUSS Bugara (SS-331) bound for Subic Bay, which she reached on 9 September 1945. There, she served as a unit of Submarines,Philippine Sea Frontier, until January 1946, when she received orders to Pearl Harbor for repairs to herdiesel engines. After calling at Pearl Harbor, she got back underway on 5 February 1946 with only three of her four engines in operation, heading east toSan Diego,California, for a period ofshore leave and upkeep. She reached San Diego on 12 February 1946 and went alongside the submarine tenderUSS Sperry (AS-12) for repairs.
After a week of refresher training,Brill departed San Diego on 23 April 1946 to return to Pearl Harbor, where she commenced an overhaul on 1 May 1946. At the conclusion of the overhaul, she resumed operations with theUnited States Pacific Fleet. Departing Pearl Harbor on 12 September 1946,Brill made a two-month cruise toMidway Atoll in theNorthwestern Hawaiian Islands,Adak in theAleutian Islands,Kodiak onKodiak Island, andIndian Island inPuget Sound inWashington. She returned to Pearl Harbor on 9 November 1946.
Brill resumed training exercises around Hawaii with SubmarineSquadron 5. During the summer of 1947, she put to sea in company with the submarinesUSS Bergall (SS-320) andUSS Bugara (SS-331) for a coordinated attack exercise against thebattleshipUSS Iowa (BB-61) in the Hawaiian Islands. Taking up a position in theAlenuihaha Channel, the submarines attempted to intercept the battleship as she made a high-speed run betweenMaui and theisland of Hawaii. AlthoughIowa enjoyed land-based air cover and tried to throw off her pursuers by several radical course changes, the submarines still achieved four "successful" mock attacks against the battleship.[5]
Brill again resumed training exercises in Hawaiian waters with Submarine Squadron 5 until 4 September 1947, when she departed Pearl Harbor for San Diego. She commenced overhaul atHunters Point Naval Shipyard inSan Francisco, California, on 29 September 1947. Leaving the shipyard early in 1948, she completed refresher training and departed on 24 February 1948 for Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut, where she arrived on 16 March 1948. She was decommissioned there on 23 May 1948 and struck from theNaval Vessel Register on 28 May 1948.
Brill was turned over toTurkey on 23 May 1948 and was commissioned in theTurkish Navy the same day asTCGBirinci İnönü (S330) ("First Inonu"), also written as1. İnönü, the second submarine of that name. She was named in commemoration of the Turkish victory at theFirst Battle of İnönü in January 1921.
In 1952–1953Birinci İnönü was converted into aGUPPY Fleet Snorkel submarine. The interior work was done at Turkey'sGölcük Naval Yard, then the conversion was completed in theUnited States.
Birinci İnönü was decommissioned on 29 November 1972.[6] She was sold to Stavros Vamvounakis ofAthens,Greece, in November 1980 for scrapping.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
