.jpg) USSRock underway, ca. the 1960s. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Builder | Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company,Manitowoc, Wisconsin[1] |
| Laid down | 23 December 1942[1] |
| Launched | 20 June 1943[1] |
| Sponsored by | Mrs. B. O. Wells |
| Commissioned | 26 October 1943[1] |
| Decommissioned | 1 May 1946[1] |
| Recommissioned | 12 October 1953[1] |
| Decommissioned | 13 September 1969[1] |
| Stricken | 13 September 1969[1] |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 17 August 1972[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Gato-class submarinediesel-electricsubmarine[2] |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 311 ft 9 in (95.02 m)[2] |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2] |
| Draft | 17 ft 0 in (5.18 m) maximum[2] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 11,000nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6] |
| Endurance |
|
| Test depth | 300 ft (90 m)[6] |
| Complement | 6 officers, 54 enlisted[6] |
| Armament |
|
USSRock (SS/SSR/AGSS-274), aGato-classsubmarine, was a ship of theUnited States Navy named for the rockfish, astriped bass found in theChesapeake Bay region and elsewhere along theUnited States East Coast.
Rock waslaid down by theManitowoc Shipbuilding Company atManitowoc,Wisconsin, on 23 December 1942;launched on 20 June 1943, sponsored by Mrs. B. O. Wells, andcommissioned on 26 October 1943.
After a month of intensive training inLake Michigan,Rock passed through theChicago Sanitary and Ship Canal (at the time known as the Chicago Drainage Canal) toLockport, Ill. There she entered afloating drydock for her voyage down theMississippi River. She arrived inNew Orleans on 29 November 1943, and got underway 6 days later forPanama, where she received further training before sailing forPearl Harbor on 2 January 1944. Following voyage repairsRock departed from Pearl Harbor for her first war patrol on 8 February 1944.
On 29 February 1944,Rock contacted a large enemy convoy en route toTruk. Detected by destroyerAsashimo while making a night surface approach on the convoy, she fired a spread of fourtorpedoes from her stern tubes at the closing enemydestroyer without scoring. Then illuminated by the destroyer's searchlight, and under fire from the surface ship's 5-inch (130 mm) guns, she dived. For 4 hours she underwentdepth charge attacks, but survived. That night she surfaced and found that herperiscopes were excessively damaged and that her bridge had been riddled withshrapnel. The damage necessitated a return to Pearl Harbor for repairs. Later that night, the busyAsashimo sankTrout.
Rock began her second war patrol on 4 April 1944, destinationHonshū. However, after 34 days in theBungo Suido andSagami Wan area without action, she returned toMajuro where she was refitted bySperry (AS-12).
Rock, in company withTilefish andSawfish, departed Majuro on 22 June 1944, in acoordinated attack group to patrol theLuzon Strait. At dawn on 19 JulyRock attacked aJapanese convoy of seven large ships and three escorts, firing 10 torpedoes, six of which exploded. But, as she immediately dove to escape a depth-charge attack, she could not observe their effect.
Two days laterRock contacted another enemyconvoy consisting of six large ships and four escorts. She launched four torpedoes, two of which seemed to hit but, againRock was forced down by depth charges and unable to assess damage to her targets. During the remainder of her time on station,Rock weathered a severetyphoon and witnessed the sinking of Japanese submarineI-29 bySawfish. On 27 July she headed toward Pearl Harbor.
Rock departed Pearl Harbor on 9 September 1944, en route for theSouth China Sea for her fourth patrol. On 26 October 1944, she scored three hits on a tanker,Rock's only sinking,Takasago Maru No. 7, accompanied by three escorts. On 27 October 1944, she fired nine torpedoes atDarter, stranded onBombay Shoal, to prevent her salvage by the Japanese. Three of the torpedoes were hits. This patrol ended whenRock departed the area and sailed forFremantle,Western Australia, for refit.
On 14 December 1944,Rock departed Fremantle on her fifth patrol. On 12 January 1945, the U.S. NavydestroyerUSS English (DD-696) mistook her for a Japanesesailboat whileRock was on the surface in theSouth China Sea off Japanese-occupiedFrench Indochina and opened gunfire on her at a range of 9,200 yards (8,400 m).[7]Rockcrash-dived to 300 feet (91 m) and sustained no damage.[7] The only other event of note during the 64-day patrol was the rescue of a downed pilot fromUSS Lexington (CV-16).
At the start of her sixth patrol, which lasted from 7 March to 4 May 1945, she picked up 15 merchant seamen from theSS Peter Silvester, adrift in a life raft for 32 days, and landed them atExmouth. Continuing northward the next day,Rock was bombed by an aircraft and that night she was struck by a dud torpedo. Neither attack caused any critical damage. In a night attack on 27 March,Rock fired on an enemy destroyer escort without success. On 18 April she joinedTigrone in bombardingBatan Island to leave the Japanese radio station in ruins.Rock then turned towardSaipan to complete a 54-day patrol.
From theMarianas the submarine headed for the United States, arriving atHunter's Point,San Francisco, 14 May for overhaul. She sailed for Pearl Harbor 7 August 1945, but with the cessation of hostilities on 15 August 1945 was ordered east. She was officially credited with damaging 42,282 gross register tons of enemy shipping during her six war patrols,
Rock participated inNavy Day celebrations at New Orleans, then proceeded toNew London where she began inactivation in November 1945. She was decommissioned 1 May 1946 and was berthed as a unit of theAtlantic Reserve Fleet.
In early 1951Rock was towed from New London to thePhiladelphia Naval Shipyard, where she was converted to aradar picket submarine by bisecting her at the forward bulkhead of the control room and inserting a 30-foot (9 m) section between the control room and the forward battery to house the newCIC and the majority of her new electronic equipment. ReclassifiedSSR-274 on 18 July 1952, Rock recommissioned atPhiladelphia,Pennsylvania, on 12 October 1953.
After a short period of training withSubmarine Squadron 6 off theVirginia Capes, she proceeded toSan Diego to joinSubmarine Squadron 5. On 23 July 1954, she departed San Diego for the western Pacific area and a six-month tour on theTaiwan Strait Patrol. She subsequently alternated deployments to the western Pacific with operations off theUnited States West Coast. She made six-month deployments to the western Pacific in 1956 and during the winter of 1958–1959.
By 31 December 1959 there no longer existed an operational requirement for a radar picket submarine in the fleet, and on that date the Air Control Center was decommissioned andRock was redesignated an "auxiliary general submarine,"AGSS-274,. Following operations off the U.S. West Coast and another overhaul,Rock again deployed to the western Pacific in November 1961. She made subsequent six-month deployments to the western Pacific in 1963, 1965, 1966–1967, and 1968.
Operating in the eastern Pacific during the first half of 1969,Rock departed San Diego 11 July and conducted operations in support of fleet training in theHawaiian operating areas until proceeding on 16 August 1959 to the U.S. West Coast.
On 13 September 1969,Rock decommissioned atMare Island Naval Shipyard. Struck from theNavy List on the same day, she was designated for use as a target to destruction. She was sold for scrap on 17 August 1972
World War II Victory Medal
China Service Medal
This article incorporates text from thepublic domainDictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be foundhere.
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in January 1945 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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