| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USSKraken (SS-370) |
| Builder | Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company,Manitowoc, Wisconsin[1] |
| Laid down | 13 December 1943[1] |
| Launched | 30 April 1944[1] |
| Commissioned | 8 September 1944[1] |
| Decommissioned | 4 May 1948[1] |
| Recommissioned | 4 July 1959[2][1] |
| Decommissioned | 24 October 1959[1] |
| Stricken | 1 November 1974[3] |
| Fate | Transferred to Spain, 24 October 1959,[3] sold to Spain, 1 November 1974[1] |
.svg) Spain | |
| Name | Almirante García de los Reyes (S-31) |
| Commissioned | 25 October 1959 |
| Decommissioned | 16 September 1974 |
| Recommissioned | 1 September 1975 |
| Decommissioned | April 1981 |
| Stricken | 1 April 1982 |
| Fate | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Balao classdiesel-electricsubmarine[3] |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[3] |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[3] |
| Draft | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[3] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 11,000nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[4] |
| Endurance |
|
| Test depth | 400 ft (120 m)[4] |
| Complement | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[4] |
| Armament |
|
USSKraken (SS-370), aBalao-classsubmarine, was a ship of theUnited States Navy named for thekraken, a legendarysea monster believed to haunt the coasts ofNorway.
Kraken commissioned in September 1944 and saw action during the last year ofWorld War II, serving in thePacific Theater and making four war patrols. In 1946 she was placed inreserve.
In 1959Kraken was transferred to theSpanish Navy asAlmirante García de los Reyes. She was scrapped in 1982.
Kraken waslaunched 30 April 1944, by theManitowoc Shipbuilding Co.,Manitowoc, Wisc.; sponsored by Mrs.John Z. Anderson, wife ofCongressman Anderson ofCalifornia; andcommissioned 8 September 1944.
Kraken steamed by way ofChicago toLockport, Ill., 27 September 1944, and was carried in afloating drydock down theMississippi River arriving atAlgiers, La., 4 October. Ten days laterKraken cleared Algiers, transited thePanama Canal and underwent intensive training in theGulf of Panama. She sailed forHawaii 4 November and arrivedPearl Harbor 21 November.
Kraken departed Pearl Harbor 12 December 1944, for her first war patrol, touched atSaipan 23 December, set course forIndochina next morning. There she maintained lifeguard duty in support of3rd Fleetcarrier strikes. While on station she rescued aLexington pilot from rough seas and evaded a strafing enemy plane by diving. Finding no targets,Kraken set course forFremantle,Australia, arriving there 14 February 1945.
Kraken departed on her second war patrol 15 March and maintained lifeguard duty in theSouth China Sea supporting aircraft carrier strikes againstSingapore andSaigon. She returned toSubic Bay,P.I., 26 April.
Departing on her third war patrol on 19 May 1945,Kraken set course for theGulf of Siam. After searching in vain for enemy targets, she shifted to theJava Sea where on 19 June she bombardedMerak and riddled a coaster and a small ship with 5-inch (130 mm) and 40 mm projectiles. She saw the coaster sink and she left the small ship ablaze before clearing the harbor.
Three days later, while chasing an eight-shipconvoy,Kraken's torpedoes sank an oiler and a coastal steamer and her guns inflicted heavy damage on one of the Japanese submarine chasers. ThenKraken proudly sailed into Fremantle, Australia, 3 July 1945, ending her most successful patrol.
Kraken sailed on her fourth and last patrol 29 July. While seeking the enemy in the Java Sea, her patrol was cut short when she received news of Japan's capitulation. Sailing for Subic Bay, she arrived 21 August.
Kraken cleared Subic Bay 31 August 1945, touched at Pearl Harbor, and arrived atSan Francisco 22 September. On 14 October she rendezvoused with AdmiralWilliam Halsey's 3rd Fleet and formed a part of honor escort for Halsey, as he passed under theGolden Gate Bridge in his flagship,South Dakota (BB-57). Ten days laterKraken visitedLongview, Wash., for the first postwarNavy Day celebrations and returned to San Francisco 31 October where she was placed out of commission 4 May 1946 in thePacific Reserve Fleet.
Kraken remained in reserve status until 18 September 1958, when she was assigned toPearl Harbor Naval Shipyard for activation overhaul and given aFleet Snorkel conversion preparatory to transfer on loan to Spain. After several months of familiarization at Pearl Harbor for her new crew, on 25 October 1959 she was commissionedAlmirante García de los Reyes, in memory of DonMateo García de los Reyes (1862–1936), theSpanish Navy's pioneer in submarines. The ship's unusually long name posed a practical problem, so the abbreviationA. G. de los Reyes was often used. Originally designatedE-1, she was redesignatedS-31 in 1961 to conform to the new,NATO-style numbering system adopted by the Spanish Navy.Almirante García de los Reyes was the only modern Spanish submarine in the 1960s (Spain, also had one German Type VIIC, ExU-573, and 3 "insecure" and old Spanish D-class submarines), and was nicknamed "treinta y único" ("thirtyonly-one") and became almost legendary.
A. G. de los Reyes's voyage via the Panama Canal toCartagena, Spain took till late January 1960.
García was decommissioned, 16 September 1974, sold to Spain, and struck from the USNaval Register, 1 November 1974. She was to have been cannibalized, but had to be overhauled and recommissioned, 1 September 1975, to replaceNarcíso Monturiol (S33), which had suffered a severe engine failure the previous spring and had to be stricken.García was finally decommissioned in April 1981, struck from the Spanish Navy list, 1 April 1982, and scrapped.
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be foundhere andhere.
