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U.S.S. PICKEREL

(SS-524)


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USS PICKEREL (SS-524) - a Tench-class submarine

In Commission 1949 to 1972

SS-524 Deployments - Major Events

Add a SS-524 Shellback Initiation Add a SS-524 Deployment - Major Event
Month Year to Month Year Deployment / Event
FEB1944-Keel Date: 8 FEB 1944
at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard Kittery ME
DEC1944-Launch Date: 15 DEC 1944
APR1949-Commissioned: 4 APR 1949
MAY1955-OCT1955West Pac
JUL1960-AUG1960West Pac
JAN1968-JUL1968West Pac - Viet Nam
NOV1968-FEB1969Dry Dock
MAY1969-MAY1969Panama Canal
AUG1970-Shellback Initiation - 16 AUG 1970 - Atlantic Ocean
AUG1970-DEC1970UNITAS
NOV1970-NOV1970Panama Canal
NOV1971-MAR1972Dry Dock
AUG1972-Decommissioned: 18 AUG 1972
AUG1973- Shellback Initiation - 24 AUG 1973 - Atlantic Ocean

SS-524 General Specifications

Class: Tench-class submarine

Complement: 10 Officers and 75 Enlisted

Displacement: 1870 tons

Length: 307 feet

Beam: 27 feet 4 inches

Draft: 17 feet

Range: 15 000 Nautical Miles

Final Disposition: Transferred to Italy 18 August 1972



USS PICKEREL (SS-524)



The second Pickerel (SS-524) was laid down by the Boston Naval Shipyard 8 February 1944; launched without christening ceremony 15 December 1944; sponsored by Mrs. John R. Moore; christened and commissioned at the Portsmouth Navy Shipyard, N.H., 4 April 1949, Lt. Comdr. Paul R. Schratz in command.

After sea trials, Pickerel departed New London, Conn. 10 August, and headed for Hawaii via East and Gulf coast ports, and the Panama Canal and arrived Pearl Harbor 28 September where she joined SubDiv 11.

From 16 March to 5 April 1950, Pickerel completed a 5,200 mile voyage from Hong Kong to Pearl Harbor in 21 days while completely submerged, probably the longest distance ever traveled by a submerged diesel-electric submarine. During her first deployment in the Western Pacific in 1950, Pickerel spent 4 months in the Korean War Zone, one of the first submarines to enter the Korean Conflict.

Returning to Pearl Harbor in the spring of 1951, Pickerel operated in the Hawaiian area undergoing tests of maximum capabilities, and conducting intensive training until she returned to the Far East in July 1953.

Upon returning to Hawaii early in 1954, Pickerel resumed services for our aircraft and surface anti-submarine forces there and, but for overhaul, continued this important duty until returning to the Western Pacific in June 1955. She returned to Hawaii 1 December.

Pickerel alternated North Pacific with WestPac duty through 1963 with the exception of a conversion period during 1962 for Guppy modernization.

Pickerel operated out of Pearl Harbor during 1964 until 28 December, when she departed enroute Yokosuka to begin a WestPac tour as a unit of the 7th Fleet. In the years that followed, she continued this pattern of alternating services in Hawaii with deployments in the Far East. In the fall of 1966 her duties in WestPac were broadened to include operations in the Vietnam combat zone on Yankee Station.

After a year in Hawaiian waters, Pickerel headed west once more on 16 January 1968. She visited various ports of the Orient before returning to Yankee Station 8 May. Following service in the Combat Zone, she reached Pearl Harbor via Japan 8 July. Her home port was changed to San Diego 1 August and she headed for the West Coast 22 August.

Into 1970 Pickerel continues in Pacific operations providing a vital service to the U.S. Navy.

[Note: The above USS PICKEREL (SS-524) history may, or may not, contain text provided by crew members of the USS PICKEREL (SS-524), or by other non-crew members, and text from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships]