USS Bang
 USS Bang underway, 6 June 1958.
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Name | USS Bang (SS-385) |
| Builder | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine[1] |
| Laid down | 30 April 1943[1] |
| Launched | 30 August 1943[1] |
| Commissioned | 4 December 1943[1] |
| Decommissioned | 12 February 1947[1] |
| Recommissioned | 1 February 1951[1] |
| Decommissioned | 15 May 1952[1] |
| Recommissioned | 4 October 1952[1] |
| Decommissioned | 1 October 1972[1] |
| Stricken | 1 November 1974[2] |
| Fate | Transferred to Spain, 1 October 1972[1] |
 Spain | |
| Name | Cosme Garcia (S34) |
| Fate | Scrapped in 1983 |
| General characteristics (World War II) | |
| Class and type | |
| Displacement | 1,526 long tons (1,550 t) surfaced,[2] 2,391 long tons (2,429 t) submerged[2] |
| Length | 311 ft 6 in (94.95 m)[2] |
| Beam | 27 ft 3 in (8.31 m)[2] |
| Draft | 16 ft 10 in (5.13 m) maximum[2] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 20.25 kn (37.50 km/h) surfaced,[6] 8.75 kn (16.21 km/h) submerged[6] |
| Range | 11,000 nmi (20,000 km) @ 10 kn (19 km/h)[6] |
| Endurance | 48 hours @ 2 kn (3.7 km/h) submerged,[6] 75 days on patrol |
| Test depth | 400 ft (120 m)[6] |
| Complement | 10 officers, 70–71 enlisted[6] |
| Armament |
|
| General characteristics (Guppy IIA) | |
| Class and type | none |
| Displacement | 1,848 tons (1,878 t) surfaced,[7] 2,440 tons (2,479 t) submerged[7] |
| Length | 307 ft (94 m)[8] |
| Beam | 27 ft 4 in (8.33 m)[8] |
| Draft | 17 ft (5.2 m)[8] |
| Propulsion | Submarine snorkel added,[7] One diesel engine and generator removed,[7] Batteries upgraded to Sargo II[7] |
| Speed |
|
| Armament |
|
USS Bang (SS-385) was a United States Navy Balao-class submarine, named after the bang, a dark blue or black fish of the Atlantic herring family found in the coastal waters of the United States north of North Carolina.
Construction and commissioning
Bang was
Service history
United States Navy
World War II
Following four weeks of shakedown training off New England, the submarine departed New London, Conn. on 8 February 1944 and headed for the Pacific. After transiting the Panama Canal, she proceeded to Pearl Harbor for intensified training in torpedo approaches, evasive maneuvers, and simulated warfare. As March came to an end, Bang was fully provisioned and ready for battle.
On the 29th, she departed Pearl Harbor in company with Parche and Tinosa for her first war patrol. After a one-day fueling stop at Midway Atoll, the trio continued to their patrol area in Luzon Strait and waters southwest of Formosa.
The three submarines exchanged contact information and coordinated attack plans throughout the patrol. On 29 April, Bang sighted a 12-ship, southbound convoy. After maneuvering into a favorable position, she fired her torpedoes into the convoy, sinking Takegawa Maru. The submarine continued to hound the convoy during the night and, the following morning, sank Nittatsu Maru. The enemy rained down depth charges on Bang, but training in evasive maneuvers and a bit of good luck enabled her to escape damage.
Tinosa sighted a northbound Japanese convoy on 3 May, and Bang moved in to pursue its 10 ships. Her first attempt to attack during daylight was foiled by enemy plane and surface escorts which forced her to dive. After dark, she and her colleagues coordinated a surface attack in which Bang sank Kinrei Maru, and claimed the destruction of a destroyer, which was not confirmed by postwar study of Japanese records. Since all of her torpedoes had been expended, Bang departed the area on 6 May and arrived at Midway on the 14th for refit alongside Proteus.
On 6 June, Bang put to sea on her second war patrol, the timing of which coincided with the preliminaries to the
On 22 June, the day after that epic engagement ended, she rendezvoused with Growler and Seahorse off Formosa to form a coordinated attack group. Growler was detached just one day before the unit's run in with southbound convoy Hi-67 of more than 15 ships. Bang made a submerged attack and fired 10 torpedoes at three overlapping targets, all of which the submarine claims to have sunk, although the postwar records do not confirm the claim. The enemy escorts turned and pursued Bang, dropping 125 depth charges over her as she went deep to avoid destruction. When Bang finally surfaced, the convoy was disappearing over the horizon.
On 4 July, Bang sighted a small Hong Kong-bound convoy consisting of one cargo ship and four destroyer escorts. She approached the convoy on the surface, but before she could maneuver into a good attack position, an alert escort began to search for the attacker. Bang launched three torpedoes without making adequate attack solutions, and all three missed their targets. The submarine was forced to dive and maneuver to avoid the depth charges dropped by the escort and was unable to mount another attack.
On 17 July, the ship headed back to Pearl Harbor for refit, which continued into the last week of August. She left Pearl Harbor again on the 27th, refueled at Midway on 31 August, and continued to waters northeast of Formosa off the
Early on 19 September, Bang made radar contact on another enemy convoy, submerged, and fired on two of the ships. Tosei Maru No. 2 sank, while the other ship suffered substantial damage. Working as a team, three enemy escorts systematically depth bombed the submarine, but she again successfully outmaneuvered her pursuers and surfaced after dark.
While submerged on the afternoon of 20 September, she encountered an eastbound convoy and shadowed it until darkness fell to cover her attack. She surfaced, fired her remaining 10 torpedoes, and claimed to have sunk a large tanker and a medium freighter as well as damaging another ship. The next day, she headed for Midway and refit.
Repaired, refueled, and replenished, Bang got underway again on 25 October and, with Shad and Redfish, returned to the same area. Typhoon weather precluded effective operations during the early part of the fourth war patrol. Finally, on 22 November, improved weather enabled Bang to attack a convoy initially reported by Redfish. Between midnight and 0300 on the 23d, all three submarines conducted coordinated attacks on the convoy. Bang fired all 24 of her torpedoes in a series of seven surface attacks, sinking two cargo ships – Sakae Maru and Amakusa Maru. She reported also destroying a minelayer escort and another freighter, but Japanese records did not corroborate these kills. Between the three submarines, the convoy was totally destroyed.
Later that day, Bang headed for Hawaii and arrived at Pearl Harbor on 5 December for refit. Following a restful holiday period, the submarine departed Oahu on 2 January 1945 and set a course for Saipan. There, on 15 January, she joined with Spadefish, Atule, and Pompon and sailed for a patrol area in the East China and Yellow Seas. Bad weather and a scarcity of targets denied Bang opportunities to attack any enemy shipping before she departed the area on 19 February, without any kills. She arrived at Guam on the 24th for refit alongside Proteus.
Bang's sixth and last patrol began on 25 March when she got underway for
On 3 May, the submarine received orders to return to Hawaii. She refueled at Saipan and continued on to Pearl Harbor where she arrived on 18 May. After 10 days of recreation and inspection of the boat, additional orders sent her back to the United States for overhaul at the
Post-War
On 1 February 1951, Bang was recommissioned at the U.S. Naval Submarine Base, New London, Lieutenant Commander Eugene A. Hemley in command, but spent only 15 months on active duty with the Atlantic Fleet before being decommissioned again on 15 May 1952 for conversion and modernization. Following work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Bang was recommissioned as a GUPPY IIA submarine, the first of her type to serve the U.S. Navy, on 4 October 1952. Although her outward appearance remained the same, Bang's internal arrangements were improved and incorporated impressive advances in ordnance and electronic gear. Her hull was streamlined and additional power added to the engineering plant to provide increased submerged speed.
After operating with the fleet in the Atlantic Ocean and
Spanish Navy
Early in 1972, Bang was designated for transfer to the
Awards
Bang received six
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
- ^ ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-26202-9.
- ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 261–263
- ^ a b c U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
- ^ a b c d e f U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-260-9.
- ^ a b c d U.S. Submarines Since 1945 pp. 242
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.
External links
- Photo gallery of Bang at NavSource Naval History
- USS Bang veterans' website
- Kill record: USS Bang
