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U.S.S. HALFBEAK
(SS-352)DEEP DIVING-DEATH DEFYING-UNDERSEA WARRIORS
Click to view crew list
USS HALFBEAK (SS-352) - a Balao class submarine
In Commission 1946 to 1971SS-352 Deployments - Major Events
Add a SS-352 Shellback Initiation | Add a SS-352 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
JUL | 1944 | - | Keel Date: 6 JUL 1944 at Electric Boat Company Groton CT | ||
FEB | 1946 | - | Launch Date: 19 FEB 1946 | ||
JUL | 1946 | - | Commissioned: 22 JUL 1946 | ||
JUL | 1958 | - | AUG | 1958 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
JAN | 1965 | - | DEC | 1966 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
JAN | 1969 | - | MAR | 1969 | Mediterranean |
JUL | 1971 | - | Decommissioned: 1 JUL 1971 |
SS-352 General Specifications
Class: Balao class submarine
Complement: 10 Officers and 70 Enlisted
Displacement: 1870 tons
Length: 307 feet
Beam: 27 feet 4 inches
Draft: 17 feet
Range: 15 000 Nautical Miles
Final Disposition: Sold for scrap 13 June 1972
USS HALFBEAK (SS-352)
Halfbeak (SS-352) was launched 19 February 1946 by the Electric Boat Co., Groton, Conn.; sponsored by
Mrs. William Craig; and
commissioned 22 July 1946, Comdr. Evan T.
Shepard in command.
After
shakedown in the Caribbean and along the Latin American coast to the Canal Zone, Ecuador, and
Colombia, Halfbeak
spent the
next 3 years in training operations and fleet exercises out of New London, Conn., where she was part of SubRon 8. Entering the Portsmouth,
N.H., shipyard 12 September 1949, Halfbeak
was converted to a
"Guppy" type. Fitted with a snorkel to enable her to stay
submerged for long periods of time and distinguished by a greatly streamlined superstructure, Halfbeak left Portsmouth 13 January 1950 to work with the
Research and Development Group at New
London. While con ducting tests on
special underwater sound equipment, she made a cruise to English waters, operating off Jan Mayer Island, in the winter of 1951.
Halfbeak was engaged in further Caribbean exercises until 10 November 1954, when she sailed for her first Mediterranean cruise. Having- visited Gibraltar,
Naples, Marseilles, Lisbon, and Valencia, Spain, the submarine returned to New London 2 February 1955. A similar cruise in 1956 was punctuated by the Suez Crisis,
and Halfbeak remained in the eastern Med operating with the 6th Fleet
until January 1957 helping to maintain the peace in that crucial region. Her duties took another turn as 28 July 1958 she departed for the Arctic, where
with the nuclear submarine Skate she
operated under and around the polar
ice pack to gather information in connection with the International Geophysical Year. During these operations, Skate sailed under the Arctic
ice pack to reach the North Pole 11
August and continued to cruise freely there
repeating the visit 6 days later.
Local
operations and exercises, primarily submarine and fleet maneuvers in the Caribbean but also NATO
maneuvers, occupied Halfbeak until 1963, when she resumed her role testing and
evaluating sonar and other underwater sound equipment out of New London.
[Note: The above USS HALFBEAK (SS-352) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS HALFBEAK (SS-352), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]