 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Builder | Electric Boat Company,Groton, Connecticut[1] |
| Laid down | 25 May 1944[1] |
| Launched | 28 July 1945[1] |
| Commissioned | 5 February 1946[1] |
| Decommissioned | 24 September 1969[1] |
| Stricken | 24 September 1969[1] |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 26 June 1972[1] |
| 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 |
|
USSCusk (SS/SSG/AGSS-348) was aBalao-classsubmarine of theUnited States Navy named for thecusk, a large food fish related to thecod.
Cusk was launched 28 July 1945 byElectric Boat,Groton, Conn.; cosponsored by Mrs. C. S. Gillette, and Mrs. W. G. Reed; and commissioned 5 February 1946.
DepartingNew London 24 April 1946,Cusk made an extended cruise through theCaribbean Sea, and arrived at San Diego 6 June 1946. She sailed toAlaska and northern waters between 16 July and 20 August, then carried out local operations out of San Diego. A pioneer in the missile field,Cusk was fitted with a missile hangar and launching ramp just aft of her sail in 1947. She was designatedSSG-348, 20 January 1948 and was the first submarine to launch aguided missile (aRepublic-Ford JB-2 Loon, derived from the GermanV-1 flying bomb) from her own deck, a forerunner of thecruise missile andballistic missile submarines of the future.
She enteredMare Island Naval Shipyard for a "Fleet Snorkel" conversion and modernization in 1954, but remained in theRegulus missile program because of her special guidance equipment, although redesignatedSS-348 on 1 July 1954.
Cusk arrived atPearl Harbor, her new home port, 13 May 1957. Continuing her missile guidance duties with consortsTunny (SSG-282), andCarbonero (SS-337) she operated inHawaiian waters with a cruise to San Diego in 1957 and duty in the Far East in 1958 and 1960.
In the fall of 1961Cusk had her Regulus missile guidance equipment removed and reverted to attack submarine profile. After successfully shooting a MK 14 Mod 3 warshot torpedo at the target cliffs on Kahoolawe Island she departed for WesPac in January 1962. Designated as the SubFlot 7 Mining platform during the deployment,Cusk offloaded all steam torpedoes atCubi Point NAS that spring and reloaded 4 MK 27 Mobile drill mines and 18 MK 10 moored drill mines. 12 days after departure from Subic Bay,Cusk entered the shallow waters ofBuckner BayOkinawa submerged, launched the 4 MK 27 mobile mines and then planted a field of 18 MK 10 moored mines. Following the successful mine plantCusk returned to Subic Bay RP, and retrieved her MK 14 Mod 3 warshot torpedoes.
In June 1969, theSecretary of Defense ordered that 100 of the Navy's oldest ships be decommissioned; theCusk was on that list. Subsequently, theCusk was redesignatedAGSS-348 and she set sail for the last time in September 1969 forHunter's Point Naval Shipyard in San Francisco.
Cusk was decommissioned and simultaneously struck from theNaval Register, 24 September 1969; she was sold for scrap, 26 June 1972.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be foundhere andhere.
