USS Blueback (SS-326)

USS Blueback (SS-326), a Balao-class submarine, was the first submarine of the United States Navy to be named for a type of salmon, specifically, the Blueback salmon, also known as the sockeye salmon.

For other ships with the same name, see USS Blueback.

History
United States
Name: Blueback
Namesake: Blueback
Builder: Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down: 29 July 1943[1]
Launched: 7 May 1944[1]
Commissioned: 28 August 1944[1]
Decommissioned: 23 May 1948[1]
Stricken: 28 May 1948[2]
Fate:

Transferred to Turkey, 23 May 1948

Returned and sold for scrap[1]
Turkey
Name: TCG 2. İnönü (S 331)
Commissioned: 25 May 1948
Decommissioned: 30 November 1973
Fate: Returned to the US, 30 November 1973
General characteristics
Class and type: Balao-class diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement:
  • 1,526 tons (1550 t) surfaced[2]
  • 2,424 tons (2460 t) submerged[2]
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:
  • 20.25 knots (37 km/h) surfaced[6]
  • 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged[6]
Range: 11,000 nm (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6]
Endurance:
  • 48 hours at 2 knots (4 km/h) submerged[6]
  • 75 days on patrol
Test depth: 400 ft (120 m)[6]
Complement: 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[6]
Armament:
  • 10 × 21-inch (533 mm) torpedo tubes
    • 6 forward, 4 aft
    • 24 torpedoes[5]
  • 1 × 5-inch (127 mm) / 25 caliber deck gun[5]
  • Bofors 40 mm and Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

Her keel was laid down on 29 July 1943 by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 7 May 1944 sponsored by Mrs. William Brent Young, wife of Rear Admiral Young, and commissioned on 28 August 1944 with Lieutenant Commander M. K. Clementson in command.

Service in the US Navy

Blueback arrived at Pearl Harbor on 21 November 1944. During the period from 16 December 1944 to 20 July 1945 she completed three war patrols in the South China Sea and Java Sea. She sank a 300-ton submarine chaser, as well as eight smaller vessels and inserted a Z Special Unit operative on the north coast of Java in Operation Binatang. She arrived at Subic Bay, Luzon, Philippines, from her third and last war patrol on 20 July 1945.

On 4 September 1945 Blueback arrived at Apra Harbor, Guam, where she remained until 28 November, conducting daily underway training exercises. After a voyage to the Caroline Islands and the Admiralty Islands, she returned to Guam on 15 December. She stood out for San Diego, California, on 12 January 1946. Remaining on the west coast until 26 August 1946, she then departed for a tour of the Far East. She visited Pearl Harbor, Truk, Subic Bay, Tsingtao and Shanghai, China, before returning to San Diego on 29 November. Blueback conducted one more cruise to Pearl Harbor from 17 February to 4 April 1947 and then carried out local operations and type training along the coast of California until March 1948.

Blueback received two battle stars for her World War II service.

The following is an excerpt from the decommissioning booklet of the 2nd USS Blueback, SS-581. The booklet was printed and distributed by the US Navy.

Service in the Turkish Navy

On 4 March 1948 Blueback departed the West Coast and proceeded to the Mediterranean Sea, via New London, Connecticut. She arrived at İzmir, Turkey, on 11 May 1948 and on 23 May 1948 was decommissioned and transferred to Turkey. She was renamed TCG İkinci Inönü (S331) ("Second Inonu"), the second of three submarines named by the Turkish Navy after the Second Battle of İnönü during the Turkish Independence War.[7]

See also

Other ships named İnönü:

  • TCG 1. Inönü (S 330) was a submarine in the Turkish Navy.
  • TCG 2. Inönü (S 333) was a submarine in the Turkish Navy.

References
  1. Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 978-1-55750-263-6.
  2. Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775-1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 275–280. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.
  3. Bauer, K. Jack; Roberts, Stephen S. (1991). Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. pp. 275–280. ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.
  4. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 261
  5. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
  6. U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305-311
  7. Gardiner, Robert, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1982, Pt I: The Western Powers (1982) Naval Institute Press, Annapolis ISBN 978-0851772257 p121


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