UNDERWAY! 2025 Wall Calendar / W.W. II SPECIAL EDITION NOW AVAILABLE - CLICK HERE |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
For RATING SHIRTS - Click on your Rating Abbreviation below: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Click on your Rating abbreviation above: |
U.S.S. TRUMPETFISH
(SS-425)READY
Click to view crew list
USS TRUMPETFISH (SS-425) - a Balao class submarine
In Commission 1946 to 1973SS-425 Deployments - Major Events
Add a SS-425 Shellback Initiation | Add a SS-425 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUG | 1943 | - | Keel Date: 23 AUG 1943 at Cramp Shipbuilding Company Philadelphia PA | ||
MAY | 1945 | - | Launch Date: 13 MAY 1945 | ||
JAN | 1946 | - | Commissioned: 29 JAN 1946 | ||
JAN | 1965 | - | APR | 1965 | Blue Nose - Arctic Circle |
JAN | 1969 | - | APR | 1969 | Mediterranean Cruise |
OCT | 1973 | - | Decommissioned: 15 OCT 1973 |
SS-425 General Specifications
Class: Balao class submarine
Complement: 10 Officers and 70 Enlisted
Displacement: 1526 tons
Length: 311 feet 9 inches
Beam: 27 feet 3 inches
Draft: 16 feet 10 inches
Range: 11 000 Nautical Miles
Final Disposition: Transferred to Brazil 15 October 1973
USS TRUMPETFISH (SS-425)
Trumpetfish (SS-425) was laid down on 23 August 1943 at Philadelphia, Pa., by William Cramp
Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 13 May
1945; sponsored by Mrs. Oswald S. Colclough; and commissioned on 29 January 1946, Lt. Comdr. Raphael C. Benitez in command.
A combined shakedown and
goodwill cruise to Caribbean ports
in the early spring of 1946 preceded the submarine's westward cruise to
Pearl Harbor. Highlighting the ship's
training operations in Hawaiian waters
was her intentional torpedoing of the large Japanese submarine 7-400 which had been captured at the end of World War II.
Trumpetfish returned to the east coast for local operations
out of New London, Conn., and, late in 1946, was
briefly based at Annapolis to conduct training cruises for Naval Academy midshipmen. In the summer of 1947, as
the ship underwent a Guppy II conversion, her hull was streamlined, a snorkel
system was added, and higher capacity
batteries were installed. The net result
of the conversion enhanced the ship's offensive capabilities and increased her maximum submerged speed.
Attached to Submarine
Squadron 4, based at Key West, Fla.,
Trumpetfish conducted local operations and training exercises off the east coast. In
September 1953, she participated in
NATO Exercise "Mariner" and then was deployed to the Mediterranean with the 6th Fleet.
After returning home, the
ship operated along the east coast and in the Caribbean through 1955.
Following duties out of Key West in January
and February 1956, Trumpetfish proceeded
to Guantanamo Bay for service with the
Fleet Training Group. In July, the ship took part in midshipmen training
cruises from Annapolis to Guantanamo Bay and
back.
In the fall of 1956, the
ship joined a hunter-killer group for a deployment to Europe and the
Middle East. Departing Norfolk on 1 October
1956, Trumpetfish sailed for
European waters and participated in training exercises as she crossed the Atlantic. After calling at Brest, France, Trumpetfish suddenly
received word of a crisis in the
Levant.
President Nasser of
Egypt had nationalized the previously
British-owned Suez Canal, and prevailing Arab-Israeli tensions had
erupted into warfare while British and
French troops attacked Egyptian positions. Trumpetfish made her best
speed for Suda Bay and joined the 6th
Fleet in t>eace-keeping missions in the eastern Mediterranean. With the cessation of hostilities, Trumpetfish
resumed her Mediterranean cruise, operating
briefly with the Italian fleet before returning to Key West on 28 January 1957.
The submarine conducted
local operations out of her home port
until 29 August, when she got underway for European waters and fall NATO exercises. Air, surface, and submarine forces of NATO nations engaged in tests and exercises to hone their capabilities
to defend the NATO nations against
possible aggression. After returning
to Key West on 25 October, Trumpet-fish operated out of
that base conducting training and exercises
into 1959.
During her next
Mediterranean deployment, she snorkeled
through the Strait of Bonifacio between Corsica and Sardinia. In August 1959, as part of Atlantic Fleet dispersal
plans, Trumpetfish's home port
was changed to Charleston, S.C. During January and February of 1960, the submarine took part in operations in the North Atlantic before briefly
visiting Scotland. She subsequently participated in exercises in the western Atlantic Ocean, before a major refit
at Charleston during 1961 modernized
the ship to a Gunpy III configuration. The alterations increased her
capabilities by adding 15 feet to her
length, by giving her better weapons and electronics, and by extending
her range.
Trumpetfish resumed a schedule of local antisubmarine warfare operations out of Charleston,
alternating deployments to the
Mediterranean and duty with the 6th
Fleet. She participated in emergency operations during the tension precipitated by the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962. The submarine later participated in several inter-type fleet exercises in
home waters and in the Caribbean. Trumpetfish underwent a routine yard period at Charleston before taking
part in Exercises "Plumb Bob
I" and "Minibex" in 1965. After a Mediterranean deployment in
early 1966, the ship took part in
"Plumb Bob II" and provided services for the David Taylor Model Basin.
Subsequently assigned the primary mission of providing services for antisubmarine warfare forces, Trumpetfish stood ready to conduct mining and reconnaissance missions as well. On 12 January 1970, the submarine departed Charleston for Cape Kennedy, provided
services en route to Remora (SS-487), and conducted type training exercises. A port visit to Cape Kennedy occupied 16 to 18 January, before the submarine got underway for Fort Lauderdale, Fla., to provide services for the Naval Ordnance Laboratory
Test Facility (NOLTF) there. Ten days of local operations at the NOLTF preceded the ship's providing services for Henry Clay (SSBN-625) during
the nuclear submarine's sea trials off the Florida coast from to 8
February. Subsequently taking part in Operations "Springboard" and "Exotic Dancer III," Trumpetfish
headed for Philadelphia and a
yard overhaul which would last
through the summer and fall and into December
1970.
After the long overhaul,
the submarine participated in type and
refresher training off the east coast before she headed for the Caribbean in the spring. Among her activities
were those which provided services for the German
Republic's destroyer Lutjens between 7 and 14 May.
The exchange of several crew members with the German ship during this time provided a valuable and enlightening experience.
On 5 June, after
participating in a fleet mine test, Trumpetfish
commenced six weeks of
pre-deployment upkeep, with sea
trials from 12 to 16 July. On the 23d, the
submarine departed for South American waters and Operation "Unitas XII." Joining Task Force (TF) 86, Trumpetfish arrived at Cartagena,
Colombia, on 6 August, prior to
transiting the Panama Canal to proceed
down the Pacific coast of South America. She crossed the equator on 20 August and made port at Callao, Peru, on the 30th. The ship operated with
TF 86 for two weeks after the
four-day port visit at Callao, before
arriving at Valparaiso, Chile, on 17 September.
The submarine traversed
the inland waterway and the Strait of Magellan and arrived at Punta Arenas, Chile, on 4 October. She conducted operations
during "Unitas XII" off the
Atlantic coast of South America, with
visits to Mar Del Plata, Argentina, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before rejoining TF 86 at La Guaira, Venezuela, on 2 December. Bidding farewell to the task force four days later, the ship sailed for
Charleston and arrived at her home
port eight days before Christmas
1971.
Trumpetfish remained with SubRon 4, operating out of Charleston through 1972. She deployed to the
Caribbean again on 25 January 1973.
Later conducting torpedo tests off
Newport, R.I., the submarine operated with
British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal off San Juan, Puerto Rico,
in May, before returning to Charleston on
the 30th of that month. Upkeep, type training, and services for Patrol Wing 11 in the Jacksonville, Fla., area preceded
the ship's arrival at Charleston on 15
August to prepare for decommissioning.
On 15 October 1973, at
Charleston, Trumpetfish was decommissioned
and struck from the Navy list. She was next
turned over to the Brazilian government and renamed Goiaz (S-15), with Commander Edouardo Russo her first commanding officer. As Goiaz, the
submarine operated with the Brazilian
Navy into 1980.
[Note: The above USS TRUMPETFISH (SS-425) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS TRUMPETFISH (SS-425), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]