USS Mapiro (SS-376)

USS Mapiro (SS-376), a Balao-class submarine, was a ship of the United States Navy named for the mapiro, a fish of the Gobioidea suborder occurring off the West Indies and the Atlantic coasts of Central America and Mexico.

Submarine Warfare insignia

History
United States
Name:	USS Mapiro (SS-376)
Builder:	Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin[1]
Laid down:	30 May 1944[1]
Launched:	9 November 1944[1]
Commissioned:	30 April 1945[1]
Decommissioned:	16 March 1946[1]
Recommissioned:	1960[1]
Decommissioned:	18 March 1960[1]
Stricken:	1 August 1973[2]
Fate:	Transferred to Turkey, 18 March 1960,[2] sold to Turkey 1 August 1973[1]
TCG Piri Reis (S 343)
Turkey
Name:	TCG Piri Reis (S 343)
Namesake:	Ottoman Admiral Piri Reis
Acquired:	18 March 1960
Commissioned:	24 June 1960
Out of service:	1973
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1980
General characteristics
Class and type:	Balao class diesel-electric submarine[2]
Displacement:	1,526 tons (1,550 t) surfaced[2] 2,424 tons (2,463 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:	4 × General Motors Model 16-278A V16 diesel engines driving electrical generators[3][4] 2 × 126-cell Sargo batteries[5] 4 × high-speed General Electric electric motors with reduction gears[3] two propellers [3] 5,400 shp (4.0 MW) surfaced[3] 2,740 shp (2.0 MW) submerged[3]
Speed:	20.25 knots (38 km/h) surfaced[6] 8.75 knots (16 km/h) submerged[6]
Range:	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) surfaced at 10 knots (19 km/h)[6]
Endurance:	48 hours at 2 knots (3.7 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

Mapiro was laid down by Manitowoc Shipbuilding Co., Manitowoc, Wisc., 30 May 1944; launched 9 November 1944; sponsored by Mrs. Philip H. Ross; and commissioned 30 April 1945, Commander Vincent A. Sisler, Jr., in command. Lieutenant John Leo Cahill Jr from New Orleans Louisiana participated in her construction and is a "plankowner". He served as 5th Officer Navigator on her maiden voyage and war patrol. He was awarded the Submarine Warfare Insignia (known as "dolphins" or "fish") in Dallas, Texas many years after the end of World War 2.

Following trials on Lake Michigan, Mapiro entered a floating drydock at Lockport, Ill.; and was towed down the Chicago and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, La., to be readied for duty in the South Pacific. She sailed for the Canal Zone 31 May, arriving off Balboa 5 June for training. On 28 June the submarine got underway for Hawaii in company with Cutlass (SS-478), arriving Pearl Harbor 15 July.

Mapiro sailed for the Marianas on her first war patrol 4 August, arriving off Saipan the day Japan surrendered, 15 August. She remained on observation patrol until returning to the west coast in September, arriving at San Francisco for deactivation by 25 August.

On 16 March 1946 Mapiro decommissioned to enter the Pacific Reserve Fleet at Mare Island, Calif., 1 January 1947.

TCG Pirireis (S-343)

In 1960, Mapiro was converted to a Fleet Snorkel submarine. On 18 March 1960 she was transferred on loan under the Military Assistance Program to Turkey. The Turkish Navy renamed her TCG Pirireis (S-343), after Piri Reis (ca. 1465–1554), an Ottoman admiral and cartographer. She left San Francisco on 16 May 1960 for Istanbul via the Panama Canal, with her new Turkish crew. Pirireis arrived in Gölcük on 23 June 1960. She was commissioned into Turkish Navy the day after.

The submarine was struck from the US Naval Register, and sold outright to Turkey, 1 August 1973; she was scrapped by the Turkish navy in 1973.

In 1983, a second U.S. submarine, USS Tang (SS-563), was renamed TCG Pirireis (S-343) reusing the same hull number.

References

1. Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. pp. 285–304. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
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 0-313-26202-0.
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

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.

External links

• Photo gallery of Mapiro at NavSource Naval History