USS Triton

by DerekL

Fri Feb 09 2001 at 20:08:42

There have been 2 Tritons in the USN Submarine Service

SS-201

Commissioned at the Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in July, 1940. She was on patrol off of Wake Island on December 7th, 1941. Triton was the first USN submarine to sink a Japanese vessel by gunfire, and by September, 1942, Triton had sunk more Japanese tonnage than all other USN submarines operating out of Pearl Harbor. USS Triton made six war patrols against the Empire of Japan, sinking 19 Japanese ships and damaging 7 more before being lost with all hands somewhere in the Pacific Ocean in March 1943.

SS(R)N-586

This Triton is world famous for completing the circumnavigation of the globe completely submerged.From February 16 to May 10, 1960, Triton covered 41,500 miles, mostly at a steady 21 knots.

Triton's keel was laid on May 29, 1956 at Electric Boat. She was launched on August 19, 1958 and commissioned on November 10, 1959. Triton was the last USN submarine to have a conning tower. She was also the last submarine to have any significant deck superstructure, or casing, twin screws and a stern torpedo room. She is the only USN submarine to have two reactors. On her maiden voyage she completed her famous around the world cruise.

Triton was originally designed as a radar picket submarine. She was to have operated in advance of the fleet, and would dive once she had spotted an incoming air raid, thus being invulnerable to attack. (The USN lost many destroyers in WWII which were operating as radar pickets, being well out from the main body of the fleet, they were vulnerable to attack, especially by Kamikazes.) This mission was rapidly superseded because of the development of airborne early warning aircraft. Her main role obsolete, too big (and noisy), and lacking the sonars to be an effective attack sub, in 1969 Triton became the first nuclear submarine to be decomissioned.

printable version

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