USS Bonita (SS-165)
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States | |
| Builder | Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine[1] |
| Laid down | 16 November 1921[1] |
| Launched | 9 June 1925[1] |
| Commissioned | 22 May 1926[1] |
| Decommissioned | 4 June 1937[1] |
| Commissioned | 5 September 1940[1] |
| Decommissioned | 3 March 1945[1] |
| Stricken | 10 March 1945[1] |
| Fate | Sold for breaking up, 4 October 1945[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | |
| Displacement | 2,119 tons (2,153 t) surfaced,[2] 2,506 tons (2,546 t) submerged[2] |
| Length | 341 ft 6 in (104.09 m)[2] |
| Beam | 27 ft 6+5⁄8 in (8.398 m)[2] |
| Draft | 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)[2] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 21 knots (39 km/h) surfaced,[2] 9 knots (17 km/h) submerged[2] |
| Range | 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km) @ 11 knots (20 km/h),[2] 11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) @ 11 kn with fuel in main ballast tanks[2] |
| Endurance | 10 hours @ 5 knots (9 km/h)[2] |
| Test depth | 200 ft (60 m)[2] |
| Complement | 7 officers, 11 petty officers, 69 enlisted[2] |
| Armament |
|
USS Bonita (SF-6/SS-165), a
Charles A. Lockwood, Jr. in command. Like her sisters, Bonita was designed to meet the fleet submarine requirement of 21 knots (39 km/h) surface speed for operating with contemporary battleships
.
Engineering
V-3 was completed with two
diesel-electric arrangement became the propulsion system for the successful fleet submarines of World War II, the Tambor-class through the Tench-class. Prior to recommissioning in 1940, the auxiliary diesels were replaced with two BuEng Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg AG (MAN-designed) 6-cylinder 4-cycle diesel engines of 1,000 hp (750 kW) each.[3][4] In 1942-43 Bonita was converted to a cargo submarine, with the main engines removed to provide cargo space, significantly reducing her speed on the remaining auxiliary diesels.[5]
Service history
Interwar period
Assigned to Submarine Division 20 (SubDiv 20), V-3 cruised along the East Coast and in the
3 inch (76 mm)/50 caliber weapon.[8] She was renamed Bonita on 9 March 1931 and given hull classification symbol
SS-165 on 1 July 1931.
Bonita rejoined SubDiv 12 in September 1933 and cruised in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
on 4 June 1937.
World War II
Recommissioned on 5 September 1940, she departed
New London, Connecticut on 17 November for Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone. Bonita patrolled in the Pacific, off Panama, until she returned to Philadelphia for overhaul in October 1942. At this time she was converted to a cargo submarine with the removal of her main engines, severely restricting her speed on the auxiliary engines.[9]
Patrolling off the
Philadelphia Navy Yard
on 17 February, she was decommissioned 3 March and sold 28 October 1945.
Awards
American Defense Service Medal with "FLEET" clasp
American Campaign Medal- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
References
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 305–311
- ^ a b c d U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 111–113
- ^ a b c d U.S. Submarines Through 1945 pp. 257–259
- ^ a b Alden, John D., Commander, USN (retired). The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979), p.210.
- ^ Alden, p.211.
- ^ ISBN 0-313-26202-0.
- ^ Gardiner and Chesneau, pp. 141-142
- ^ U.S. Submarines Through 1945 p. 114
- Schlesman, Bruce and Roberts, Stephen S., "Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants" (Greenwood Press, 1991), ISBN 0-313-26202-0
- Lenton, H. T. American Submarines (Navies of the Second World War) (Doubleday, 1973), ISBN 0-38504-761-4
- Silverstone, Paul H., U.S. Warships of World War II (Ian Allan, 1965), ISBN 0-87021-773-9
- Campbell, John Naval Weapons of World War Two (Naval Institute Press, 1985), ISBN 0-87021-459-4
- Whitman, Edward C. "The Navy's Variegated V-Class: Out of One, Many?" Undersea Warfare, Fall 2003, Issue 20
- https://web.archive.org/web/20140322093118/http://www.fleetsubmarine.com/sublist.html
- Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, Conway Maritime Press, 1980. ISBN 0-83170-303-2.
- Friedman, Norman "US Submarines through 1945: An Illustrated Design History", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis:1995, ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
- Navsource.org USS Bonita page
- Pigboats.com V-boats page
- DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com 5"/51 caliber gun
- DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com later 3"/50 caliber gun
- This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.