 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | Capelin |
| Builder | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard,Kittery, Maine[1] |
| Laid down | 14 September 1942[1] |
| Launched | 20 January 1943[1] |
| Commissioned | 4 June 1943[1] |
| Fate | Missing north ofSulawesi after 2 December 1943[2] |
| 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 nm (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6] |
| Endurance |
|
| Test depth | 400 ft (120 m)[6] |
| Complement | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[6] |
| Armament |
|
USSCapelin (SS-289), aBalao-class submarine, was the only ship of theUnited States Navy to be named for thecapelin, a small fish of thesmelt family. She is credited with having sunk 3,127 gross register tons of shipping on her single war patrol.
Capelin′skeel waslaid down byPortsmouth Naval Shipyard atKittery,Maine. She waslaunched on 20 January 1943,sponsored by Mrs. I. C. Bogart, andcommissioned on 4 June 1943.
Capelin sailed fromNew London, Connecticut, on 3 September 1943, bound forBrisbane, Australia, and duty with Submarine Force, Southwest Pacific. Her first war patrol, conducted in theMolucca Sea,Flores Sea, andBanda Sea between 30 October and 15 November, found her sinking a 3127-ton Japanese cargo ship on 11 November offAmbon Island.
Capelin returned toDarwin, Australia, with a defective conning tower hatch mechanism, excessively noisy bow planes, and a defective radar tube. These flaws were corrected, andCapelin put out on her second war patrol 17 November 1943, in the Molucca Sea andCelebes Sea, and she was to pay particular attention toKaoe Bay,Morotai Strait,Davao Gulf, and trade routes in the vicinity ofSiaoe Island,Sangi Island,Talaud Islands andSarangani Island. She was to leave her area at dark 6 December.
The submarineBonefish (SS-223) reported sighting an American submarine on 2 December 1943 in the area assigned toCapelin at that time. The unidentified submarine quickly dived, probably after sightingBonefish.Bonefish sent a message viasonar giving Commander Marshall's nickname, "Steam". The other submarine returned an acknowledgement.[8] Following this,Capelin was never heard from again. The U.S. Navy broke radio silence on 9 December 1943 in an attempt to contactCapelin, but without success.
Japanese records studied after the war listed an attack by theminelayerWakataka on a supposed United States submarine on 23 November 1943 off Kaoe Bay,Halmahera, Indonesia, with the Japanese ship noting the attack produced oily black water columns that contained wood and cork splinters and that later a raft was found. This is the only reported attack in the appropriate area at that time, and it occurred nine days beforeBonefish's apparent contact withCapelin. Also, Japanese minefields are now known to have been placed in various positions along the north coast of Celebes (now known asSulawesi) inCapelin's patrol area, and she may have been lost to anaval mine. Gone without a trace with the loss of her entire crew,Capelin remains on the list of ships lost without a known cause.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in November 1943 | |
|---|---|
| Shipwrecks |
|
| Other incidents |
|
