USS Cabezon (SS-334)

USS Cabezon (SS-334) was a Balao-class submarine of the United States Navy, named for the cabezon, a saltwater fish of sculpin family inhabiting the North Atlantic and North Pacific Oceans (cabezon means "big head" in Spanish).

History
United States
Builder: Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut[1]
Laid down: 18 November 1943[1]
Launched: 27 August 1944[1]
Commissioned: 30 December 1944[1]
Decommissioned: 24 October 1953[1]
Stricken: 15 May 1970[1]
Fate: Sold for scrap, 28 December 1971[1]
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:
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:

Cabezon was launched 27 August 1944 by Electric Boat Company, Groton, Connecticut; sponsored by Mrs. Adelaide Prescott Cooley (née Morris), wife of Captain Thomas Ross Cooley, commanding officer of USS Washington; and commissioned 30 December 1944, Commander G. W. Lautrup in command.

Cabezon departed New London, Connecticut, 19 February 1945 for Key West, Florida, where she underwent 3 weeks of training and providing services for the Fleet Sound School. She then sailed via the Panama Canal, to Pearl Harbor, arriving 15 March 1945.

From 25 May to 11 July 1945 Cabezon conducted her first war patrol in the Sea of Okhotsk, sinking a 2,631-ton Japanese cargo vessel on 19 June. She refitted at Midway until 4 August, then departed for Saipan to serve as target ship for surface force training exercises. From 7 September 1945 until 12 January 1946 she engaged in local operations and training in Philippine waters, based at Subic Bay.

On 6 February 1946 Cabezon arrived at San Diego, operating from that port until her base was changed to Pearl Harbor. Subsequent to her arrival there on 20 November 1946, she participated in local operations and training cruises for submariners of the Naval Reserve there and on the west coast with intervening cruises to the South Pacific, the North Pacific, and in 1947 participated in Operation Blue Nose in the Chukchi Sea. She also made two cruises to the Far East (18 March – 29 July 1950 and 21 April – 16 October 1952), the second of which included a reconnaissance patrol in the vicinity of La Perouse Strait, between Hokkaidō, Japan, and Sakhalin, U.S.S.R.

Cabezon sailed for Mare Island 21 April 1953 to start inactivation and was placed out of commission in reserve there 24 October 1953 and laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet. Struck from the Naval Register, 15 May 1970, she was sold for scrapping, 28 December 1971.

Awards

Cabezon received one battle star for service in World War II. Her single war patrol was designated "successful". She is credited with having sunk a total of 2,631 tons of shipping.

Notable former crew

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

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