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. TUSK
(SS-426)FRONT RUNNER
Click to view crew list
USS TUSK (SS-426) - a Balao class submarine
In Commission 1946 to 1973SS-426 Deployments - Major Events
Add a SS-426 Shellback Initiation | Add a SS-426 Deployment - Major Event | ||||
Month | Year | to | Month | Year | Deployment / Event |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUG | 1943 | - | Keel Date: 23 AUG 1943 at Cramp Shipbuilding Company Philadelphia PA | ||
JUL | 1945 | - | Launch Date: 8 JUL 1945 | ||
APR | 1946 | - | Commissioned: 11 APR 1946 | ||
JUN | 1960 | - | AUG | 1960 | Mediterranean |
OCT | 1973 | - | Decommissioned: 1 OCT 1973 |
SS-426 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 the Republic of China 18 October 1973
USS TUSK (SS-426)
Tusk (SS-426) was laid down on 23 August 1943 at Philadelphia, Pa., by the
Cramp Shipbuilding Co.; launched on 8 July 1945; sponsored by Mrs. Carolyn Park Mills; and commissioned on 11 April 1946,
Comdr. Raymond A. Moore in command.
Tusk completed her shakedown cruise in the southern Atlantic with a round of
goodwill visits to Latin American ports. She called at Rio de Janeiro and Bahia in Brazil, Curagao
in the Netherlands West Indies, and at Colon in the Canal Zone before returning to
New London in June. For the next year, she conducted operations along the east coast between
New London
and Wilmington, N.C. During the first month of 1947, Tusk participated in a fleet
tactical exercise in the Central Atlantic. A three-month overhaul at Philadelphia followed by
oceanographic work along the Atlantic shelf in conjunction with Columbia University and the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institute occupied her until October 1947 when she entered the Portsmouth
Naval Shipyard for a "Guppy II" conversion.
Over
the next seven months, Tusk received extensive modifications to improve
her submerged performance characteristics. Four "greater capacity"
batteries replaced
her old larger ones. Her hull became more streamlined-the anchors were recessed into the hull
and the
propeller guards were removed-to improve her overall hydrodynamic design for underwater
operations.
Her sail was streamlined and enlarged to house the snorkel, a device added to allow her to operate
on diesel
power at periscope depth and to recharge her batteries while running submerged. All of these changes helped to convert Tusk
from simply a submersible surface ship into a truer submarine. They
increased her submerged range; and, though she lost about two knots in surface
speed, her submerged speed increased from just under 10 knots to about 15.
The
newly converted submarine returned to active duty early in the summer of 1948. She conducted her
shakedown
training and made a simulated war patrol to the Canal Zone in June and July. She returned to
the United
States in August and visited the Naval Academy at Annapolis where her presence
allowed about 1,000 fourth classmen to see at first hand the latest development in
submarine design. That fall and winter, Tusk resumed normal operations,
participating in
exercises with other United States and NATO forces. She ranged from the Caribbean Sea in the south to above the Arctic
Circle in the north. The beginning of 1949 brought a more restricted radius of operations. During the
first six months of that year, she served with Submarine Development Group 2 based at Newport, R.I. In
July, Tusk rejoined the multinational forces of NATO for another round of exercises in the North
Atlantic. During these exercises, she visited Londonderry, Northern Ireland; and Portsmouth, England.
During
the final phase of those exercises, Tusk was operating in a unit which
also included the submarine Cochino (SS-345). On 25 August, while steaming through a gale off the
coast of Norway, Cochino suffered an explosion in one of her batteries. Tusk
rushed to
the aid of the stricken submarine, providing medical supplies for Cochino's injured
by way of life rafts. One such raft capsized in heavy seas sending a Cochino officer and a civilian
employee of the Bureau of Ships into the icy Arctic waters. Both were recovered, but
during the administration of artificial respiration on board Tusk, another
wave broke over her deck washing away the civilian and 11 Tusk crewmen. Only four sailors were subsequently
rescued. After those tragic events, Tusk and the limping Cochino headed
for Hammerfest,
Norway. Along the way, another explosion erupted in Cochino's after battery. The
second detonation
sealed Cochino's doom. Water literally poured through her battered hull. Tusk came
alongside in
heavy seas and lashed herself to the sinking submarine. Under the worst
possible conditions, Tusk took all of Cochino's crew off safely. Minutes
later Cochino took her final plunge; and Tusk headed for Hammerfest.
That
fall, the submarine returned to the United States to resume east coast operations out of New London in support of the
Submarine School. She made cruises north to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and south to Bermuda. Her duty with the
Submarine School continued until the middle of 1951 when she was assigned once more to Submarine
Development Group 2. That assignment, punctuated by regular exercises with the fleet, continued until
the summer of 1952 when she returned to an operational unit, Submarine Squadron (SubRon) 10. Normal east
coast duty out of New London lasted until late in the year at which time Tusk was deployed to the
Mediterranean for a six-month tour with the 6th Fleet. Her return to the United States early in the summer
of 1953 brought more local operations out of New London. During the first part
of 1954, the submarine operated in the Caribbean. Then, after four months of
local operations out of New London, she sailed for northern European
waters. That tour brought port visits to
Belfast, Ireland; and Glasgow,
Scotland; as well as training exercises with NATO forces in the northern Atlantic.
The first four years of
the 1950's established the pattern for the remainder of Tusk's Navy
career. She saw four additional
Mediterranean deployments between 1954 and 1973. Initially, however, a
long stretch of east coast operations
intervened between overseas deployments.
Six years elapsed between her 1954 northern Europe assignment and her second Mediterranean cruise late in 1960. The fall of 1961 brought
another round of NATO exercises
followed by joint American-Canadian training operations in the western
Atlantic. Another three-year period of New
London-based local operations
occurred before she was deployed again to Europe in the fall of 1964 for more NATO training. During the spring and summer of 1966, Tusk returned
to the Mediterranean for her third
tour of duty with the 6th Fleet. Late
1966 brought a resumption of duty in
American coastal waters which lasted until early 1967. During the summer of
1967, the submarine returned to
northern European waters, visiting several ports and participating in
yet another series of multinational NATO
exercises. That November, she joined in
binational American-Canadian exercises in the western Atlantic before resuming her east coast routine. Throughout 1968 and during the first half of
1969, the ship continued New
London-based operations, including
services to nuclear-powered submarines Jack (SSN-605) and Lafayette (SSBN-616). In July,
she made her fourth deployment to the
Mediterranean, returning to east coast
operations in October.
After almost three years
of that New London-based routine, Tusk set out for her fifth and
final tour of duty with the 6th Fleet. She concluded that cruise the following October. The submarine rounded out the
final year of her career with normal
operations along the eastern
seaboard, primarily in the New England vicinity.
On 18 October 1973, Tusk was decommissioned at New London, Conn., and was simultaneously transferred, by sale, to the Taiwan Navy. Her name was
struck from the Navy list on the same day.
[Note: The above USS TUSK (SS-426) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS TUSK (SS-426), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]