U.S.S. Barracuda
SS-163
1938
(Saratoga Model Shipyard SMY-55)
- Class: Barracuda (V-1 class) - 3 submarines of 1921
- Displacement: 2,000/2,620 tons
- Dimensions: 341'6" x 27'7"" x 14'7"
- Machinery: 2-shaft Busch-Sulzer diesels, S.H.P. 4,100/2,400 = 21/8 knots
- Armament: 6-21" TT (4 bow/2 aft) w/ 12 torpedoes; 1-5"/51 gun
- Complement: 65
- Builder: Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine
- Keel Laid: 20 Oct 1921
- Launched: 17 Jul 1924
- Commissioned: 1 Oct 1924
- Decommissioned: 3 Mar 1945
- Service: Commissioned as USS V-1 (SF-4). The V-1 Class were the first fleet submarines, designed with the surface speed to keep up with the Battle Fleet. Initially commissioned only for surface cruising to test her new engines, she returned to the yard for completion in May 1925 after a surface trip to the Caribbean. Renamed USS Barracuda 9 Mar 1931 and redesigned SS-163 on 1 Jul 1931. Assigned to Submarine Division 12 in 1933, she operated off the west coast and to Hawaii, and in the Caribbean where she took part in the Gravimetric Survey Expedition. She was placed out of commission at Philadelphia 14 May 1937. Recommissioned 5 Sep 1940, she worked in the Atlantic until sailing to join the Pacific Fleet in Nov 1941. As an older boat, she was kept in the eastern Pacific, completing six war patrols southwest of Panama, without enemy contact. She returned to the Atlantic in Sep 1942, based at New London operating on training problems with destroyers, other submarines, and planes until being removed from service in Feb 1945.
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