DARTER (SS-576) submarine
Posted: Mon Oct 10, 2022 8:22 pm
Built as a submarine under yard No 144 by General Dynamics Corp. (Electric Boat Co Division), Groton, Conn, for the USA Navy.
10 November 1954 laid down.
28 May 1956 launched as the DARTER II (SS-576), christened by Mrs. G.L Russell, the boat was named after any of many small American fresh-water fishes, closely related to the perch family.
Displacement: 1,622 ton surface, submerged 2,388 tons, dim. 81.90 x 8.3 x 5.15m. (draught surface).
Powered by three Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines 1,500 shp each. Maximum surface speed 19.5 knots. Two Elliott electric motors 1,600 shp each, speed submerged 14.3 knots.
Armament: 8 – 21 inch torpedo tubes, 6 bow, two stern.
Crew 8 officers and 75 enlisted men.
DARTER class of which only one was built.
20 October 1956 commissioned Lieutenant Commander Ralph R. Blaine in command.
Designed with sophisticated acoustic, electronic, and fire control gear, DARTER was intended to serve as a new generation of post-war ASW submarines, similar to Tang (SS-563). Upon commissioning DARTER operated on various training exercises in the Atlantic, both locally from her home port of Newport, R.I., and on cruises to the West Indies or to Europe for NATO operations. Following an overhaul at Portsmouth, N.H., in 1959 she changed homeport to Charleston, S.C., on 1 August 1959) and began training missions in support of the newly commissioned fleet ballistic submarines, providing ASW services for surface units in the West Indies and off Key West and serving as a platform for various CNO projects. In between these regular operations, DARTER deployed to the Mediterranean for cruises in 1963 and 1967. She also received a major modernization overhaul in 1965, receiving a 16-foot hull extension, new engines, new safety gear, and better electronic gear.
At Charleston Naval Shipyard in Fiscal Year 1956 the DARTER was cut in two and a 5.02m section was inserted. Also, her diesel engines were replaced by a new improved model.
Shifting homeports again in 1971, when she moved to San Diego, DARTER made four WestPac deployments in support of 7th Fleet operations before changing homeport a fourth time to Sasebo, Japan, on 8 May 1979. She spent a decade there; conducting numerous joint operations with the Japanese, Korean, Thai, Malaysian, and Australian navies, a number of special operations exercises, and other operations throughout the western Pacific.
DARTER sailed for Hawaii on 18 August 1989, conducting her last dive on 26 September, and was decommissioned at Pearl Harbor on 12 December 1989.
17 June 1990 struck from the Navy List.
She DARTER was disposed of as a target on 7 January 1992 by the TAU TAG (SSN 639) off Pearl Harbour.
.
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/h ... ER-ii.html Warships of the US Navy by Samuel I. Morrison and John S. Rowe.
Tchad 2021 (she is depicted in the margin of the sheet.)
10 November 1954 laid down.
28 May 1956 launched as the DARTER II (SS-576), christened by Mrs. G.L Russell, the boat was named after any of many small American fresh-water fishes, closely related to the perch family.
Displacement: 1,622 ton surface, submerged 2,388 tons, dim. 81.90 x 8.3 x 5.15m. (draught surface).
Powered by three Fairbanks-Morse diesel engines 1,500 shp each. Maximum surface speed 19.5 knots. Two Elliott electric motors 1,600 shp each, speed submerged 14.3 knots.
Armament: 8 – 21 inch torpedo tubes, 6 bow, two stern.
Crew 8 officers and 75 enlisted men.
DARTER class of which only one was built.
20 October 1956 commissioned Lieutenant Commander Ralph R. Blaine in command.
Designed with sophisticated acoustic, electronic, and fire control gear, DARTER was intended to serve as a new generation of post-war ASW submarines, similar to Tang (SS-563). Upon commissioning DARTER operated on various training exercises in the Atlantic, both locally from her home port of Newport, R.I., and on cruises to the West Indies or to Europe for NATO operations. Following an overhaul at Portsmouth, N.H., in 1959 she changed homeport to Charleston, S.C., on 1 August 1959) and began training missions in support of the newly commissioned fleet ballistic submarines, providing ASW services for surface units in the West Indies and off Key West and serving as a platform for various CNO projects. In between these regular operations, DARTER deployed to the Mediterranean for cruises in 1963 and 1967. She also received a major modernization overhaul in 1965, receiving a 16-foot hull extension, new engines, new safety gear, and better electronic gear.
At Charleston Naval Shipyard in Fiscal Year 1956 the DARTER was cut in two and a 5.02m section was inserted. Also, her diesel engines were replaced by a new improved model.
Shifting homeports again in 1971, when she moved to San Diego, DARTER made four WestPac deployments in support of 7th Fleet operations before changing homeport a fourth time to Sasebo, Japan, on 8 May 1979. She spent a decade there; conducting numerous joint operations with the Japanese, Korean, Thai, Malaysian, and Australian navies, a number of special operations exercises, and other operations throughout the western Pacific.
DARTER sailed for Hawaii on 18 August 1989, conducting her last dive on 26 September, and was decommissioned at Pearl Harbor on 12 December 1989.
17 June 1990 struck from the Navy List.
She DARTER was disposed of as a target on 7 January 1992 by the TAU TAG (SSN 639) off Pearl Harbour.
.
https://www.history.navy.mil/research/h ... ER-ii.html Warships of the US Navy by Samuel I. Morrison and John S. Rowe.
Tchad 2021 (she is depicted in the margin of the sheet.)