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USS Becuna
USS Becuna (SS/AGSS-319), a Balao-class submarine in commission from 1944 to 1969, was a submarine of the United States Navy named for the becuna, a pike-like fish of Europe. During World War II, she conducted five war patrols between 23 August 1944 and 27 July 1945, operating in the Philippine Islands, South China Sea, and Java Sea. She is credited with sinking two Japanese tankers totaling 3,888 gross register tons.
After World War II, Becuna operated as part of the United States Pacific Fleet from 1945 to 1949. She served in the United States Atlantic Fleet from 1949 to 1969, primarily as a training ship, although she also made two deployments with the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.[citation needed]
After her decommissioning, Becuna was designated a National Historic Landmark for her service in World War II. She became a museum ship at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[citation needed]
Becuna was laid down on 29 April 1943 by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 30 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. George C. Crawford, and commissioned on 27 May 1944.
After shakedown training from Naval Submarine Base New London, Becuna departed Groton on 1 July 1944 and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 29 July 1944. She then conducted additional training in the Hawaiian Islands.
Becuna departed Pearl Harbor on 23 August 1944 for her first war patrol. After patrolling for a month without spotting anything but aircraft, she surfaced on the afternoon of 25 September 1944 and her lookouts spied a convoy of three Japanese merchant ships escorted by a destroyer. Becuna submerged and fired a spread of six torpedoes. While she evaded a retaliatory depth-charge attack, her crew heard an explosion but could not verify any sinkings; although she claimed to have destroyed two tankers in the convoy, postwar examination of Japanese records failed to verify the kills. She had a similar experience on 8 October 1944 when she launched torpedoes at a heavily escorted tanker north of Palawan Passage in the Philippine Islands. Again her crew heard two distinct explosions but were too busy dodging depth charges to observe the results of the attack. On 9 October 1944, however, she recorded her first verifiable success when she joined the submarine USS Hawkbill (SS-366) in sinking the 1,943-gross register ton Japanese cargo ship Tokuwa Maru. Later in October 1944, she concluded her patrol, putting into Fremantle, Australia, for a refit.
On 16 November 1944, Becuna stood out of Fremantle and embarked on her second war patrol. She cruised the waters of the South China Sea off the southern coast of Japanese-occupied French Indochina searching for Japanese fleet units. On 23 December 1944 she encountered the Japanese heavy cruiser Ashigara and light cruiser Oyodo, which she mistakenly identified as a Yamato-class battleship and a "Nachi-class"(i.e., Myōkō-class) heavy cruiser, respectively. Lack of time prevented her from achieving a favorable setup before they entered Cam Ranh Bay on the coast of French Indochina. The remainder of Becuna′s patrol proved almost equally unsuccessful. She destroyed floating naval mines and, on her way back to Fremantle, sank two "sea trucks" — the American term for a type of small Japanese cargo ship — with her deck gun just north of Lombok Strait. During January 1945 she underwent a refit at Fremantle.
Becuna embarked on her third war patrol in February 1945. She returned to the South China Sea off the coast of French Indochina, where she encountered a Japanese convoy off Cap Padaran on the morning of 22 February 1945. She fired a spread of torpedoes at the tanker Nichiryu Maru and sent her to the bottom. She endured a barrage of 70 depth charges from two escort vessels before escaping. She sighted no other Japanese shipping, and her patrol ended with her arrival at Subic Bay on Luzon in the Philippine Islands, where she underwent a refit.
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USS Becuna
USS Becuna (SS/AGSS-319), a Balao-class submarine in commission from 1944 to 1969, was a submarine of the United States Navy named for the becuna, a pike-like fish of Europe. During World War II, she conducted five war patrols between 23 August 1944 and 27 July 1945, operating in the Philippine Islands, South China Sea, and Java Sea. She is credited with sinking two Japanese tankers totaling 3,888 gross register tons.
After World War II, Becuna operated as part of the United States Pacific Fleet from 1945 to 1949. She served in the United States Atlantic Fleet from 1949 to 1969, primarily as a training ship, although she also made two deployments with the United States Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.[citation needed]
After her decommissioning, Becuna was designated a National Historic Landmark for her service in World War II. She became a museum ship at the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[citation needed]
Becuna was laid down on 29 April 1943 by the Electric Boat Company at Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 30 January 1944, sponsored by Mrs. George C. Crawford, and commissioned on 27 May 1944.
After shakedown training from Naval Submarine Base New London, Becuna departed Groton on 1 July 1944 and arrived at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on 29 July 1944. She then conducted additional training in the Hawaiian Islands.
Becuna departed Pearl Harbor on 23 August 1944 for her first war patrol. After patrolling for a month without spotting anything but aircraft, she surfaced on the afternoon of 25 September 1944 and her lookouts spied a convoy of three Japanese merchant ships escorted by a destroyer. Becuna submerged and fired a spread of six torpedoes. While she evaded a retaliatory depth-charge attack, her crew heard an explosion but could not verify any sinkings; although she claimed to have destroyed two tankers in the convoy, postwar examination of Japanese records failed to verify the kills. She had a similar experience on 8 October 1944 when she launched torpedoes at a heavily escorted tanker north of Palawan Passage in the Philippine Islands. Again her crew heard two distinct explosions but were too busy dodging depth charges to observe the results of the attack. On 9 October 1944, however, she recorded her first verifiable success when she joined the submarine USS Hawkbill (SS-366) in sinking the 1,943-gross register ton Japanese cargo ship Tokuwa Maru. Later in October 1944, she concluded her patrol, putting into Fremantle, Australia, for a refit.
On 16 November 1944, Becuna stood out of Fremantle and embarked on her second war patrol. She cruised the waters of the South China Sea off the southern coast of Japanese-occupied French Indochina searching for Japanese fleet units. On 23 December 1944 she encountered the Japanese heavy cruiser Ashigara and light cruiser Oyodo, which she mistakenly identified as a Yamato-class battleship and a "Nachi-class"(i.e., Myōkō-class) heavy cruiser, respectively. Lack of time prevented her from achieving a favorable setup before they entered Cam Ranh Bay on the coast of French Indochina. The remainder of Becuna′s patrol proved almost equally unsuccessful. She destroyed floating naval mines and, on her way back to Fremantle, sank two "sea trucks" — the American term for a type of small Japanese cargo ship — with her deck gun just north of Lombok Strait. During January 1945 she underwent a refit at Fremantle.
Becuna embarked on her third war patrol in February 1945. She returned to the South China Sea off the coast of French Indochina, where she encountered a Japanese convoy off Cap Padaran on the morning of 22 February 1945. She fired a spread of torpedoes at the tanker Nichiryu Maru and sent her to the bottom. She endured a barrage of 70 depth charges from two escort vessels before escaping. She sighted no other Japanese shipping, and her patrol ended with her arrival at Subic Bay on Luzon in the Philippine Islands, where she underwent a refit.
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